Funeral Celebrant
After attending many weddings and funerals that left me feeling very underwhelmed and questioning why everybody had to have the same type of ceremony when everybody is so different and unique, I decided to train to become a wedding and funeral celebrant
This led to being given the honour of creating and leading hundreds of ceremonies, weddings, and funerals alike. All the wedding ceremonies have been held outdoors and none of them could be described as ‘traditional’. The funerals have all been varied from the traditional type to the unusual, including a panto themed funeral which involved a huge papier mache cows head with blinking eyes placed on top of the coffin, and an old school music hall style ‘knees up’.
My preferred area of celebrancy is funerals, sometimes people find this strange and think of it as morbid. This really isn’t the case, every person I meet is different and experiencing a different stage of grief. It is a privilege to work with them to create a fitting tribute and goodbye ceremony for their family member or friend. Being part of a cherished and meaningful goodbye is hugely rewarding.
‘Just a note to say thank you so much for the beautiful service to send Mum on her way.
We also felt that we had been able to bring Dad into the proceedings and reunite the two of them as we were unable to do that properly during the covid pandemic when we lost him.’
Beverley
As humans we have a need for a ceremony when somebody dies, rituals for the dead have been around since time began. It is my job to help you create and lead that ceremony on your behalf.
Many people are still unaware that funerals are not restricted to churches and crematoriums. They can and do take place anywhere. I have led ceremonies in crematoriums, natural burial grounds, graveyards, village halls, pub function rooms, clients’ homes, and gardens and even in a stretch tent in a rain-soaked field. Every single ceremony was different.
What makes me different to other celebrants?
While we have thankfully moved away from the one size fits all funeral many celebrants are creating ceremonies based on what they were taught during training. Sadly, this has not moved on much since the training programmes started in what is believed to be around the mid 1990’s. The format is now outdated and still uses old religion-based terminologies.
Many celebrants will use a set template and change names and words to fit. Families are not always made aware of what is available and should be given choices in every aspect of a funeral. I will not tell you what must be included, rather I will ask you what you want to happen, and we work together to create that, if you need some guidance, I will happily do that for you. Any ceremony I create is moulded around the person it is for.
Celebrants work as part of a team with all involved supporting, guiding, and helping bereaved people to celebrate the life of their person. Occasionally we may be involved in a different kind of funeral, one which doesn’t involve a celebration of life, rather an acknowledgement the person has died. Whatever the situation, whatever the requirements, those the ceremony is for are a priority.
‘The pace was just perfect, and your lovely words meant so much to all his friends gathered there- and no one could have read his tribute better than you.’
Jane and Sally