Kia Ora - I’m Elaine Spearman, also known as Spike.
Spike’s a cool nickname - It gets quite a reaction as I’m the most un-Spike-like person you could imagine.
It’s an icebreaker, grabs attention, people love it and remember it. I call it the purple cow effect.
And it invariably leads to the question - why Spike?
It would be great to answer it’s because I’m a toughie (what a Spike should be like apparently) but in fact, it comes from a really bad haircut many years ago when I was a junior consultant in a PR firm.
So bad that the Managing Director at the time told me not to see clients for a month. Yes, it was a type of mullet cut, longish and straight at the sides, short and spikey on top. Hideous!
However, that bad haircut served me well as it inspired one of my colleagues to give me the nickname Spike.
She had come across the Spike character created by Australian artist Ken Done. His Spike was a true boffin - spikey hair, hobnail boots, studded neck collar.
The complete antithesis to me.
You’re no doubt thinking it’s a very unusual name for a wedding celebrant. Rest assured I happily answer to either Elaine or Spike (whichever you’re most comfortable with).
If you feel a "Spike" can make your wedding ceremony memorable and add that special something please let me know.