Honoring A Life By Telling Their Story
Funeral, memorial, celebration-of-life, and graveside ceremonies in central Michigan - shaped around the life being honored.
If you're a family facing a loss, the end-of-life ceremonies page is where to begin. It explains what celebrants do, what kinds of ceremonies are possible, and what working together looks like.
If you're a funeral director, hospice professional, or other partner in this work click here to learn how we can partner and what working together looks like.
A Ceremony Shaped By Their Life
Most of us have sat through a funeral that didn't sound like the person who died. Generic prayers, a eulogy that could have been about anyone, a ceremony that handled the schedule but not the loss. We leave knowing something was missing.
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It doesn't have to be that way.
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I'm Michelle Sponseller, a Certified Master Celebrant and Certified Funeral Celebrant based in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. I create personalized ceremonies that honor who your loved one truly was. As your funeral officiant, I work closely with your family to craft a service that feels true, not a template, not a script, but something that genuinely reflects the person you're honoring.
What I Do
End-of-Life
Ceremonies Services
Funeral services, memorial services, celebrations of life, and graveside services.
Each one is shaped to the family and the person being remembered, religious, non-religious, interfaith, or anything in between.
Whether the ceremony happens in a funeral home, a church, a forest, or a backyard, the goal is the same: a service that genuinely reflects the person who lived.
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Other End-of-Life
Services
Some families come to me for the ceremony itself. Others come for a specific piece, eulogy writing, obituary writing, a consultation for a family planning their own service, or headstone cleaning.
Whether I'm leading the ceremony or supporting it from the edges, the goal is the same: to honor a life well.
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If you need assistance beyond the ceremony reach out, I'm happy to offer assistance where I can.
Training
and Speaking
I'm available to speak with organizations, community groups, and professional audiences on the changing landscape of end-of-life work.
Additionally, I serve as End-of-Life Instructor at the Celebrant Academy, training aspiring celebrants in the craft of meaningful ceremony.
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Why Choose A Celebrant
End-of-life ceremonies in America are changing. A growing number of families, over a quarter of Americans now identify with no religion at all, are looking for something that doesn't fit a traditional template.
A service in a forest. A celebration of life on a meaningful date months after the death. A eulogy that actually sounds like the person who died.​
Celebrants are trained to listen first, then create a personalized ceremony built around the person being honored. That can mean religious, non-religious, or interfaith services. It can include cultural traditions and rituals, or specific spiritual elements that matter to your loved one. I partner with funeral directors, clergy, and families to make the day what it needs to be.
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If you're not sure what you or your family is looking for,
that's exactly what our first conversation is for.