Are you considering becoming a celebrant and have concerns if you are going to get work?
Have you been thinking about becoming a celebrant but been put off by reading or by being told there are too many celebrants?
Are there too many celebrants?
Celebrant groups on social media are full of opinionated celebrants stating most of the following remarks:
- There are too many celebrants
- The market is flooded with celebrants
- There isn’t enough work to go around
- Fds (funeral directors) have their favourites (celebrants)
- There are too many celebrants in this area
These statements could prevent those considering becoming a celebrant from pursuing it further. Some are valid statements from personal experience of those making them. Who better to find information from than those already in the role?
How can the statement ‘there are too many be celebrants’ be made without knowing how many celebrants there are in each town, city, county or country within the UK? Is it a generalised statement based on the amount of celebrants commenting in Facebook groups? Is it because those making these statements have found their once plentiful bookings have decreased or ceased? If so why, and what are they doing about it?
Do experienced celebrants feel threatened or concerned by new celebrants?
Do established celebrants think new celebrants will take work from them?
Do long standing celebrants work on their marketing or take CPD (continuing professional development) courses?
How Celebrants Gain Work
Walking into a funeral directors with a handful of business cards and a box of biscuits, (suggestions made by some celebrant training companies on how to gain work as a funeral celebrant) or sending an email won’t gain a funeral celebrant any work. (If it does, that is being in the right place at the right time).
How each celebrant gains works is dependent on many factors including:
- Geographical area
- Availability
- Recommendations
- Being seen ‘in action’
- Knowledge, expertise, or ceremony speciality
- What kind of celebrant they are
- If their business appeals to funeral directors
- Successful marketing and advertising
- A professional website with strong content
- A social media presence
- Fees charged
Why Do Celebrants Charge Different Fess?
A celebrant charging a low price will potentially gain more bookings than those who base their ceremony fees on undercutting their local competitors or decide to charge what other local celebrants charge. Fees charged by specialist celebrants will always be higher as more research, writing skills, time spent, and knowledge goes into these kinds of ceremonies.
Creating alternative ceremonies or ceremonies inclusive and reflective of a lifestyle, theme, demonstrative of creativity or completely personalised ceremonies (which do not contain any poems, vows, committal words, content or unity ceremony wording previously said in other ceremonies) take far longer to design and create than traditional ceremonies.
Now many are aware of what a celebrant can do, and why using a celebrant for a wedding or a funeral can lead to a memorable and fully personalised wedding or celebration of life, celebrants need to move with the times and be aware of trends, fashions, trending themes on social media, demonstrate diversity to be inclusive of everyone present during a ceremony and move their ceremony creation forward rather than stay in their ceremony comfort zone, using the same poems, wording, vows, committal words and ceremony material.
Hands Up if You are a Celebrant
If you are a celebrant, do you think there are too many celebrants? If you do, what has brought you to believe this? Lack of bookings, too many celebrants you know of in your area, your business bookings have decreased or another reason. Is it perhaps your fees? What category of celebrant do you market yourself to be?
What Kind of Celebrant Do You Want To Be?
There are different kinds of celebrants and knowing what kind of celebrant you want to be will help you find the right training company who have the skills required to train you to become this kind of celebrant you want to be.
There is so much more to the being a celebrant than reading in public. Training prepares, informs, and teaches student celebrants about so much more than reading in public. Every role and every job requires training to know how to do the job. People skills, empathy, listening and writing skills, ceremony preparation, ceremony construction, unity ceremony knowledge, recognising and preparing for situations caused by grief and emotion, guest interaction, working with other suppliers and so much more can’t just be ‘winged’ or picked up on the job.
Celebrant Training in the UK
Training companies in the UK vary.
Some also teach different subjects for low competitive prices.
Some (like us here at Choice Celebrant Training) have more than one designated Celebrant Trainer.
Some have limited knowledge of training celebrants, and are companies set up by celebrants who want to move into training, teaching them from their own experiences.
Some are sole trainers with company names giving the illusion they are a bigger establishment or operation than just a single person set up.
Some only teach online
Some offer residential training
If the training they sell appeals to your needs, they are right for you regardless of their name and size. It should be about what they will teach you.
Things to consider include:
Sharing claims of how many ceremonies a Celebrant Trainer personally undertakes annually isn’t a reflection of the amount of ceremonies a prospective or a student celebrant will receive when they have completed their training.
Training companies may not always know how much work is available for celebrants outside their geographical areas, nor be aware of how much or how little work their former students are getting.
If you are considering signing up with a training company, contact celebrants they have trained and ask their opinions on the training they received. Ultimately trust your own judgements and choose a company who needs your needs based on their course content. This is what matters.
The Role of a Celebrant
The role of a celebrant only exists because of love; love for those a ceremony is about or for. Celebrancy isn’t an easy role, nor should it be entered into with any training. We only get one chance to say goodbye to a loved one and training provides celebrants with the knowledge and skills required to help people to do this. To be a professional, forward thinking, and creative celebrant who is the future of celebrancy, you need great training.
We at Choice Celebrant Trainers are a team of professional, progressive, creative, forward thinking, and motivated Celebrant Trainers. We aren’t retired celebrants as some trainers are. This can be problematic if they do not keep up to date with what clients require.
You will need exceptional training as the first step on your personal celebrant journey. We offer personalised celebrant training based on the requirements of each student celebrant as an individual, not as a clone of standardised celebrant training.
Are There Too Many Celebrants?
Are there too many celebrants, or are there are too many celebrants offering the same traditional services? We are all individuals who want different things, and this includes the ceremonies marking milestones and events in our lives. Have you got what it takes to be an alternative celebrant? If so, we can help you on your celebrant journey.
Blog by Choice Celebrant Training