The best advice I ever got as a celebrant – Laura Crockett

Words of wisdom from Laura Crockett, award-winning celebrant, mentor and host of the Beyond the Ceremony podcast.

When you’re training as a celebrant, advice comes at you from every direction. Fellow students, social media, forums, well-meaning friends and family — everyone has an opinion on how you should present yourself, build your business, and find your feet. But which advice actually sticks?

Laura Crockett — former broadcaster, award-winning celebrant, AMC mentor and host of the Beyond the Ceremony podcast — was asked exactly that question. When she shared the best advice she’d ever received as a trainee celebrant, her answer was simple, but the impact it had was anything but.

Be yourself — because you are your brand

Laura’s number one piece of advice? Be yourself.

“When I first started as a celebrant, I was trying to be the celebrant that I thought people wanted, and I was maybe not being fully myself. Whereas actually now I will just be completely myself on those video calls when I first meet a couple, because then I know that if that family or that couple buy into that, I know that we are going to have a great working relationship, and that ceremony is going to be perfect for them.”
— Laura Crockett

It sounds almost too simple to be transformative. But for so many celebrants, this one shift — from performing a version of themselves to showing up as they genuinely are — is the moment everything changes.

As Laura puts it, being yourself in those initial enquiry calls isn’t just about authenticity for its own sake. It’s a practical filter. If a couple or family connects with you when you’re truly being you, the relationship will be easier, the ceremony will be better, and the whole experience will feel right on both sides. If they don’t connect, they probably weren’t your ideal client anyway.

This is exactly why, at the Academy of Modern Celebrancy, we don’t train celebrants to fit a template. From the very first module, we encourage you to discover what makes you, you — and to see that as your greatest professional asset, not something to tone down or apologise for.

We’ve seen this play out time and again with our graduates:

• Martin Fox Roberts became the UK’s first British Sign Language and drag queen celebrant — fully, proudly himself.
• Sonal Dave, one of our incredible mentors found her stride by leaning into offering multicultural ceremonies that reflected her own background and passion.
• Miranda Ash’s confidence and bookings grew when she stopped second-guessing her style and embraced who she truly was.
• Amanda Luscombe Smith, the Great Glen Celebrant, turned her love of nature into a specialism in outdoor ceremonies in Scotland.

None of these celebrants succeeded by blending in. They succeeded by standing out — by being unapologetically themselves.

Mind your own business

Laura’s second piece of advice is just as valuable, and it came from fellow AMC mentor Tara:

“Mind your own business. If you’re focusing on what you’re doing as a celebrant, that is the most important thing. Because sometimes, when you come into this industry, it can be very overwhelming — looking at what everyone else is doing, looking at all the other celebrants on their websites or social media. Then you start to follow those and question what you’re doing, or perhaps try and copy what they’re doing, and none of that works for anyone.”
— Laura Crockett

It’s remarkably easy to fall into the comparison trap, especially in the early stages of building your celebrant business. You’re still finding your feet, your confidence might be fragile, and social media makes it look like everyone else has it all figured out.

But Laura is clear on the impact this has:

“If you mind your own business and think about what you are doing, you’re not going to get overwhelmed by other people. You’re not going to suffer with imposter syndrome, because you’re just doing what you’re doing and concentrating on that.”
— Laura Crockett

This isn’t about being dismissive of the wider celebrant community — it’s about knowing where to invest your energy. Celebrancy is a business, and every hour spent scrutinising what someone else is doing is an hour not spent developing your own skills, writing better ceremonies, building client relationships, or marketing yourself effectively.

We’ve seen students copying other celebrants’ social media posts almost word-for-word. Whilst imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, it’s both unethical and counterproductive — because it keeps you playing someone else’s game rather than your own.

The advice is liberating once you take it on board: give yourself permission to be imperfect, allow time to find your style, and trust that what you’re building is enough.

What this means for your training

At the Academy of Modern Celebrancy, these two pieces of advice aren’t just inspirational quotes — they’re baked into our training approach.

Our curriculum is designed to help you uncover your authentic celebrant voice, not to produce a cohort of celebrants who all sound, look and market themselves the same way. Our mentors — all working celebrants themselves — will challenge you to bring more of yourself into your ceremonies, not less.

And when it comes to building your business, we give you the tools and frameworks to focus on your own path. Because the celebrants who thrive are the ones who’ve stopped looking sideways at the competition and started looking forward at the career they’re building.

That’s the mindset that transforms a trainee celebrant into a confident, booked-up professional.

Ready to find out if celebrancy is right for you?

If Laura’s advice has resonated with you, the next step is finding out whether celebrancy is the right fit for your personality, your lifestyle, and your goals.

Take our free celebrant quiz to discover whether this could be the career you’ve been looking for — or explore our accredited training courses in Wedding, Funeral, Naming, and Master Celebrancy to see how AMC can help you build a business that’s truly yours.

🎓 Take the celebrant quiz: academyofmoderncelebrancy.com/quiz

📚 Explore our courses: academyofmoderncelebrancy.com/courses

Listen to the full conversation with Laura Crockett on the Beyond the Ceremony podcast.