Meet Diane Gansauer
Certified Master Life-Cycle Celebrant® and Ordained Interfaith Minister
Serving Colorado, especially the Front Range and Foothills. Writer and long-distance hiker.
Diane Gansauer is a Certified Master Life-Cycle Celebrant through the Celebrant Foundation and Institute. She was the first individual in the Rocky Mountain region to achieve the Masters level of certification through CF&I — a distinction indicating her commitment to the very highest level of professionalism in celebrant work. She taught on the CF&I faculty for several years.
Diane is also an ordained minister with a Masters Degree in Theology and Doctorate of Ministry through The New Seminary, the oldest interfaith seminary in the United States. Diane completed these studies in order to give the best possible service to clients of any spiritual background, as well as those who want a completely secular ceremony.
Her business, Lyrical Life Ceremonies, Ltd., is a limited liability corporation registered with the State of Colorado and based in Evergreen, in the foothills west of Denver. She primarily serves Colorado’s Front Range but is open to travel within Colorado and elsewhere.
As a Celebrant, Diane works with individuals, couples, families and communities to create memorable ceremonies marking important milestones and transitions. Her background in music, theater, dance, writing and storytelling contribute to her personal sensitivity to the treasures in life, and enrich her ability to feature your story in a ceremony unique and appropriate to you.
Diane is prepared to work with you on any of these and more: weddings, vow renewals, funerals/memorial services and life celebrations, milestone birthdays, retirements, house blessings, baby blessings, pet memorials.
Diane is also a published writer, with essays in Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry, Spirituality and Health online magazine, Passages magazine, Funeral Director Magazine, and Life-Cycle Ceremonies: A Handbook for Your Whole Life. Her first book is coming out in 2025.
When she is not writing, Diane is in the great outdoors. As an avid long-distance hiker for many years, she completed hiking the Continental Divide Trail in August 2023 — more than 3,000 miles from the U.S. border with Mexico to our border with Canada.
Diane has written about her 7-year odyssey hiking the Continental Divide Trail from Mexico to Canada, woven together with her work honoring lives through more than 400 funerals. Her online newsletter can be read at DianeGansauer.Substack.com — a preview of her book coming out in 2025.
Fantastic experience!
Diane was a wonderful officiant. From the beginning to the end of the process, she made it so personal, easy, and special for us.
To have a fully customized ceremony, what would working with Lyrical Life Ceremonies be like?
First, Diane will interview you to find out about what you have in mind for your ceremony. This is a free, no obligation discussion. She will ask questions that help her discern “the story” behind this moment you are honoring and what a ceremony unique to you should include. At the end of that interview, she will give you a price for working with you on the proposed ceremony.
If you would like to proceed to work with Diane, she will prepare a simple contract for your ceremony.
Diane will work with you and any other appropriate family members to create a meaningful ceremony that reflects your beliefs, values and personality.
- She will prepare as many drafts of the ceremony as is necessary for you to be pleased.
- She will integrate world rituals, symbols, poetry, photos and music appropriate and meaningful to you.
- She will offer a professionally written ceremony that is original in every way, and will officiate at that ceremony.
- You will have complete approval of the ceremony.
