Frequently Asked Questions About Becoming a Celebrant

After running FREE Celebrant Success Maker events for the last 16 months there are a number of frequently asked questions. Here are the top 5 (with their answers):

Q1)        Do you need a qualification to be a celebrant?

A1)         The quick answer is “No”. The UK Government’s Career Service states “You can get into this job through a private training course. You do not need formal qualifications to become a celebrant”. A Level 3 Certificate and Diploma in Civil Celebrancy does exist and it takes between 1-2 years to complete the 8 different pieces of written coursework. It explores topics like the history of Celebrancy in the UK but does not cover how to set up and run a successful celebrant business. Having completed the Level 3 Certificate in Civil Celebrancy in the UK, as experienced senior teacher, headteacher and professional celebrant, it is in my opinion, dull, badly written and a complete waste of anybody’s time. Most successful professional celebrants do not have it but it is often used to market celebrant training courses.

Q2)        How do you get bookings as a new celebrant without a qualification or accreditation?

A2)         The quick answer is “Trust”. Whether you are a funeral celebrant or wedding celebrant, clients need to trust that you can deliver a personal one-off ceremony. Families only get one chance to say “goodbye” at a funeral service, engaged couples will only have once chance to start the happiest and most expensive days in their lives.

For funeral directors and arrangers celebrants win their trust by being professional, explaining the transferable skills and experiences they have from work and life before training as a celebrant as well as the practical things they learnt and experienced in their training. Funeral directors and arrangers need to make a personal connection and to like the new celebrant. There is no advantage of charging a lower fee because your fees are paid for by families, but your booking is via the FD. In our practical celebrant training course we not only teach you how to do this but give you downloadable tools to help plan and navigate winning their trust. Success will come over time, perseverance and resilience is key. This is where our community of graduates is so helpful and supportive.

For wedding celebrants, building trust comes from having an inspiring and helpful website and having an effective social media presence. Without photos, testimonials or experience, many new wedding celebrants do their first ceremonies pro bono or for family and friends at “mates rates”. For a new wedding celebrant’s first year they may need to have very competitive fees to attract those couples planning their wedding on a tight budget and are willing to take a chance with a “newbie” they like. Over time, wedding celebrants should be strategic with their pricing and can charge more as they gain experience and testimonials. In our practical course I teach you how I became a multi-award award winning wedding celebrant and  for the last two years Hitched.co.uk’s most recommended wedding celebrants.  Our Social Media & Digital Marketing course for celebrants teaches you not only how to have a successful website but also how effectively and efficiently create social media content which will create enquiries and bookings.

 Q3)        How much does a celebrant earn and can it replace my current job?

A3)         Full time celebrants can earn average earnings of about £42,000 gross pa although like all new businesses this will take time to establish (perhaps 3-5 years) although most celebrants appear to be part-time combining being a professional celebrant either with another business, other flexible part-time work, semi-retirement or family/caring responsibilities.

How is this earning potential reached?

The average funeral celebrant fee is currently £250 and the average wedding celebrant fee is currently £750 per wedding. Consequently, a volume of 100 funerals per year (average 2 a week but peaking in the winter months) and 23 weddings per year (most of these being concentrated at weekends from June to October). Some celebrants choose to focus more on funerals, others on weddings but hopefully you get the picture.

Q4)        How long does it take to train to become a celebrant?

A4)         Each of our online beginner courses take about 20 hours to complete but because each student is in control of their course it can take less or more time depending on how thorough and how you want to complete it. Each celebrant training course (one for funerals and one for weddings) has over 40 instructional videos. You don’t have to watch them all, the student can skip the topic if they feel they don’t need it. Alternatively, a student can replay any video as often as they like. Once enrolled students have life-time access to all the videos and we let you know when they are updated. Each course has downloadable documents ands notes for students to use as they like. Each course has 8 written assessments and 3 live practical assessments which are completed on a one-to-one Zoom call.

Some people have completed each course within a week. Others choose to complete it over a long period of time to fit around work or family commitments. There are no time limits on when the courses have to be started or completed. It’s up to you.

Q5)        Isn’t the celebrant market overcrowded and saturated?

A5)         The latest available and reliable statistics suggest that 80% of funerals are now delivered by a celebrant. Consequently, the funeral celebrant industry is well established. The average age of funeral celebrants is over 55 and so many do not do it more than 5-10 years and so there is significant turnover. Many newly trained funeral celebrants do not stick at it because they are not adequately trained in the marketing and business side of being a celebrant and so drop out quickly. There are many private training companies training funeral celebrants and the quality of funeral celebrants is highly variable. Consequently, many funeral directors and arrangers are looking out for new and more effective and professional celebrants to use. Winning the trust of local funeral directors and arrangers can take time if they already have a slate of good celebrants. But in time, there gaps will appear and so persistence pays off.

For weddings celebrants the market is less developed with between 17-19% of all weddings being delivered by celebrants. Consequently, with 20% of couples choosing church weddings, most wedding ceremonies are delivered by registrars, but more and more couples are discovering the more personalised alternative of a wedding celebrant. As a result, Hitched is reporting a 49% surge in wedding celebrant enquiries. Demand is greater in some areas than others. There are more weddings in some areas than others and “supply creates its own demand” in the wedding celebrant industry. If there are already many local wedding celebrants in your area this means that more couples will be going to celebrant-led weddings and will be aware of the alternative to registrars and church. In areas where there are few wedding celebrants you will be more of a pioneer.

Whether you are in an area with many or few celebrants already, it is a constantly moving market and quality matters. People can train to be a celebrant cheaply or pay for more in-depth content and more personalised one-to-one development and mentoring to get it right. Like many things, you get what you pay for.