The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Celebrant

Thinking of becoming a celebrant? Embark on the rewarding journey to become a celebrant with our comprehensive guide. Whether you’re drawn to wedding, funeral, or family celebrancy, we’ll navigate you through the essentials of training, qualifications, and the skills needed to thrive in this heartfelt profession. 

Dive into our detailed exploration of celebrant paths and discover how to turn your passion for meaningful ceremonies into a fulfilling career.

Training to become a celebrant is one of the most exciting decisions you can make. You get to write love stories, meet couples and families and officiate ceremonies at the most poignant moments in life; birth, death and marriage.

Types of Independent Celebrants

If you want to become an independent Celebrant, it’s worth considering first what type of Celebrancy would suit you. Independent Celebrants cover 3 main areas – Weddings, Funerals and Family ceremonies.

Wedding Celebrants – Preside over Weddings, Elopements and vow renewals, conducting personalised ceremonies for couples who want to celebrate their union.

Funeral Celebrants – Funeral celebrancy requires you to work with and support grieving families conducting Funeral ceremonies or celebration of life ceremonies, which can be hugely rewarding, but may not be for everyone. 

Family Celebrants – Family celebrants preside over naming and adoption ceremonies, so you must enjoy being around families with children.

Wondering if you’ve got what it takes to be a celebrant? Take our Celebrant Quiz

What Does a Celebrant Do?

Whether you’re a wedding, funeral or family celebrant, the role of a celebrant is varied.

As a wedding celebrant, you’ll meet with couples to get to know them before their big day and help them plan and personalise their ceremony with meaningful ceremony scripts, readings, poems and other suggestions to make their ceremony unique and memorable.

You’ll also lead the ceremony on the day, which might include rituals like handfasting, candle lighting or sand ceremonies.

As celebrants, we offer love, support, and care to people who need it at a pivotal time in their lives.  Jennifer Claire Constant – Celebrant, Celebrant Coach & CEO of AMC.

You’ll go to the venue and work with other suppliers to make sure the ceremony is set up properly and runs smoothly on the day.

Academy of Modern Celebrancy founder Jennifer, explains more about what a wedding celebrant does:

Read more: What does a celebrant do 

Becoming a Wedding Celebrant

Independent Wedding Celebrants arguably have one of the most fun jobs in the world, all the feel-good vibes of supporting people and sharing in one of the happiest days of their lives and getting to know and tell their individual love stories along the way.

As a wedding celebrant, you’re an integral part of a wedding ceremony, but your job starts long before the big day. You’ll need to form a relationship with the couple and learn how to draw the right information from them to write and deliver their unique love story on the day. Successful celebrants create moments. Emotional, funny, or maybe thought-provoking ceremonies that are defined by the married couple. Inspired by their journey and guided by their unique personalities.

Each ceremony you perform will be bespoke. Created exclusively for the couples you work with. Which can take many hours to create but are just so rewarding to perform. Through our online celebrant training courses, you’ll learn how to piece together all the info you’ve gathered from a couple and create a story that’ll blow away their loved ones.

Find out more: A pocket guide to becoming a wedding Celebrant

Becoming a Celebrant for Funerals: What do they do?

An Independent funeral celebrant plays several crucial roles in planning and conducting funeral ceremonies. Their responsibilities are focused on creating a personalised and meaningful experience that honours the life of the deceased while providing comfort and support to the bereaved.

A funeral celebrant leads the funeral service, ensuring it flows smoothly and respectfully. This includes introducing speakers, guiding the proceedings, and offering comforting and meaningful words to those who’ve come to pay their respects.

Find out more: Watch our Funeral Celebrant Student interview

What makes a good celebrant?

Of course, a career in Celebrancy isn’t suited to everyone. There are a few key skills and qualities you’ll need to be a successful Celebrant.

• Strong communication skills are a must.
• You need to be confident in front of a crowd
• A good listener! Remember, this is about them, not you.
• A strong writer with the ability to craft a beautiful, meaningful ceremony
• Professionalism – people trust and rely on you to perform their ceremony, which requires professionalism on your part: being timely, prepared and organised as a minimum standard.

There are some key traits every celebrant should have as well, including:

• People skills – this is not the career path for anyone who doesn’t like working with people!
• Inclusivity and respect for diversity
• Empathy and compassion

Want to find out if you’ve got what it takes? Take our Celebrant Quiz and find out.

Questions to ask yourself before you become a Celebrant.

• What’s your availability like? Weekend work may be involved, especially if you opt to become a Wedding Celebrant. This is not a 9 – 5 job, and so you need to be prepared for that.
• Do you have the financial stability to support you while you build your business? While you can earn a good amount of money as a Celebrant, it won’t happen overnight. Be sure to look at your finances and make sure you are protected while you develop your business.
• Do you have the resources to market your business? If you want to turn this into a full-time business, you need the tools or capabilities to turn it from a side hustle into a successful company. (N.B. Our celebrant training programmes are specifically designed to support you with this step).

What qualifications does a celebrant need

Whilst no formal qualification requirements are needed to become an independent celebrant in the UK, most celebrants opt for formal training to teach them how to become a successful celebrant.

Firstly, decide if you want to train as a Wedding Celebrant, Funeral Celebrant, or naming celebrant since they require different skill sets.

You’ll need to learn about the industry, how to plan, write and conduct meaningful ceremonies, as well as how to promote yourself and how to run a successful celebrant business.

Most celebrant training programmes will teach the key skills of public speaking and presenting, creative writing and storytelling and how to write a personalised ceremony. But as an independent Celebrant, you’ll also need to learn business skills like sales and marketing – how to be visible and get bookings, the legal side, what contracts you need etc.

If you want to become a funeral celebrant, you’ll need to learn about the funeral process, how to work with funeral directors, and how to support grieving families.

Read More: The Ultimate guide to becoming a Funeral Celebrant

Certified Marriage celebrant accreditation

If you want to become a certificated or accredited marriage celebrant, you’ll need to complete a wedding celebrancy course with an accredited celebrant training provider, like The Academy of Modern Celebrancy.

All of our accredited Celebrant training courses come with certification on completion as well as an accreditation badge that you can apply to your website, business cards and social media profiles.

How Long Does It Take To Become A Celebrant

Some training programmes claim to teach you everything you need to know in under a week; however, online celebrant training programmes that have grown in popularity generally take 4-6 weeks to complete, with the option to take up to a year to train.

Once you’ve completed your training, you’ll need to build your celebrancy business and start finding clients, which can take time. If you want to become a celebrant alongside another job, you can get started straight away. If you want to become a full-time celebrant, expect your business to grow over time.

Once you’ve completed your training you’ll need to set yourself up as a celebrant business. Expect it to take anywhere between a few days and a few weeks to set up your website, social media and directory listings, design and print business cards and start networking or targeting venues.

Realistically, if you start training as a celebrant today, you could have your new business up and running in anything between 2-6 months.

How Much Does It Cost To Become a Celebrant

The main cost to becoming a celebrant is professional training – expect to pay anywhere between £700-£4500 for accredited training. You can find our training costs here

Online celebrant training courses can be a more cost-effective option for prospective celebrants as they are significantly cheaper than residential training courses, plus you also save on travel costs. 

Other optional costs you might incur:

• Brand design and logo costs – £500+
• Website setup – £0 – £3000+, monthly hosting/management fees £10-£50
• Networking fees – £20+-£100 per month
• Business/booking software – £15-50 p/m
• business cards & professionally printed certificates – £20-£200
• Professional photos – £0-£1000
• Outfits – £0-£500

How much do Celebrants Earn

Wedding Celebrants in the UK are currently charging between £600-£1500 per ceremony (2023/24), with some outliers charging as much as £2500 for a wedding ceremony.

Our experienced Full-time Wedding Celebrants are generally conducting between 50-60 weddings a year, and earnings vary between £30,000 – £100,000 a year, depending on their rates. 

Funeral Celebrants typically charge anywhere between £250 – £500 (2023/24) per ceremony and a Full-time Funeral Celebrant might expect to conduct anywhere between 3 and 5 funeral ceremonies per week. Full-time Funeral Celebrants can expect to earn anywhere between £39,000 to £100,000+

Average Prices for Naming Ceremonies for 2023/24 are typically £200-£500, but we’ve seen established Celebrants charging as much as £675 and most celebrants offer these as an add-on service.

It’s possible for full-time celebrants offering Weddings, Funerals and Naming Ceremonies to earn over £100,000 a year, but remember, these figures are not typical across the industry and would be something to aspire to as an established business. And remember,  there are business and travel costs to factor into these figures.

Read more: Unveiling the earnings of a celebrant 

Choosing a Celebrant Training Course

Choosing a celebrant training program is an important step if you’re looking to become a professional celebrant; whether it’s for weddings, funerals, or other ceremonies, look for a high-quality programme that will teach you the skills you need to become a successful Celebrant.

Make sure your Celebrant training programme offers:

• Accredited and recognised Qualification
• Comprehensive Curriculum and high-quality content
• Access to professional Celebrant trainers & mentoring and support 
• Practical Experience 
• Business Skills Training including legal & ethical training 
• Proven Student Success and Great Feedback
• Continuing Education opportunities & community support

Interested? Explore our Celebrant training programs

How To Market Yourself as a Celebrant

Stepping into the world of celebrancy is just the beginning; effectively marketing yourself as a celebrant is key to building a successful career. It’s important to have a clear strategy to market yourself and get booked as a celebrant.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to marketing yourself as a celebrant, which is why dedicate an entire module to marketing and help our students create a bespoke plan that leverages their individual strengths. So, if you’re thinking of becoming a celebrant, here are some marketing suggestions to inspire you:

• Target Venues to become an approved supplier
• Attend networking meetings for industry referrals
• Create a stand-out website 
• Optimise your Social Media Profiles – advertise on local groups
• Join Celebrant Directories 
• Create a memorable brand
•  Attend local wedding fairs, which are a fabulous way to get out and meet couples and other suppliers. 

Our Celebrant Training Courses

The Academy of Modern Celebrancy offers online Celebrant training with a difference. The training with the academy gives you everything you need to become a Celebrant. From writing to consultations, personalising to officiating on the day, nothing is left out. The academy also trains you in business skills so you can get up and running fast.

Our comprehensive training programs are meticulously designed to equip you with the skills, knowledge, and confidence needed to excel in this rewarding profession. Whether you’re drawn to wedding, funeral, or family celebrancy, our courses offer a blend of practical learning and creative techniques, guided by experienced mentors.

You’ll be paired with an accredited wedding celebrant mentor who will support you with 1-1 sessions, help you finesse your celebrancy skills and help you get your celebrancy business started with confidence and get to join a supportive community to help you on your way as you become a celebrant.

Want To Become an Independent Celebrant?

If you’re inspired and feeling a calling to become a celebrant, the Academy of Modern Celebrancy invites you to join our vibrant community of aspiring celebrants.

Embrace this opportunity to transform your passion into a fulfilling career and become part of the celebrant community reshaping how we commemorate life’s most significant moments.

Begin your journey with us today, and step into a future where your work brings joy, meaning, and celebration to people’s lives.