Paying it forward: meet AMC funeral celebrant mentor Grace Weatherburn

When Grace Weatherburn’s mum died, a funeral celebrant conducted the service. It made a difference. A real one. “I want to pay that forward to others,” Grace says, and that impulse, more than anything else, explains why she does what she does.

Since qualifying as a funeral celebrant in 2021, Grace has built her practice in Sheffield around a single belief: every life is distinct, and the ceremony that marks it should be too. “It’s got to be unique, because we are, and that should be celebrated,” she says. A Scouser by birth, previously a Bristol girl, and now firmly a Sheffield woman, Grace runs a Death Café for her local community and donates five per cent of every funeral fee to the Woodland Trust.

The career that brought her here

Before celebrancy, Grace accumulated an unusually broad range of experience with people in some of their most demanding circumstances. She began by working with disengaged young people, a role she describes as keeping her consistently on her toes. From there, she moved into drug and alcohol recovery work, helping people find, as she puts it, “that sense of self-worth and self-belief.” During this period, she set up The Haven, a creative outdoor space that continues to run today.

Lottery-funded community projects followed, then work with isolated adults and volunteer teams. Her final role before celebrancy was as a 999 control room operator for the fire service.

It is, on paper, an unlikely preparation for writing funeral ceremonies. In practice, the skills translate directly. Years of working with people in difficult circumstances, listening without judgement, staying calm under pressure, and helping others find clarity when everything feels chaotic: all of it feeds into what she does now.

What the work asks of you

Grace describes being invited into someone’s home and being trusted with their most precious memories as the greatest honour of the role. “We’re being invited into people’s homes and people’s hearts at the most vulnerable of times,” she says. “We’re being trusted with their most precious moments, life-changing family moments, and that in itself is something very, very special.”

Her website puts her approach plainly: “To have the honour of hearing a life story is a real privilege. Confident in my skills, with a calm and gentle hand, I will walk beside you to create a beautiful and meaningful ceremony that is right for you.”

That emphasis on listening, rather than directing, runs through everything she does. When she talks about the craft of writing a funeral ceremony, she keeps coming back to one idea: “It’s their voice that comes through you.” The celebrant’s job is not to impose a shape on the proceedings but to reflect back what has been shared, forming it into something that holds.

Grace is also committed to reducing the silence that still surrounds death in many communities. Her Death Café in Sheffield creates a regular space for open conversations about grief and loss, an extension of the same conviction that runs through her celebrant work: that naming things, talking about them, and doing so with care make them more bearable.

Her practice covers the full range of modern funeral celebrancy: crematorium services and woodland burials, direct cremations and memorial ceremonies, and pet funerals for families who want to mark the loss of a beloved animal with the same care and intention. “I absolutely love people,” she says. “I love difference, I love diversity, I love alternative ideas, I love that we celebrate each other as human beings.”

I love that we celebrate each other as human beings.

– Grace Weatherburn

What she brings to AMC students

Grace joined the AMC mentoring team because she has something specific to offer students training in funeral celebrancy: the knowledge that this work, done well, genuinely changes things for families.

She came to the role from a professional background built entirely around people in difficult situations. The emotional intelligence and practical communication skills she developed as a recovery worker and a 999 operator are not incidental to her mentoring; they are central to it. She knows how to hold space for others under pressure, how to listen for what is not being said as much as what is, and how to stay grounded when the stakes are high.

At the Academy of Modern Celebrancy, students do not learn from career trainers. They learn from working celebrants who are actively practising, conducting ceremonies week in and week out, and drawing on real experience rather than theory. Grace is exactly that. “We are always learning,” she says, “and each funeral brings its own nuances.” That is precisely what she passes on to the celebrants she mentors: not a fixed set of answers, but a working, honest understanding of what the role actually demands.

She cannot imagine doing anything else. Except, perhaps, running a cat sanctuary.

Celebrant mentors: the AMC difference

Training with AMC means you are never learning in isolation. From the moment you enrol, you have access to weekly live Q&A sessions where you can put your questions to the wider mentor team, hear how different celebrants approach the same challenges, and build your confidence alongside other students going through the same process.

When you reach the practical stage of your training, you are paired with a specialist mentor for dedicated 1-1 support. This is where the real work happens. Your mentor will review your scripts, observe your delivery, and give you specific, honest feedback that helps you develop as a celebrant rather than simply complete a course. Every recommendation is tailored to you: your strengths, your style, and the kind of celebrant you are becoming.

It is the combination of these two things, the breadth of the group sessions and the depth of the 1-1 relationship, that sets AMC training apart.

Ready to start your Celebrant journey?

Grace became a funeral celebrant because a celebrant made a difference for her family at the worst possible time, and she has never forgotten what that felt like. If you are drawn to work that asks something of you and gives back more, this might be exactly what you are looking for.

Find out if celebrancy is right for you