To Serve With Love
We’re now in our seventh year here at Heart-led Ceremonies Celebrant Training. A lot can happen in seven years, personally and professionally. One of the things I continue to do is maintain my celebrant practice (officiating ceremonies across all rites of passage). This is important to me for a number of reasons:
• I love what I do: making a meaningful difference in people’s lives during their transitions
• I keep up-to-date with styles, trends, legalities
• It allows me to offer shadowing opportunities to our students
• As a celebrant, you never stop learning (If you think you know everything, then you and your ego are best off finding another job. This is one of the reasons why I’m concerned about the vast numbers of celebrant trainers who’ve had only a handful of years as working celebrants. They still have so much to learn.)
When we started out training it was only meant as a one-off event: we attracted a group of six amazing women to train. We had such a FABULOUS time we did it again, and again. And then…someone asked me if we’d consider training them on a one-to-one basis. Sure! Why not? And here’s the thing: we’ve never looked back. This is because:
1. It opened a door to many other people who wanted the option of one-to-one
2. We saw the massive difference that one-to-one training offers (regardless of people’s learning styles or whether they’re introverts or extroverts)
3. When you’re learning on a one-to-one basis, there’s no hiding behind other students; there’s no coasting along. As your tutors, you have our undivided attention. We will guide, support, encourage, motivate and challenge you to be the best celebrant possible.
Now, to be clear, I LOVE LOVE LOVE working in groups. However, as someone who has now been a working celebrant for almost 29 years, this is something I know with 100% certainty. When a master passes on their craft, it is akin to offering someone an apprenticeship. And a role like celebrancy? One that is based on an enormous foundation of responsibility? Well, then that apprenticeship becomes even more important. They are learning at your side and this undivided attention bestows optimal learning opportunities. Of course, a training is only ever going to be as good as the co-creative experience between the teacher and student. If the celebrant-in-training takes a lackadaisical approach to their studies, then they will only get as much out of it as they put into it and both they and their future clients will be poorer for it.
It’s not unusual for someone to enquire about celebrant training when actually what they’re really wanting to know is can they go and officiate a friend’s wedding without training. Well, there’s no law against it. However, what you don’t know is WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW. Almost every student we train says to me, within the first few hours of their face-to-face training “I had NO idea how much was involved.” And why would anyone? If you’ve seen a (good) celebrant at work, they’ll make it look easy. It’s not. Their 20 to 30 minutes officiating is a small part of their job. It takes, for example, about ten hours of work behind a 20 minute funeral and about 20 to 30 hours of time behind a 30 minute wedding.
It is an honour and a privilege to officiate ceremonies,
and one that I don’t take lightly.
It is an honour and a privilege to teach someone how to be a Heart-led Celebrant,
and one that I don’t take lightly.
The training, however, is done with immense care, love, respect and a genuine desire to see our students thrive as celebrants and for their clients to have the best possible experience. I do this job knowing that I’m not going to live forever, but for each additional year that I’m a working celebrant I have hundreds more ceremonial experiences which I add to my vast teaching chest. You see, everything I learn helps the celebrant-in-training to learn from me about what works and what doesn’t work as a celebrant.
I am here to serve with love. Not just today, on St Valentine’s Day, but every single day of my life. ~ Veronika
Veronika Robinson and Paul Robinson are a husband and wife team whose boutique celebrant training Heart-led Celebrants attracts people from around the world. Heart-led Celebrants has earned a reputation for excellence in celebrant training, and those who are certified exemplify the highest standards in the industry.
Veronika is the author of many books including the popular Celebrant Collection: Write That Eulogy; The Successful Celebrant; Funeral Celebrant Ceremony Planner; Wedding Celebrant Ceremony Planner; The Blessingway; The Gentle Celebrant’s Guide: Funerals For Children; The Discrimination-free Celebrant; The Celebrant’s Guide to the Five Elements.
Award-winning voice artist, Paul Robinson, has had a whole career centred around his voice and other people’s. He’s highly experienced as a celebrant, trained actor, drama coach, voice-over artist, singer, broadcaster, compère, and ventriloquist. Paul is an excellent communicator and teacher, and has a sixth sense about how to relate to individuals, groups and audiences.