This is a question I get asked all the time. To be honest, I’d not heard of the term myself until I was arranging my father’s funeral a few years ago. Therefore, I thought it might be useful to detail what a Celebrant is, why you might need one and what you need to know if you’re thinking of becoming a Celebrant yourself.
Let’s start at the start. What is a Celebrant? As I said, I first found out about the idea of a Celebrant when I was organising my father’s funeral. He was an atheist, so I needed a non religious person to conduct the service, and the funeral director suggested that I find a Celebrant.
A Celebrant isn’t bound by any religion, statute or doctrine, meaning Celebrants are able to construct and perform completely personalised ceremonies for clients. Whilst Celebrants may have a personal belief, these beliefs are just that: personal.
We are all professionally trained to a high standard, there are many organisations out there who do this, and we are covered by personal and business insurance.
The Differences between Officiants?
You need someone to officiate at a religious service or wedding ceremony, but there are different types of people who can do this.
Firstly there is the Clergy. The Clergy carry out ceremonies that contain religious wording, prayers and religious hymns. Then there are ceremonies carried out by humanists. These contain humanist doctrine, and anything said or any music played isn’t allowed to have spiritual connotations. There can be no hymns or prayers. Ceremonies carried out by registrars must adhere to required statutory words, and any music played or any wording must not contain any religious or spiritual connotations. Wedding ceremonies conducted by a registrar must also take place in a licensed venue or structure.
And of course, there are then Independent Civil Celebrants, such as myself, who conduct ceremonies, which are usually non-religious, across the life cycle.
Whereas all of these have rules to abide by, Independent Celebrant ceremonies can contain any wording at all, whether it be religious, spiritual or personal. It is often a combination of all three, but ultimately it’s whatever the client wants.
Celebrant ceremonies are about those who the ceremony is for – telling the story of the client, not the ideologies of religion. They will often include some humour and celebrate the person’s life and relationship.
What Ceremonies?
Some celebrants specialise in only weddings or only funerals. I trained in both to become a Wedding/family celebrant and a funeral celebrant. Let’s take a look at these in a bit more depth.
Weddings
A fabulous option if couples are looking for a less formal, relaxed and inclusive atmosphere, in a venue of their choice, it does not need to be licensed and I am often found in a field or tee pee!
Although I can create and conduct personalised weddings, a Celebrant cannot legally marry a couple. They’d need to visit a registrar in order to arrange the more formal side of things.
For each Ceremony, there are no scripts and no templated words. Each one is unique and led by the couple, whom I form a relationship with over the time we start our journey together. This is the part of the job that I enjoy the most. I’m definitely a people person and I love finding out what makes their relationship special and then conveying this through my words.
Family Occasions
You could also use a Celebrant for vow renewals, naming ceremonies, divorce celebrations, gender reassignment and adoption.
Celebration of Life Services
I mainly conduct celebration of life services, which can include some religion if the client wishes, as I am independent celebrant , all of my services are very people focussed.
Who can be a Celebrant?
Anyone can be a Celebrant, but I believe this career path is a vocation. It can be very emotional. You need to be able to put your feelings to one side and have the ability to empathise, whilst keeping a professional detachment which enables you to deliver the words, as this is ultimately what you are there for.
If you’re interested in becoming a Celebrant, then training and becoming part of a professional body is advisable. I trained with the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants. As the largest organisation of independent Celebrants in the UK and Europe, our Celebrants are professionally trained to write and deliver personalised ceremonies full of meaning and heart. Our motto is “Your Voice, Your Choice, Your Ceremony.”
I find the best compliment I get is when my couples leave lovely reviews, which such fabulous words such as the one below from Nisha and Jaz, I conducted their wedding a few years ago:
“We chose Lauren to be the celebrant for our wedding day and what a fantastic choice it was. It was by chance that I stumbled upon her website but as soon as I did, I knew she would be perfect for us!
Lauren worked with us as a couple to best understand our story and put together a beautiful ceremony, one that was very moving and emotional for all.
Lauren was always on hand if we needed anything, provided great support and suggestions and was just an all-round beautiful person that oozed positivity!
Lauren, thank you so much for making our big day so special! Both Jas and I greatly appreciate everything you did for us!xxx”
If you’d like any more details on either using a Celebrant or becoming one yourself, please do contact me. I’d be delighted to discuss your needs.
