Different Kinds of Celebrants

Celebrants are people who create wedding and vow renewal ceremonies, funerals, celebrations of life, memorial ceremonies, naming ceremonies and many other ceremonies celebrating and marking life events. Did you know there are different kinds of celebrants based on their ceremony styles and the people they appeal to?

What are the Different Kinds of Celebrants?

Below are some of the many categories of different kinds of celebrants. Not all celebrants create weddings, funerals, and life events, some only create weddings, some only funerals.

We aren’t putting celebrants into boxes or giving them labels, we are highlighting there are many celebrants all offering different ceremonies for different people. These are some of the styles and the different kinds of celebrants available.

Wedding or Funeral Celebrants

Those who do not follow a religious, spiritual, alternative, or other lifestyle tend to refer to their selves as a wedding and/or funeral celebrant.

Civil Celebrant

Not to be confused with the ability to perform legal marriages as is sometimes incorrectly thought, some celebrants who create weddings, funerals and life event ceremonies self-categorise themselves as a Civil Celebrant.

Humanist Celebrants

Non-religious celebrants who believe this life is the only life they will have. Humanists Celebrants are mainly members of Humanist UK, and they create ceremonies for life events without any religion. You do not have to ne a member to consider yourself to be a humanist.

Spiritual Celebrants

Celebrants who specialise in the creation of and delivery of ceremonies with spiritual and nature inclusive content. Religion can be included if required by those a ceremony is for.

Pagan Celebrants

There are many branches on the collectively referred to tree that is Paganism. Norse and Wicca are two of the most widely associated Pagan followings. Pagan celebrants create rituals within their ceremonies and true Pagan celebrants follow a spiritual, Shamanic, Celtic nature Wheel of the Year spiritual path.

Religious Celebrants

Celebrants who have a personal religious belief and who can create semi religious ceremonies for those who want some inclusion but do not want a heavily religious ceremony by a religious leader.

Alternative Celebrants

Celebrants who are alternative people and live what is deemed to be an alternative lifestyle such as Goth, Rockabilly, Steampunk, Metal, Hippy, Punk, Mod, or any other subculture/ interest. Alternative celebrants create non-traditional ceremonies which draw influence on a lifestyle for their content.

Different Kinds of Celebrants

Lifestyle Celebrants

Sometimes categorised as alternative celebrants, lifestyle celebrants are celebrants who have personal experience and a knowledge of a lifestyle such as a celebrant who creates ceremonies for those within the fetish community or naturists.

Bilingual Celebrants

A celebrant who speaks two or more languages.

Signing Celebrants

Celebrants who can deliver sections or an entire ceremony using sign language

LGTBQ+ Celebrants

Celebrants who are members of the LGBTQ+ community, specifically requested by other members of the community for their knowledge and experience of creating ceremonies with a specified theme or content. Everybody has a choice of which celebrant they use and sometimes people are more likely to be drawn to somebody who understands their requirements through personal experience. We also aren’t stating those within the LGBTQ+ community only want a celebrant who is also part of that community, but if this is what people require, there are celebrants available for them.

Drag Queen Celebrants

Celebrants who perform ceremonies in drag.

Vegan Celebrants

Veganism is a lifestyle not just dietary requirements and some fellow vegans do request vegan celebrants who understand what is required to be one of their ceremony suppliers.

Theatrical/Performance Celebrants

Celebrants who specialise in theatrical ceremonies and can sing, play a specified musical instrument, and create a ceremony to be delivered with a theatrical or performance inclusion.

Wedding Host Celebrants

Celebrants who are also able to offer the additional service of entertainment during the wedding reception.

Cosplay, ‘Geek’ and ‘Nerd’ Celebrants

Cosplay, ‘geek’ and ‘nerd’ celebrants (as many refer to themselves as being), are celebrants who have a detailed knowledge of gaming, films, cosplay, sci-fi and other interests enabling them to create unique ceremonies for like-minded clients who want to include these things within their ceremony.

Historical/Re-enactment Celebrants

Celebrants who create ceremonies with historical themes/content such as medieval, Viking, Larping or re-enactment or an era or an event. Wearing appropriate clothing is a requirement as is having experience of creating these ceremonies.

Quirky Celebrants

Quirky celebrants are celebrants who specialise in fun, creative, interactive and non-traditional ceremonies. For many quirky celebrants, their personality, personal style (like alternative celebrants) and their ceremony style is why they are self labelled ‘quirky’.

Specialising Celebrants

Celebrants who specialise in certain rituals, ceremony styles or themes. Celebrants specialising in certain ceremony rituals such as handfasting, funeral celebrants who specialise in ceremonies for children or celebrants who create ceremonies for groups of people who share a common ground are specialising celebrants. Celebrants with specific knowledge and experience of certain cultures or beliefs are specialist celebrants.

Find the Right Celebrant

These are some of the different kinds and various categories of wedding, funeral, and life event celebrants. Regardless of what kind of celebrant a celebrant is, every celebrant should be demonstrative of diversity. Every person or people a ceremony is for will have requirements and individualised needs. Every celebrant should be aware of religious, cultural and lifestyle appropriation and only suggest ceremony content which is relevant to the needs of their clients.

‘One size fits all’ isn’t correct as not every celebrant can, nor should they advertise their ability to create all of the above styles and themes. A tattoo artist specialises in a specific style of tattooing; not every tattoo artist can tattoo portraits. When you learn to drive a car you are unable to drive a lorry even though it may seem the same. It is the same with celebrants. We can’t all create ceremonies for everybody. We all have our strengths, knowledges, and weaknesses.

Finding a celebrant who has knowledge and experience of creating a specific kind of ceremony is essential. You have a choice and there are many celebrants to choose from. The above information isn’t the labelling of grouping of wedding and/or funerals celebrants as we here at Choice Celebrant Training do not believe in putting people into boxes with given labels. The above information is to help those in need of a celebrant to find the right one for their needs, or to help trainee celebrants decide on what kind of celebrant they would like to be.

Celebrants are unique as everyone is unique and all have different knowledge in the creation and delivery of many ceremonies. Many celebrants will be willing to wear requested clothing to fit in with a ceremony theme, but finding a celebrant who is understanding of that theme is more appropriate as it isn’t just about clothing, (or not if you require a naturist ceremony).

Every life, every union, every milestone in life can be celebrated and finding the right celebrant to do this will ensure a celebratory and individualised ceremony.

We train many different kinds of celebrants, including most of the above mentioned.

Blog by Choice Celebrant Training