From film sets to funeral ceremonies: how Mounira built a dual celebrant career

Mounira trained as a wedding celebrant with AMC before returning to qualify as a funeral celebrant too. Her story is one of deliberate choices, extraordinary preparation, and a career that finally matches who she is.

A name that means light, a career to match

There is something quietly fitting about the fact that Mounira’s name, derived from the Arabic word for bright, carries connotations of hope and light. Because that is precisely what she brings to the ceremonies she creates, whether she is standing at the front of a sun-drenched outdoor wedding or sitting across from a grieving family in the first hours after loss.

Mounira is a wedding and funeral celebrant working across Kent, London and south-east England. She is also, by her own description, a travelling celebrant, splitting her time between Margate on the Kent coast and Cairns in tropical Australia. A storyteller, a people-person, a committed advocate for inclusive and culturally thoughtful ceremonies. And an AMC graduate who took a considered, step-by-step route into one of the most meaningful professions she has ever known.

Life before celebrancy

Before the ceremonies, Mounira had built a career across two creative industries. As a film and TV project manager, researcher and writer, she spent years in a world where storytelling, precision, and calm under pressure were non-negotiable. Alongside that, she worked, and continues to work, as a yoga teacher, a role that placed human connection and presence at the centre of everything she did.

Both careers gave her something rare: the ability to hold space for people, to listen carefully, to organise complex moving parts without losing sight of the human experience at the heart of it all. But they were not quite enough. What was missing was the opportunity to be the person who gave voice to life’s most significant moments — to mark them, honour them, and make them unforgettable for the people living them.

Celebrancy offered exactly that.

Finding the right training: Choosing AMC

When Mounira began researching training options, she was thorough. She looked at multiple providers before making her decision, and, in her own words, she was immediately struck by the energy and professionalism at AMC. The blended learning approach stood out: a structured mix of self-paced video content, workbooks, weekly live Q&A sessions, and one-to-one mentorship from practising celebrants.

It was the mentorship model that sealed it. Not the idea of occasional feedback, but genuine, consistent, personalised support from someone already working in the industry, someone who knows the realities of the job, not just the theory. That combination of flexibility and expert guidance was exactly what she was looking for.

The wedding celebrant course: building the foundations

Mounira completed AMC’s wedding celebrant training first. By her own account in a review she left shortly after graduating, the experience exceeded her expectations at almost every level. The blended learning approach worked well — the pre-recorded content allowed her to train around her existing commitments, while the live sessions and one-to-one mentorship with her mentor Julie meant she never felt like she was doing it alone.

“My mentor Julie was superb — she seemed to be able to read my mind and offered support accordingly. It really was a seamless and pleasant experience.”

What struck her most was how quickly she felt ready. Before her certificate had even arrived in the post, before her website had launched, she had already conducted her first wedding for a couple who were both autistic and neurodivergent, and had another booking in place for the year ahead. The training had not just given her knowledge. It had given her the confidence to use it.

Her instinct to be fully present with her couples, to craft ceremonies that reflected their values and cultural backgrounds, translated naturally from the course content to real ceremony work. The practical emphasis of the training — scripting, consultation technique, ceremony structure, presentation — had prepared her for the reality of the job, not a sanitised version of it.

The decision to add funeral celebrancy later

After her first wedding season, Mounira returned to AMC. This time for the funeral celebrant course.

It was a deliberate choice, and the timing mattered. Rather than enrolling in both courses simultaneously, she had decided to complete the wedding training, get real ceremonies under her belt, and then come back to funeral work when she felt ready — both practically and emotionally.

Mounira is clear about why that sequence worked for her: going into the funeral course having already experienced the AMC system meant the structure felt familiar, which was a genuine comfort as she entered what she describes as the more emotionally demanding of the two disciplines. The foundations were already in place. She could focus entirely on the new skills, sensitivities, and responsibilities the role demanded.

That said, she is careful to note that the path will be different for everyone. For Mounira, a slow and steady progression between the two specialisms was exactly right. For others, a different route may make more sense. Celebrancy rarely looks the same for everyone.

What the funeral celebrancy course actually prepares you for

Ask Mounira what made the funeral course stand out, and her answer is immediate: how practical it was.

“The insights from the course applied to the real world just incredibly well. A lot of the thinking I was going to need to do — and a few of the mistakes I probably would have made — had been mitigated by that real practicality in the course.”

There is a particular moment in funeral celebrancy that the course prepared her for in a way she found genuinely valuable. The first family meeting — the consultation that takes place after a bereavement, when a celebrant sits with people at one of the hardest times they will ever face.

In that meeting, a celebrant typically has around 90 minutes to gather everything they need: stories, memories, the character of the person who has died, the wishes of the family, the tone they want. It is both an act of deep compassion and a logistical skill. The AMC training had prepared her for that reality, honestly — not just emotionally, but practically. She knew what questions to ask, how to hold space for grief while still gathering what she needed, and how to leave a family feeling heard rather than processed.

Becoming a Funeral Celebrant: The first family meeting

In funeral celebrancy, the initial consultation with a bereaved family is one of the most important moments in the entire process. A celebrant may have around 90 minutes to gather everything needed to create a meaningful, personal ceremony. AMC’s funeral celebrant training addresses this directly — teaching students how to conduct sensitive, structured family meetings with confidence and compassion.

When done well, she says, the reward is profound. To be able to deliver the best possible ceremony for someone who has died — and to support the people left behind in the way they deserve to be supported — is unlike anything else she has experienced in her working life.

The mentorship: structure, warmth, and someone in your corner

If there is one element of AMC’s training that Mounira returns to again and again, it is the mentorship. Not the concept of it, but the quality of it.

Her mentor during the funeral course was praised specifically for how she managed timelines and deadlines — giving advance notice of what was coming, maintaining clear structure, and being available for questions throughout. In a course that covers emotionally complex territory, that kind of organised, consistent support made a significant difference.

“She was just really encouraging and supportive throughout. Worth its weight in gold.”

Mentorship at AMC is not a bolt-on extra. It is built into how the learning works — a one-to-one relationship with a practising celebrant who has real-world experience, who can give feedback specific to your needs, and who remains available beyond the formal touchpoints of the course. For Mounira, it was the difference between studying in isolation and feeling genuinely accompanied through the process.

Life as a Funeral & Wedding Celebrant – Where she is now

Mounira now works as both a wedding and funeral celebrant across Kent, London and the south-east. Her practice, Celebrant Mounira, is built around ceremonies that are stylish, inclusive, bespoke and deeply considered — a natural extension of the values she brought into celebrancy long before she enrolled with AMC.

She is a listed preferred supplier with wedding directories, a supporter of the Give Couples Choice Movement, and a celebrant with a strong commitment to marriage equality, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and cultural diversity. Her background in film and TV storytelling shows in the way she writes; her yoga teaching shows in the calm she brings to ceremony days.

She completed her first wedding season, got those ceremonies under her belt, and has now begun her first funerals. Two disciplines. One practice. A career built with patience and purpose.

Mounira’s advice to anyone considering training as a Celebrant

Mounira’s experience points to something that comes up again and again in conversations with AMC graduates: the value of not rushing. Of deciding what you want to do, training properly, and then doing the work before moving on to the next stage.

She found the two-course route, weddings first, funerals second, to be the right structure for her. The transferable skills and familiarity with the AMC system made the funeral course feel less daunting. The real ceremonies she had already conducted gave her the confidence to carry into the harder, more emotionally demanding work of supporting bereaved families.

If funeral celebrancy has ever appealed to you, her account is worth sitting with. Not because it minimises how challenging the role can be, she is honest about the demands it places on you, but because it shows what proper preparation looks like, and what becomes possible when you have it.

Ready to start your celebrant journey?

Mounira is one of over 1,000 students who have trained with the Academy of Modern Celebrancy. Whether you are drawn to wedding, funeral, or naming celebrancy — or all three — AMC’s accredited, mentor-led training is designed to take you from curious to certified, at a pace that works for your life.