#hotten

This is the reaction I get from about 95% of people when I tell them I’m a celebrant.  Some think I’m confessing about my lack of love life (celibate) or I’m a celebrity (incidentally, my celebrity look-a-likey is Kirsty Ally… during her slimmer days, I hasten to add).

For those of you who don’t know, a celebrant is a person who conducts weddings, civil partnerships, renewal of vows, baby namings, funerals… basically anything which requires someone to lead a service or ceremony. 

I mainly concentrate on the weddings, civil partnerships and renewal of vows side of things; some of my fellow celebrants only conduct funerals.  I was trained by the wonderful Terri Shanks, who is an inspiration to anyone thinking of joining this amazing profession.  Terri knows everything there is to know about celebrancy, and has a world-wide network of other professionals, including Dally Messenger, the founder of the Civil Celebrant movement. Terri herself is the founder of the Fellowship of Professional Celebrants, which I am a member.  Unfortunately in this country, anyone can set themselves up to be a celebrant, without any training or signing up to a code of ethics.  Being a member of the Fellowship means that I have signed up to a code of ethics, I have professional indemnity insurance, and I am fully trained.

A lot of people get confused by the difference between celebrants and registrars when it comes to a wedding or civil partnership.  I’ve done up this table which hopefully helps somewhat in explaining the difference.

 Registrar

Delivers an off the shelf ceremony

Cannot allow any religious music or readings

Is allocated to your ceremony with no input or choice from you

Only deliver in registry office or registered venues. Registered venues have to be permanent static structures with four walls and a roof

Deliver a standard ceremonies which last only 10 to 15 minutes

Arrives just before ceremony starts

Will not do a rehearsal

Will stand with the couple in front of them

Can charge up to £585 to deliver an off the shelf service in a registered venue.

Celebrant

Delivers a fully bespoke ceremony

Will allow any religious music, readings, rituals or references

Is chosen by you and develops a relationship in the run up to your ceremony

Can hold ceremony in your garden, your favourite park, on a boat, in a hot air balloon, on a bus, by a pool, in another country, in a marquee, in the grounds of a stately home – the choices are never-ending

Can deliver a service which is as short or as long as you would like

Arrives an hour prior to ceremony and ensures all readers, bridal party members including best men, women, etc are all aware of what they need to do.  Celebrant calms any nerves, especially of readers, and also assures brides or grooms that a professional has everything under control for the ceremony

Does a rehearsal, usually a day or a few days prior to the ceremony, and runs through the ceremony with the couple to ensure they feel assured as to what they need to do, and when

Will look at the venue where the ceremony will be held and uses their skills to consider where couples would be best placed so guests are able to see them throughout the ceremony and the photographer and videographer are able to capture the best shots.

In most cases, celebrants charge less than registrars, yet offer so much more.

I’m always happy to answer any questions about celebrancy or have an informal chat.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have some queries or would like further information.