Miranda Ash, Meet the Mentor

Introducing Miranda Ash, one of our incredible Celebrant Mentors. Miranda is an award-winning celebrant with 12 years of experience in the field, helping future celebrants find their feet in the amazing world of ceremony and storytelling. 

In 2023, Miranda won The Wedding Industry Awards Celebrant of the Year award. Her couples have described her as a “Magician of love stories,” the “Celebrant of Joy, “The bubbly celebrant, “Magical,” and “Simply the Best”.

Miranda is based near Winchester in Hampshire, UK, and she performs ceremonies all over the UK and beyond. This year alone, she’s had the privilege of doing ceremonies across the UK, France and Poland! Her motto when it comes to destination ceremonies is “Have passport, will travel!”

Miranda’s background 

Aside from being an award-winning celebrant herself with a thriving celebrant business, Miranda brings an eclectic mix of skills and knowledge to her work as a Celebrant Mentor, including a background in events, marketing, communications and business development. In another life, she’s a Mindset Coach, so she doesn’t just know what it takes to be an award winning Celebrant, she’s highly skilled in helping people overcome the beliefs and doubts that get in the way of success.

Get to know Miranda as she shares some of her insights with us…

How would you describe being a Celebrant?

“Being a Celebrant is all about meeting people, building relationships and telling stories in a unique way. Celebrants are there to support families and couples to celebrate meaningful times in their lives.

Being a Wedding and Naming Celebrant is joyful moment after joyful moment. It’s not a job, it’s a mission. I get to be there for the joyful moments in people’s lives.”

What do you love most about being a Celebrant?

“The thing I’ve loved is meeting my couples. Every single couple I’ve met is unique and has a unique story to tell. As a Celebrant you learn so many different stories from how couples met, to stories of people who’ve passed away but who lived the most incredible lives.

It’s a real privilege to hear those stories and to share them. Once you do one ceremony, you absolutely get hooked!”

“And you get to visit some beautiful locations too. I’ve got a wedding coming up at Berkshire Castle, a incredible ceremony with lots of symbolic elements including a handfasting, a ring warming ritual, where the rings are passed around to the guests to bless them with a silent word or intention to support them in their marriage and a Rune raising ritual, an ancient ritual  last performed in the UK in the early 12th century, where you cast Runes for luck in the marriage.

I’m currently researching everything I can find about the Rune ritual. I’m a bit of a history geek, which comes in handy when I’m researching ancient rituals and traditions for ceremonies.”

What’s different about working with Celebrants?

“The couples that want to work with a Celebrant inherently want to put more thought into their wedding ceremony, which makes it very meaningful compared to a typical run-of-the-mill ceremony. Because of that, the couples that I work with tend to be very ‘loved up’; it’s not a guarantee, but I think in my 12 years of being a celebrant, I’ve probably only worked with one or two couples that I’ve thought probably won’t make it!”

Creating personalised ceremonies

You don’t get to be named TWIA Celebrant of the Year without knowing a thing or two about delivering memorable ceremonies. How do you create ceremonies that feel personal and unique?

“I do my research! I meet a lot of couples in my local coffee shop, and we sit down and discuss what they do and don’t want in their ceremony. I also have them complete a couples quiz separately without sharing it with each other to allow me to get to know them. It makes it easier when we sit down together to figure out what they want from their ceremony.”

Favourite proposal Story: Love Actually inspired

“As a Celebrant, you’ll meet hundreds of couples, each with their own unique love story to tell, and you’ll hear so many different ones. My favourite was for a lovely couple, Annand and Tom, who were diehard Love Actually fans. It was inspired by the Kiera Knightly doorstep scene (with the best friend, fake Carol singers and whiteboards). 

The proposal took place on Christmas Eve at home by the Christmas tree with an old-fashioned tape player (just like in the film). Annand turned the tape player on to play Christmas carols, and on the whiteboards, he’d written, “Will you Marry me, Tom?”

It was perfect – personal and meaningful to them.”

Most unusual wedding ceremony

“I’ve officiated a wedding ceremony where the couple had a tattoo artist tattoo their wedding rings on at the end of the ceremony. The tattoo artist stayed for the reception and was offering tattoos to wedding guests who wanted them!”

The most unusual request probably isn’t for sharing – quite a few celebrants got the same enquiry, but I politely turned it down, as did the others!

Is there any ceremony request you’d say no to?

I love it when couples come to me with unusual and unique ideas for their wedding ceremony, and most of the time, I’m game if they are! That said, you see Celebrants marrying couples on a tightrope over the Grand Canyon, that’s a bit too far fetched for me – my fear of heights would get in the way. I’ve also had to turn down ceremonies on boats because I get seasick!

Tell us about Wedding Fairs!

With her background in Events and marketing and her 12 years as a Celebrant, Miranda knows a thing or two about promotion. One area she excels in is Wedding Fairs. Within the AMC family, she’s known as the ‘Queen of the Wedding Fair’; in fact, she’s previously shared some of her top tips about attending wedding fairs as a Celebrant.

“Wedding fairs are a lot of fun; they’re a great opportunity for couples to throw out using Instagram and the internet to plan their wedding and actually get face to face with a whole host of suppliers that can help you with every aspect of your wedding.

For Celebrants, Wedding fairs are a great way to educate couples about the unique, personalised, and meaningful nature of a Celebrant-led ceremony. They’re also a great way to meet like-minded suppliers, build your network, and even make some new friends in the industry. I’ve made some great connections at Wedding Fairs that have led to referrals and even a styled shoot opportunity.

Miranda’s Advice for New Celebrants

It’s important to value your craft and charge your worth 

I think it’s really important for Celebrants to value themselves and their time and to charge accordingly. You are a professional who puts hours and hours into your training and preparation, and even if you’re new, very often, you’re coming to the industry with valuable transferable skills you honed in a different industry.

Believe it or not, the average ceremony takes around 20 to 30 hours of work, and you deserve to get paid for it! It’s important to recognise the time and effort you put into creating and delivering a personalised ceremony. When you book a celebrant for your ceremony, you’re not just getting someone who shows up on the big day.

Your fees include:

• Planning and Consultation: Making sure every detail is just right.
• Communication: Keeping in touch through emails and phone calls to answer all your couples questions.
• Meetings and site visits: Catching up in person to get to know each other and discuss your vision, as well as liaising with wedding suppliers and venues to make sure it all goes smoothly on the day.
• Writing: Crafting a unique and completely personal ceremony script — no copycat or AI-produced ceremonies here!
• On-the-day prep: Making sure everything is set and ready to go.
• Preparing my celebrant toolbox: Getting all ceremony essentials ready.
• Travel time: Getting to and from your ceremony location, site visit and meetings.
• Number crunching: Keeping everything in the accounts up to date.
• Marketing: Spreading the word!
• Insurance: Ensuring everything runs smoothly and safely.
• Professional memberships and CPD: Staying updated with the latest in the industry.

What do you do when you’re not being a Celebrant or Celebrant Mentor?

When I’m not “celebrant-ing” you’ll probably find me hanging out with my husband, Mr Ash, I love Travelling and soaking up history and culture. I love entertaining family and friends, or, more often than not, I’ll have my head buried in a good book!

If you’d like more inspiration and insights from Miranda, you can find her @mirandathecelebrant on Instagram and TikTok or visit her website Mirandathecelebrant.com

Start your Celebrant journey with us.

Inspired by Miranda’s story? At the Academy of Modern Celebrancy, we believe you, too, can transform your passion for creating meaningful moments into a fulfilling career as a celebrant. Whether you’re seeking a career change, a new challenge, or a way to channel your creativity, celebrancy offers a unique opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives.

Our comprehensive celebrant training programmes, guided by experienced mentors like Miranda, equip you with all the tools and support you need to succeed. From mastering the art of writing a personalised ceremony to building a thriving Celebrant business, we’re with you every step of the way. Ready to start your own celebrant journey? Join us at AMC and start creating unforgettable ceremonies that touch hearts and change lives. Let the adventure begin!