How Long Does it Take to Train to be a Celebrant?

Celebrant training is more popular than ever as many people are deciding to train to become wedding and funeral celebrants. There are different ways to train to become a celebrant which take different amounts of time. How long does it take to train to be a celebrant depends on the length of the training course you choose.

Online Celebrant Training Courses

The most popular way to train to become a wedding and/or funeral celebrant is by taking an online course. There are many different companies offering celebrant training. Advice as a company which specialises in just training celebrants is to choose a company wisely before you part with your money.

There are a few online courses from as little as £29 which isn’t going to give you the in depth, up to date, modern and creative skills required to work as a celebrant. Some of these companies train people to do many different jobs including celebrancy. As the saying goes ‘you get what you pay for’ and for such an inexpensive price, it is doubtful you would get much information. Celebrancy requires intense training as celebrants are responsible for helping bereaved families and people say goodbye to loved ones, mark a milestone of a relationship with a wedding or commitment ceremony, help a person start their new life with a naming ceremony and much more. Cheaper courses may not be intense.

Online celebrant training courses take place through video calls. All our online training courses take place with the trainee celebrant and their chosen Celebrant Trainer. We do not offer group training online as it is important to us every trainee celebrant receives the same amount of quality time with their Celebrant Trainer.

Our courses are held on a day/time suitable for both parties and evening and weekend training sessions are available. Each course has a different timeframe for completion.

Wedding celebrant training takes 8-9 weeks to complete
Funeral celebrant training takes 8-10 weeks to complete
Wedding and funeral celebrant training 16-18 weeks to complete

These timeframes are based on regular, weekly training sessions of up to 1hr 45 mins long each time. Some trainee celebrants require less sessions, some may need a few more.

There is a lot to learn to ensure the money you have spent on your training comes back in the form of ceremony bookings.

Accelerated Celebrant Training Courses

If you are in a hurry to complete your training due to work or family commitments, or if you have been asked to act as the celebrant for a wedding of a friend or family member, you can learn faster than the above timeframes. Training is also through online video calls.

Accelerated wedding celebrant training takes 4 days (1 day of personal study) *
Accelerated funeral celebrant training takes 4 days (1 day of personal study) *
Accelerated wedding and funeral celebrant training takes 8 days (2 days of personal study) *

*personal study days are part of each course.

Group Celebrant Training

Group celebrant training is held in various locations in groups of up to 5 people. Group training courses take 4 days to complete for either wedding or funeral celebrant training.

As we both wedding and funeral training combined is an intense course with much information required and lots of learning, we do not offer this as a group training option. Learning online is the most effective way if you want to train as both a wedding and a funeral celebrant consecutively. In person training may be possible depending on your geographical location. If you require this, please contact us for further information.

Why Can it Take a Few Months to Train as a Celebrant?

We at Choice Celebrant Training view celebrancy as a role rather than just a job. Celebrancy requires an understanding and respect of emotions (particularly funeral celebrancy). Training should include advice and support on how to deal with a barrage of emotions you will encounter as a celebrant.

There is far more to being a celebrant than inserting names into an online script or rehashing another celebrant’s work, or your own. Celebrants all claim to offer ‘personalised, ‘bespoke’ and ‘unique’ ceremonies. It takes time to learn how to do this properly.

Wedding celebrants need to learn how to create and perform many unity ceremonies including the most requested one of handfasting. Wedding celebrants also need to know how to create different types of wedding ceremonies as there certainly isn’t a template for ‘one size fits all’.

Funeral celebrants need to learn how to create many kinds of funeral ceremonies for babies, children, teens, and adults. Funeral celebrants need to know the difference between traditional, modern, and alternative celebrations of life. There is a lot more to learn too.

Learning how to market, run a business and gain bookings is an essential part of becoming a celebrant and we have our own in house, established and professional Graphic Designer, Web Designer and social media marketer who can equip you with the required business tools and information to start and run your business. This is part of our celebrant training.

How Long Does it take to Train to be a Celebrant

Become a Celebrant with Choice Celebrant Training

We at Choice Celebrant Training do not expect trainee celebrants to learn the same ceremony; we give everyone who starts a course with us the choice of what they want to learn and which Celebrant Trainer they want to train them.

If you do not want to learn about children’s funerals, you do not have to.
If you want to learn how to create modern wedding ceremonies, we will teach you.
If you want to be an alternative celebrant, you are in the best place as Choice Founder Ellie Farrell is the original alternative wedding and funeral celebrant who has trained over 470 celebrants. A Celebrant Trainer for over 9 years, previously training celebrants for one of the biggest celebrant training organisations before breaking away to start Choice Celebrant Training to train celebrants in a progressive way.
If you want to learn how to write and lead fun and memorable weddings, our Wedding Celebrant Trainer Glenn Jenkins an expert in meaningful and entertaining ceremonies can teach you.
If you want to learn how to create celebrations of life and how to work with funeral directors to gain bookings, our Funeral Celebrant Trainer Nicky Sutton can teach you as she is also a Funeral Director as well as an established celebrant and Celebrant Trainer.

All our Celebrant Trainers are current, experienced, established and award winning celebrants.
All our Celebrant Trainers have websites, social media presences and can be found by a Google search.
All our Celebrant Trainers keep up to date with trends and industry changes to ensure every trainee celebrant receives the latest information.
All our courses are regularly updated.

Fast Celebrant Training

If you want to become a celebrant and you want to learn quickly, do your research. Check out what each company is offering and the experience of the trainers. Fast celebrant training may appeal to you, or a steadier, weekly pace may be more appealing due to your personal circumstances. Your training should ultimately be about you, not about the training company.

How long does it take to train to be a celebrant depends on the timeframe you choose to learn in. We hope this information has been useful and if you require further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Blog by Choice Celebrant Training