What does a Funeral/Celebration of Life Celebrant do?

A simple description would be that A funeral celebrant is a qualified person, usually from a non-clergy background, who officiates funeral services. Funeral celebrants typically help organise and conduct funerals, supporting the bereaved family every step of the way with the aim of celebrating the life of the person who has died.

However this description only scratches the surface of what we do.

We are listeners and confidantes during the organisation and delivery of a service we will find ourselves being trusted with family secrets, having insights into family dynamics (good and bad) and spending time listening carefully to our clients needs and wishes so that may deliver the service to their wishes and expectations.

We are diplomats, required to be sympathetic, empathetic and professional at all times and use those skills to manage families through difficult times where there may sometimes be conflict. We remain neutral and deliver a service that embraces their beliefs and values and those of the deceased even if they do not reflect our own.

We are project managers and quality controllers, ensuring that services are delivered on time and run to time, as well as meeting the requirements of the family and of the quality expected by other parties involved such as funeral directors and venues.

We have pastoral responsibilities, helping bereaved families get the right help if they need it.

We are authors and wordsmiths, helping to turn the memories of those that passed into a fitting and respectful funeral service that is given using the language and vocabulary that works for our mourners.

We are researchers, sometimes being asked to find poems, songs and prayers that will describe the sentiments of the bereaved and represent the personality and interests of those who are being remembered.

We are orators, remaining calm and clear when standing before families who are feeling high emotions and grief.

We are team workers, collaborating with Funeral Directors, Crematorium staff and venues to ensure that everyone understands what the family require and to ensure that our respective services run seamlessly.

And most of all, we are humans, providing a service that help other humans say goodbye to someone they have loved, as we have needed in the past and will need again in the future.