A Pocket Guide to Becoming a Wedding Celebrant

Looking to become a wedding celebrant? Our complete guide shares what it takes, and how you can succeed in this thrilling industry.

Becoming a wedding celebrant is often considered a calling, rather than a career path. An ambition to succeed in work is essential, yes, but you’ll need an even greater ambition to create memories for couples. Performing ceremonies with the greatest of care, knowing they’ll change lives forever. Often, those who join our online celebrant training courses had the idea suggested to them by friends or family, believing they’d be an excellent fit for the job. And it’s because the position demands a kindness, a great passion for people that only those around us can truly see.

Once you begin your path to becoming a full-time wedding celebrant, you’ll understand just how fulfilling, and inspiring the role can be. No two days are ever the same. One day, you could be marrying a couple by the sea, on a warm summer’s day. The next, you’ll be chatting to a couple over a coffee, discovering how they dream their ceremony will be. Or you’ll be at home, crafting tales of the lovers you met the day before. Modern celebrancy offers once-in-a-lifetime moments with the couples you marry, and each one will fuel your passion for the next.

Whether you’re looking for a fresh start, or you’ve been planning a new life as a wedding celebrant for some time – we want to help. At The Academy of Modern Celebrancy, we are industry leaders in online celebrant training courses in the UK, US and Europe. And today, before you take the quiz, and find out if you’re the right fit to become a wedding celebrant. We thought we’d share this pocket guide to the role, letting you know everything you should expect, and how you can succeed in the industry.

Your Guide to Becoming a Wedding Celebrant

Are you ready to run your own business, and start loving the creativity life as a wedding celebrant will bring? Explore our guide below.

The Important Role of a Wedding Celebrant

A wedding celebrant performs much more of an integral role in the marriage of two people, than simply announcing their union. They are integral to the wedding ceremony, and form a relationship with the couple long before the big day. Through chats, emails, and the writing of bespoke stories. Successful celebrants create moments. Emotional, funny, or maybe thought-provoking ceremonies that are defined by the marrying couple. Inspired by their journey, and guided by their unique personalties.

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.

The Benefits of Becoming a Wedding Celebrant

1. You’ll become your own boss.

The moment a wedding celebrant finishes any of our online training courses, they are ready to start their own business. Free from the daily 9-5 grind, answering to difficult bosses and needing to commute every day. As a qualified wedding celebrant you’re free to work when you want, for whom you want, where you want.

Our celebrant training qualifications are recognised worldwide, meaning you can relocate to the other side of the world, and start working there, if you feel that would make you happy. Or maybe you’re blissfully happy where you are, and would just rather have the option to work when you want. Modern celebrancy gives you that freedom.

2. It’s endlessly rewarding

Creating a unique wedding ceremony for someone is a gift. The intense joy you’ll receive from putting together a story, a poem, or whatever you feel represents the couple, is unparalleled.

How often in life do we have something written, and performed exclusively for us? For the average person, pretty much never, right? So imagine how incredible it’s going to feel, taking centre stage, doing just that for someone you’ve really got to know. Rewarding doesn’t even come close.

The longer you stay working as a wedding celebrant, the more you can learn, and grow as a person. The unique experiences you’ll be exposed to will not just teach you how to be a good celebrant, but a better all round person.

3. A job for life

You can always rely on three things. Births, marriages, and deaths. And if you’re considering becoming a funeral celebrant, unfortunately, you’ll never be short of work. But similarly, there will always be weddings. And the demand for a celebrant led wedding has never been greater.

The trend in modern weddings is personalisation, with couples constantly looking for new ways to make their big day stand out. And what better way to make a ceremony unique, than to have it created completely bespoke.

As long as you build solid connections, create a good marketing hub (website, social media etc) and you’re proactive in improving the celebrant services you offer. You’ll never struggle to find work, and the rewards are endless.

4. Create new connections

At whatever stage you are in life, it’s always positive to make new friends. But it can be difficult once you leave formal eduction, or full-time employment, to actually meet like-minded people. Which is why our graduates cherish our considerable network of celebrants so much. Best friends, life-changing contacts and shoulders to cry on have all been found on our private network.

Beyond the people you’ll meet during our online celebrant training course, there’s a whole world of friendly individuals awaiting you in our industry. An industry built on contacts, and relationships, especially when it comes to funeral care. You’ll find that the more people you meet, and the more friends you make, the more successful you will be as a wedding celebrant.

What Qualifications Do Wedding Celebrants Need?

Anyone can become a wedding celebrant, and it doesn’t require a certain level of formal qualifications to set yourself up as one. However, the job is unique, demanding and, like most self-employed businesses, requires you to do a lot of the work yourself. Meaning that if you’re starting from scratch, you’ll be at a severe disadvantage compared to those who have taken wedding celebrant training courses, and subsequently achieved qualifications.

Having a qualification also sets you apart from the competition, adding extra kudos to the services you provide.

Do UK Wedding Celebrants Need Training?

Celebrant training courses will help you develop all the necessary skills required to not just perform ceremonies, but create and sustain your own business. Which can often be overlooked when considering a path into celebrancy without qualifications.

During our wedding celebrant training course, we’ll show you how to network, create a website, market yourself and price your services sustainably. Plus, we’ll grant you access to our private vault, which has all the paperwork you’ll need to kickstart your business.

Is Wedding Celebrancy a Good Career Path?

One of the incredible things about becoming a wedding celebrant, is that your career is what you make it. Year-on-year, more and more couples are choosing to hire a celebrant for their big day, and it’s up to you to decide how many of them you would like to work with.

For instance, you could decide that you’re going to throw everything into your new celebrant lifestyle, working as many hours as possible, marrying couples up and down the country. And then, through time, progressing into managing a team of celebrants who can work on your behalf. This would be an intense, but exciting and rewarding journey if you’re blessed with that enterprising spirit.

On the other hand, if you would rather celebrancy fits in with your lifestyle, rather than the other way around, then that’s possible too. The work of a wedding celebrant can be done whenever is right for you. Not only that, but as the online celebrant training course can be done at home, you can fit it in while working a 9-5. Meaning, there’s no need to quit your job before your business is up and running. A comfortability factor that will undoubtedly help you transition out of full-time employment.

What Should a Wedding Celebrant Wear?

The best advice we can give when it comes to wedding celebrant outfits, is let the attire of the couple guide you. Your clothes should match their level of formality, unless they’ve asked you to wear something specific. Which happens! You should certainly be prepared to get creative sometimes, and dress up to match whichever theme your couple has come up with.

In general, you should feel dressed up for the occasion. But your outfit should not be the focus of attention. Which often means both male and female celebrants build a wardrobe of dark-coloured outfits that look chic, without clashing with any other colours on display. Navy, black, grey, are all good places to start from colour-wise. Avoid anything that is too revealing, and items with logos or political statements should also be avoided.

Comfort is also important. For those wearing heels, make sure they’re broken in and won’t cause you too much pain if worn all day. While suits, dresses, and skirts etc, should all offer you the movability you’ll need to perform tasks throughout the day.

Become a Wedding Celebrant with The Academy of Modern Celebrancy

A celebrant trained by The Academy of Modern Celebrancy becomes more than just a celebrant, they are a business. We will give you all the tools you’ll need to become successful in the industry, and sustain that success.

Through one-on-one tutorials, group coaching sessions and real-life celebrant shadowing, you’ll discover why our graduates have become so successful. Effortlessly reaching the goals they set themselves on day one of training.

We understand that there are other online courses out there, but we know we’re different. Better. Our exclusive training programme will fully support your whole journey into celebrancy, and guide you every step of the way. All from the comfort of your own home, desk space or wherever you choose to learn. Because we are 100% remote. Meaning you’ll be taught by the very best in the business, but without the need to travel, or take time out of your day to attend a physical class.

Even though your training is carried out at home, you’ll never feel as though you’re alone. Our exclusive Facebook community will always be available to you, ready to hold your hand throughout the course, and motivate you when you need it most. Many of our graduates have become firm friends during their online celebrant training course, and gone on to help each other carve out their own path within the industry.

Following your graduation, you certainly won’t feel empty-handed. You’ll be granted access to booking forms, contract templates, ceremony checklists, certificate templates and access to our very own top 100 readings and poems for celebrant led ceremonies e-book. If that wasn’t enough, you’ll also have the option to update your certification, and add a training course to become NOCN qualified.

If you’re ready to leave your tired old job behind, and start something that truly fulfils you, what are you waiting for? Sign up today! And if you would like to find out more about our certified wedding celebrant training, or any other course we provide, please click here.