How to celebrate all the highs and lows of life

But the marketing men's eyes started to light up as they saw the potential for branded cards and cakes.

Divorce party planners have started springing up all over the UK and one, Divorce Party UK offers a free party to the first applicant.

If all this is just too tacky and tasteless, then a Yorkshire mother and daughter team believe they may have the answer.

Laurra Nalty of One Life Ceremonies believes there is much to be gained from acknowledging the transition from married life to single life.

"Going through a divorce is an emotional and difficult time, even when the split is amicable. A divorce ceremony is a positive way of acknowledging the separation and the transition from one life to another, and is a way to ask support from friends and family," says Laurra, who set up One Life Ceremonies with her mother Maria two years ago.

The pair run the business from their home in Huddersfield and earlier this year each gave up their own career to concentrate on what they believe is a gap in the market; individually tailored non-religious ceremonies for the most important occasions in a person's life.

They started out writing and conducting funerals and weddings but have expanded into baby-naming ceremonies, same-sex partnerships and now divorce ceremonies.

"We had a lot of interest in the divorce ceremony, but no one has yet decided to go ahead with one although we believe it is just a matter of time," says Maria.

"Divorce ceremonies can be extremely beneficial to children of the relationship as it can be made clear to them that their parents, though separated, will continue to love them, and that they are in no way responsible for the breakdown of the marriage. Many children blame themselves and that may stay with them for years to come," explains Laura.

Either one or both partners can be involved in the ceremonies. "It is a form of closure; signalling to everyone that it is now okay to move on."

Laurra, a creative writing graduate experienced in theatre and performance, and Maria, with experience in organising events and working with the young and old, got the idea for One Life when they were trying to organise Maria's mother's funeral.

"Mum didn't want a religious ceremony and so we started to search for something different. In the end we went for a humanist celebrant, but we felt that he spent a lot of time talking about his own beliefs and not enough about mum," says Maria.

"We realised that there was a need for some kind of service where people could have exactly what they wanted and where they wanted it. People think that there are so many restrictions as to where you can hold weddings and funerals, but there aren't. If you get the permission of the landowner you can have a burial anywhere, so long as you register the death."

Maria has carried out funeral ceremonies in people's homes and woodland burial sites as well as the more traditional crematorium.

"Some people like to have a large ceremony at home or elsewhere and then have a small farewell at the crematorium."

After writing and conducting a number of funerals for friends, Maria and Laurra were then approached to do a wedding.

"We aren't wedding planners," says Maria hastily. "We took a decision very early on that we would concentrate on the ceremony side of things, although we are happy to give advice on venues and things like that if people want."

Maria conducts the ceremonies while Laurra uses her writing skills to help people write vows or eulogies. Funeral ceremonies start at 275 while a partnership ceremony costs 575 and a divorce ceremony 245.

"We seem to work really well together," says Laurra. "People are looking for more choice in everything they do and that is what we offer them. We don't work from any script, everything is done as they would want it."

Maria has even conducted a wedding ceremony in a tent in a field, as well as in hotels and gardens.

If the couple want the weddings to be legal, then they also have to go through a register office ceremony.

"People think that we are going to be hippy or alternative, but we aren't. We just want to give people what they want. The majority of our clients are just ordinary people who want their special day to be

exactly that."

Dawn Wightman, 26, turned to One Life Ceremonies for her wedding to husband David.

"We'd already decided to get married abroad but it upset a lot of David's family who couldn't be there, so we decided to have something as close to a wedding ceremony as possible as well in this country," explains Dawn.

But the couple really weren't sure what they wanted and when Dawn Googled the subject she came across One Life Ceremonies.

"I rang and spoke to Maria and she was brilliant and came up with everything we wanted. She said we didn't have to have traditional vows which made it really personal to us."

It also meant that the couple could really involve their four-year-old daughter, Taylor, and other members of the family in the ceremony which was held at Woodlands Hotel, Leeds.

"It meant that everyone got their say and really felt part of the day."

Dawn is now pregnant with the couple's second child and they are

seriously considering using One Life for a naming ceremony for their new baby.

To find out more about divorce ceremonies and other services offered by Maria or Laurra, email info@ onelifeceremonies.co.uk or 07528 207 986 or visit www. onelifeceremonies.co.uk