Shana Graf

Shana Graf is a St. Gallen celebrant who leads freie Trauungen, personal wedding ceremonies designed with the couple, as one strand of her business Chez Shana. The other strands are career and study counseling, job-application coaching and professional copywriting, and she added ceremonies to them in 2024. Her pitch is a combination of the two skills: "Mit meinem sprachlichen Flair als Texterin finde ich die richtigen Worte für euren grossen Tag" (with my flair for language as a copywriter, I find the right words for your big day), and as a coach and counselor she accompanies couples through the preparation with empathy. The site is in German; her CV lists English and Spanish at C2 level.

The ceremony offer

The ceremony page is headed "Zeremonien, die bezaubern" (ceremonies that enchant) and answers the main questions in a short FAQ.

Who is it for? Every loving couple who wants to celebrate their decision to share their life with the people closest to them. Sexual orientation, age, religion and origin, she writes, play no role.

The legal side, in her words. Her page states that a freie Trauung is not legally valid, and advises couples to marry at the Zivilstandesamt (civil registry office) as well. For couples from abroad this is useful clarity from the celebrant herself.

Where? Anywhere: indoors or outdoors, in the mountains, on the lake. She advises planning a bad-weather alternative for anyone dreaming of an open-air ceremony.

How long? It depends on the music and contributions from guests. She recommends planning 45 to 60 minutes.

What does it cost? She asks couples to send an inquiry describing their ideas, and writes that she wants to charge only her actual effort ("meinen effektiven Aufwand"), so she prepares an individual quote. The site publishes no figure.

Next steps. An informal, no-obligation first meeting to see whether the chemistry is right. The couple then lets her know whether they would like her as their celebrant, and she rolls up her sleeves and delivers the ceremony they have in mind. The contact page adds that she likes to meet over coffee, online or in person, so a couple abroad can start with a video call.

The site does not describe the preparation in more detail than that: there is no stated number of meetings, questionnaire or lead time. Those are questions for the first conversation.

A ceremony on the Walensee

One testimonial appears on the ceremony page, under a photo caption naming Kristian and Darius and a ceremony on a boat. The couple write that Shana supported them with many ideas before the ceremony and responded flexibly to their wishes; that she shaped the ceremony "gefühlvoll, sehr persönlich und mit einer guten Prise Humor" (with feeling, very personally and with a good pinch of humor); that she skillfully involved their witnesses and families; and that they felt at ease throughout and received a lot of positive feedback from their guests. The signature line under the quote is a template placeholder ("Name und Name, 20xx"), so the caption is the only indication of who wrote it.

Her background

The "Über mich" page reads like a CV, which is useful for judging the language side of her work:

• 2016 to 2019: bachelor's degree in Applied Languages at the ZHAW in Winterthur, with native-level German and professional Spanish and English at C2 level. A five-month placement as a multilingual proofreader at a leading Swiss translation agency completed the training.
• 2018 to 2020: various jobs in language services and corporate communications.
• Since 2019: self-employed with chezshana.ch, focusing on professional texts, theses and job applications.
• 2020 to 2022: MAS in career, study and vocational counseling at the IAP in Zurich, with a thesis on Life Design Thinking in counseling and coaching.
• Since 2020: employed in various posts as a career and study counselor.
• 2023: certified Life Design Coach, WLR Cologne.
• Since 2024: her self-employment widened to include counseling, application coaching and "Moderation freier Trauungen" (leading freie Trauungen).

She describes herself as a "Wortjongleurin und Sprachprofi" (word juggler and language professional) and as a moderator and thinking partner. Weddings, she writes, are once-in-a-lifetime events that need a structured approach, sensitivity and individual support on an equal footing, and she describes herself as flexible with time, uncomplicated and focused on her clients' needs.

Contact

The contact page gives bonjour [@] chezshana.ch and 077 452 06 48, and says she is easy to reach by email, WhatsApp or phone. For ceremonies, she writes that she likes to take time to get to know the couple, after which they decide whether their gut feeling is right and whether to engage her. The menu also includes an "Anfahrt" (directions) page for meetings in St. Gallen, and links to LinkedIn and Instagram. A separate "Arbeitsweise" (way of working) page and a blog sit in the same menu. Her counseling pages show the same habits she brings to couples: meetings on site or by video call, a free short first call for counseling clients, and quotes tailored to the job.

What the site does not settle

• Ceremony language. Her CV lists English and Spanish at C2 level, but the ceremony page does not say she leads ceremonies in English or Spanish. Given the qualifications, it is an obvious question for an English-speaking or Spanish-speaking couple to ask.
• Experience. Ceremonies have been part of her offer since 2024, and the page shows a single testimonial. Couples who want a long track record should ask how many ceremonies she has led.
• Price and travel. Quotes are individual, and there is no travel rate.
• Process. No meeting schedule or lead time is published.

Who it suits

Shana Graf suits couples marrying in and around St. Gallen, including couples from abroad, who want a warm and humorous ceremony from someone whose trained trade is language, and who like the idea of paying for actual effort rather than a package. Her English and Spanish qualifications make her worth asking about for bilingual or Spanish-speaking families. The trade-off is a relatively new ceremony practice with little published evidence yet, so the no-obligation first conversation matters more here than usual.