To train as a celebrant?

[ohbigdaddio]

I've been thinking about a change of career for a while now and, after a friend's funeral, l have started seriously thinking about becoming a wedding and funeral celebrant.

l've done a fair bit of research and have found a training course l'm keen on. I have quite a few transferable skills and am really enthusiastic about it as a potential new career path, however l have a few niggly reservations. As a celebrant you are self employed, it's more likely you will make a part time wage and it is also a saturated market. l'm ok with the part time aspect but I don’t want to invest in the course only to find there's no work. l spoke with a funeral director who said it's a case of getting your foot in the door when you're new but that can be tricky as you have no experience.
Has anyone trained as a celebrant and is finding work? How have you found life after your training - is it sustainable financially? Would love to hear from you!

I think people who do that tend to gravitate towards it because they have a calling for it, this post seems money-obsessed. It's harder than other businesses because you are starting out and not only expecting customers to put their faith in you, but to put it in you on the most important/saddest day in their lives.

Why is it something you want to do? What attracts you to it? Do you know any celebrants?

I have a friend who does it part time/occasionally (she has a regular salary job as well)

She's been doing it for nearly 20 years. She has said to me before that new celebrants undercut her & provide a very formulaic service as it's the only way they can do it at the prices they charge.

More experienced and professional celebrants have been losing out to the newer crop of enthusiasts.

She gets most of her work via word of mouth now - friends of clients or people who have attended one of the celebrations she has led.

Money-obsessed?! There's nothing wrong with wanting to know how a change of career will pan out financially.

It's all very well having 'a calling' but that won't pay the bills.

Yes I know, that's entirely the point I was making.

My line manager at my previous job trained as a celebrant whilst she was on furlow. She she's back at her normal full time job now but did weddings almost every weekend as a second job. I wouldn't be surprised if she eventually drops her primary job to be full time celebrant as it seemed to be successful quite quickly.

I know a few clergy, so they do a lot of funerals (and weddings of course), and honestly they all, without exception, book time into their day to “recover”. It’s emotionally draining to be there for families day in day out. I’m not sure how many funerals you plan to do a month but it’s tough. Even after 3+ years of training that clergy have. As for weddings I don’t think the demand for humanist celebrants is very high in England because it’s not a legal service, but this may change. I don’t know if it’s financially viable though.

Wedding and funeral celebrants are very different legally. Anyone can officiate at a funeral, you have a duty of care to your clients but no legal obligations. The funeral directors tend to have a few on their books to recommend. You will need to produce a good leaflet explaining what you are offering, and a website is good too (not a replacement for a leaflet as the age group aren't all computer literate).

Wedding celebrants in the U.K. are different, you need to be on the council's database. Not sure if the process as I organise church weddings!

Money obsessed?! I don't think it's unreasonable to consider potential earnings when looking into a new career!

I'm a registrar, and have been thinking about the celebrant role. On one hand, it's fairly easy to train as a celebrant as there are no legal requirements whatsoever, you are almost doing a 'pretend' version of being a registrar. Nothing you say or do actually make a couple married, you are just saying some nice things about them, and re-enacting the ceremony (the legal ceremony has usually been done before). So there isn't much for you to actually have responsibility for in terms of knowing the law, being licensed, doing all the checks, conducting interviews with the couple etc. Literally anyone can be a celebrant. However, a significant proportion of celebrants are usually people with registrar experience because they borrow heavily from the marriage script and the formula/pattern of a legal ceremony. You will need to be good at public speaking, and conducting a ceremony that seems 'real', which is why so many registrars do it, because we know the flow and wording of the legal ceremony. There are lots of providers, who, for a fee, will 'teach' you how to be a celebrant, which quite frankly, is bollocks. However- it will be on you to prepare your script, put together wordings, think of nice things to say to make it personal, make a poem or whatever the couple want. You will need to meet the couple to get to know them, and travel to and from the wedding. You have to command and conduct the room. Depending where you are, your rates can vary widely. You can look at websites which collate all the celebrants in one place, to see what kind of services they offer, and prices they charge for the area they are based in. You will need to build up a client base (again which is why so many people with a background already in the wedding industry can do it), and get referrals.

I am a Wedding, Funeral and Baby Naming Celebrant. I love my role and wouldn’t change it! It is hard work and it depends on your area and how you can differentiate yourself. I have worked full time for 2 years and make a reasonable full time salary but some months cash flow can be slow and other months v busy!. You need to be able to market yourself constantly online / knocking on doors and continuous professional development is important. There is investment required in terms of training, equipment, insurance, cpd, marketing etc so it is not easy to break in to full time straight away (in the first year I worked flexibly part-time too)

With funerals there is an element of being in the right place at the right time with Funeral Directors and getting opportunities but many doors will be shut before you get a foot in but you also can promote yourself online to get direct bookings. Once you are established Word of Mouth generates so much more work because you earn your good reputation. Funerals can be very emotionally draining but incredibly rewarding - I love it.

Weddings and Namings are of course mainly weekends and often in the Summer Season. These are wonderful and can be very creative. Don’t be put off by Registrars being negative about what we do - the feedback that we get is that there is no comparison between our ceremonies and government ceremonies (worlds apart!) - celebrant ceremonies are very personal, relaxed and great fun!

I have never undercut. In fact my prices are high as I value my worth. Take a look at celebrancy - it is a great industry to work in and a wonderful path to take in life!

@ModernCeremonies thank you for your reply. I'm wondering what CPD is?

Continuous professional development. You need to keep training and improving.

I’m interested in training as a celebrant, any recommendations of good courses, I’m in Yorkshire

Another full time celebrant here, primarily funerals but weddings and all other ceremonies too although during the summer that means I am working 6 days a week at least.
It is an amazing job I love it...but my advice is do your research.
There's a big difference between a humanist and an independent celebrant...work out what you would want to be.
They say it takes 3 years to become fully established...I took around one - buy it is getting harder and harder for new celebrants to get work particularly in funerals ad funeral directors have their trusted ones and are understandably reluctant to let a newby loose!
In the last yearbi have seen a number of funeral directors change over to celebrate work and also for funeral directors to get their own in house celebrants too. The training companies are constantly training (and they are not all as good as their websites may say) and the market is very nearly at saturation point.
There is huge demand still for celebrant weddings..even though they aren't legal yet. Compared to what even a celebrant registrar offers they are incredibly different, personal and memorable.
Many people think being a celebrant is just about public speaking ..the reality is you need to be an incredible story teller, counsellor and listener. You need to be patient, tenacious, confident, adaptable and prepared to have great months and slow months when it comes to an income. You need to do your accounts, social media, maintain and write a website as well as constantly keeping top of training and trends.
If you are relying on a salary it would be incredibly difficult to not do it alongside another role whilst you establish...but then for funerals you need to be available at short notice at someone else's and not your convenience.
The hours I put in is way over full time, the market is so full you do need to be always at the top of your game, always networking and never complacent.
It really is the best job ever, but it isn't as easy as "you'll never be out of work as people are always dying" that you will hear all the time!!
Always happy to answer any questions if you think I can be any help.

I know this is an old thread but just in case any of you are reading and can advise - my husband would like to retrain as a celebrant but currently has a full-time job as a teacher.

I can't see how it would work to be building up a celebrant business while teaching full time as he wouldn't be able to get time off to do the funerals! He'd be able to do weddings at weekends but he is keen on doing funerals as well and having a balance of both.

But he can't just leave his job for no job and have no income while he retrains and builds a business.

What kind of jobs are flexible enough to allow you to build the celebrant work on the side?

Supply teaching might be a possibility, although obviously longer-term supply wouldn't work well, and maybe there's less of the short-term now that a lot of schools are using cover supervisors or HLTAs. It might be worth talking to a local agency to find out.

Thanks @lanthanum I suspect he'll hate the idea of doing supply as he hates teaching but it could be a workable option if there aren't any others!

Hello,
I am considering becoming a celebrant. I have read the associated posts and have a couple of questions. Is there one society/training provider who rates higher than the others in that forum? I’ve looked up Humanist UK and some others. There seems to be a lot more wedding celebrants available than funeral ones, where I live but that is only looking at one website and I’m concerned about my availability for funerals as I also have a day job (that I need to keep to pay the bills); plus the comments about market saturation are a concern. Any advice gratefully received! Thank you.

Councils database, nope you don’t!