I have always prided myself on being one of the first Celebrant Trainers in the U.K. and having now been training celebrants for over 16 years, the wealth of experience which that brings with it.
However, just very recently I saw a newly formed celebrant training organisation advertising ‘modern’ celebrant training; but alongside that adding: “don’t use longer established training companies, as their training is worthless and out of date”.
Whilst I am all for healthy competition in any marketplace, I felt a need to respond to such a comment.
Because as the longest established celebrant training organisation in the U.K. I want to assure anyone browsing through the minefield of different training options that:
- Our courses and our celebrants not only both have a reputation for excellence.
- But over the years, we have tweaked and updated both our wedding and our funeral courses to take into account changes in trends and demands.
The biggest part of that being due to:
- The public becoming more and more educated in relation to the work of celebrants
- And people now understanding the choice and personalisation they can include within any part of a ceremony.
The client is ALWAYS in charge of the ceremony, not the celebrant – after all it’s their day, not ours.
Modern Celebrancy: Marriage and Family Ceremonies
It was back in 2021 that we added a whole additional day to our Marriage and Family Celebrancy course to take into account the importance of changes and development in social media. After all, when we started offering training in 2007, the likes of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Tik-Tok were not even in existence. Throughout those years too, we have seen an increasing importance in relation to inclusion and diversity; a brand new generation of millennials wanting very different styles of weddings to those their parents had 20-30 years ago.
Modern Celebrancy: Funerals
In relation to funerals, one of the biggest changes we have seen has been the shift towards more direct cremations, generally a time when a deceased person’s body is taken directly to the crematorium for cremation, without any kind of ceremony and without any loved ones being present. Whilst many people express it is their wish to have a direct cremation when the time comes (often an act of selflessness to try and save surviving loved ones money or fuss), most bereft families still need a way of saying goodbye, and a safe dedicated time to share their grief, and celebrate the life of their loved one.
This is where celebrants can still offer a memorial service / celebration of life, just without the physical presence of a coffin.
We have also seen changes in music and media systems, the increasing demand and styles of printed order of service sheets, and more families wanting to hold a funeral ceremony in other locations away from a traditional church or crematorium.
These are just a few of the more ‘modern’ changes we have taken into account when updating our celebrant training programmes over the years.
Experience
I myself have been a celebrant for over 21 years now and have conducted in the region of 4,500 ceremonies. I am still working as a celebrant on a regular basis, as well as running training courses. I therefore have a wealth of experience to share, and see ever changing developments and demographics within both the wedding and funeral industries, which I ensure any newly trained celebrants are fully up to date with.
Likewise, my co-trainers, who run my courses for me, are not only highly experienced, they are all still working regularly as celebrants, as well as trainers, ensuring their own knowledge and skills are fully up to date.
So, if you want to train with an organisation which has a long standing reputation for excellence, a vast amount of knowledge and experience to share, which is up to date, with a forward thinking and modern approach, then please do speak to us to find out more.
