The business of being a celebrant and why you need a skilled trainer
These days, anyone and just about everyone is setting up as a celebrant trainer. Sometimes I wonder if there are more trainers than celebrants. I’m not joking. UNFORTUNATELY, many trainers have either limited experience in the field of celebrancy (and some are lying about their background and credentials) or themselves were poorly trained; and, therefore, we have an influx of the ‘inexperienced’ trying to teach the inexperienced. The celebrant ‘industry’ in the UK is being undermined by the poor and inadequate level of training on offer. A slick, corporate-looking website is no promise of excellency in training. Nor is one saying NOCN. How do I know this?
Two reasons.
- Because of the number of people who’ve ended up coming to us for re-training (from an assortment of trainers/training schools and organisations) after feeling like something huge was missing despite having spent thousands of pounds there. One person described it as ‘the difference between night and day’.
- The number of funeral directors and bereavement staff and wedding-venue planners who are left astonished at the poor quality of celebrants coming through.
What makes us different? Our training here at Heart-led Celebrants is rigorous. We make no apologies for this. We’re not just working with you, but we’re acting on behalf of your future clients. A certificate for attendance, or certification given by someone whose own work is substandard, isn’t going to come close to being adequate the day you officiate a child’s funeral or a suicide-bereavement ceremony the day before Christmas. It won’t help you create a gorgeous wedding ceremony whether it’s an elopement on a hillside or a ceremony in front of two hundred people. Celebrancy is a deadline-driven, detail-heavy business and this is why, when you’re in training at Heart-led Celebrants, I go through your work in detail (giving detailed feedback), and monitor when you submit modules, with eagle eyes. When it comes to your voice and communication modules, the same care and attention to detail is given to each student.
Choosing an easy course where you’re certified simply for turning up will catch up with you in the end. Sure, you might start off getting plenty of clients but your reputation will soon go before you. If you’re coming to this line of work because you care, then that care begins with your training. Skimp here, and your working life will become threadbare. If you don’t have the discipline and dedication to engage in a thorough training course, then you won’t have the necessary skills and qualities to build a beautiful celebrant practice.
The name of our training is called Heart-led Celebrants. We work with students from around the world, and all walks of life and career backgrounds, who are committed to excellence. Excellence in training, and excellence in their celebrant practice.
