Q: How long does it take to train as a Wedding Celebrant?
A: "Become a Wedding Celebrant from Scratch" includes over 40+ instructional videos, e-books for you to print out, read and annotate, quizzes to check your learning, 8 written assignments and 3 live one-to-one online assessment and development sessions. To complete the course fully it will take students about 40 hours. This shows how thorough it is as some alternative courses try to teach you to be a Funeral Celebrant in just 3 days (equivalent of 24 days). This should indicate how much they are missing out.
These 40 study hours can be reduced if participants do not want to watch all the videos in full. For example, if you are already a competent public speaker, then you have the control to fast forward these. Some participants have managed to complete the Wedding Celebrant course in a week or spread it over two weeks. Others, have decided to complete it over a longer period because of work and family commitments. There is no time limit or start or end deadline. You complete the course at your pace the way you want to.
These 40 study hours can be reduced if participants do not want to watch all the videos in full. For example, if you are already a competent public speaker, then you have the control to fast forward these. Some participants have managed to complete the Wedding Celebrant course in a week or spread it over two weeks. Others, have decided to complete it over a longer period because of work and family commitments. There is no time limit or start or end deadline. You complete the course at your pace the way you want to.
Q: What is the cost of training as a Wedding Celebrant?
A: Module 1 of "Become a Wedding Celebrant from Scratch" is FREE. This is so you can learn in detail about the job of a self-employed Wedding Celebrant and what skills are required. We tell you the benefits but also the potential pitfalls. It is important to us that we are honest about the job as it is not for everyone. If participants like what they have learnt and like the style in which we provide the teaching and learning, then it currently costs £897 to enrol onto Modules 2-6 of "Become a Wedding Celebrant from Scratch".
If people want to enrol on more than one course, e.g. they would like to also train to become a Funeral Celebrant at some time in the future after completing their Wedding Celebrant training, then we provide "Bundle Offers" which is where there is a saving on enrolling on more than one course at a time.
Our most popular bundle offer is "The Complete Celebrant from Scratch & Coach". Normally the three elements ("Become a Funeral Celebrant from Scratch", "Become a Wedding Celebrant from Scratch" and "Your Celebrant Coach") would cost £2491. But bought as a bundle offer, you can save £494 and pay only £1,997.
Q: How do I build a business / get work / bookings/business once I have finished my training?
A: "Become a Wedding Celebrant from Scratch" is a practical Celebrant Business Training programme and so throughout the modules we give top tips and context to what people need to focus on in order to be a successful Professional Celebrant. We advise people who want to be a Celebrant only as a hobby that they may be better to consider training with another provider.
Module 6: "The Wedding Celebrant Business Launch Pad" is specifically focused on what you need to do (and things you should definitely avoid doing) in order to guarantee that you will get wedding bookings. We provide you with marketing tools and downloadable documents which you can edit to help you start your business quickly and efficiently.
Module 6: "The Wedding Celebrant Business Launch Pad" is specifically focused on what you need to do (and things you should definitely avoid doing) in order to guarantee that you will get wedding bookings. We provide you with marketing tools and downloadable documents which you can edit to help you start your business quickly and efficiently.
Q: What sort of promotion, advertising and marketing do you need to do get wedding bookings?
A: In the Wedding Celebrant Launch Pad we specifically teach the "Tip-Top Celebrant Touch-Point Plan" and the 5 S's which if applied will guarantee successful bookings as a Wedding Celebrant. People can learn more about this at the FREE online "Celebrant Success Maker" event.
Q: Is the market for Wedding Celebrants not saturated?
A: Definitely not, the market is growing fast. According to data from Hitched and Bridebook, 17-19% of all weddings last year had ceremonies led by a Celebrant. Hitched is reporting in their 2024 Wedding Trends Report a 49% surge in enquiries from couples looking for a Wedding Celebrant. The market for Wedding Celebrants varies a lot across the UK. It is more developed for example, in areas like the South East of England compared to some areas in the North and Midlands. However, the phrase "supply creates its own demand" definitely applies for Wedding Celebrants. The more couples see a Celebrant-led wedding, the more they know it is an option and demand rises. As a result, even in areas where there appears to be many Wedding Celebrants, demand is high. Where there are only a few Wedding Celebrants, these people are pioneers and are growing the market because the more people see their work the more they are helping to grow demand in their area (for themselves and other Wedding Celebrants).
The biggest problem I see is that too many newly trained Wedding Celebrants are not being adequately trained in the marketing tips and know-hows they need to have in order to get initial bookings and then grow their business. Some training organisations claim to be "marketing experts" but the evidence from their graduates suggests otherwise.
Q: What qualification/accreditation/professional membership do I need to officiate a legal marriage ceremony now or in the future?
The biggest problem I see is that too many newly trained Wedding Celebrants are not being adequately trained in the marketing tips and know-hows they need to have in order to get initial bookings and then grow their business. Some training organisations claim to be "marketing experts" but the evidence from their graduates suggests otherwise.
Q: What qualification/accreditation/professional membership do I need to officiate a legal marriage ceremony now or in the future?
A: You do not need any qualification/accreditation or professional membership to work as a Professional Independent Wedding Celebrant. All you need is good and effective training and competency. All Celebrant Training organisations are privately run organisations even though may decide to call themselves a "College", "Academy", "Society", "Institute" etc. Some provide an OFQUAL qualification which covers Funerals, Weddings and Baby Namings. This is not required and involves having to submit 8 written pieces of coursework (mostly essays). It is an academic qualification and not a practical qualification. NOCN and City & Guilds provide "accreditation" to some courses but this is simply a marketing transaction. Couples looking to book you as a Wedding Celebrant simply want to know if you are fully trained and competent.
In July 2022 The Law Commission in England and Wales published a report on recommendations on how marriage law should be updated which includes an exciting proposal to have legally registered Independent Wedding Officiants to also conduct the legal marriage service to give couples more choice beyond faith-based and registrar-led marriage ceremonies.
Hamish Shephard, Founder and CEO of Bridebook, recently reported how changes to marriage law has "stalled" and it is unlikely anything will happen in this or the next Parliament given other national priorities and political pressures.
If it were to change, then the UK government will likely require Wedding Officiants to demonstrate competency and good training (this is similar to the requirement for Celebrants in Australia and New Zealand). Although providers of the so-called "Nationally accredited qualification" would like people to believe this qualification would qualify them, it is not competency based (it's academic), it covers irrelevant topics for Marriage Officiants like how to conduct a funeral service and baby naming ceremony, and very significantly, most current and successful Professional Wedding Celebrants working in the UK do not have this qualification any way, so why would they make this "qualification" a requirement. New training will be required if marriage law changes in favour of Independent Wedding Celebrants, but it is more likely to be legal marriage ceremony training provided by Chief Registrars and their teams in local authorities, and not by privately owned & profit-making celebrant training organisations.
In July 2022 The Law Commission in England and Wales published a report on recommendations on how marriage law should be updated which includes an exciting proposal to have legally registered Independent Wedding Officiants to also conduct the legal marriage service to give couples more choice beyond faith-based and registrar-led marriage ceremonies.
Hamish Shephard, Founder and CEO of Bridebook, recently reported how changes to marriage law has "stalled" and it is unlikely anything will happen in this or the next Parliament given other national priorities and political pressures.
If it were to change, then the UK government will likely require Wedding Officiants to demonstrate competency and good training (this is similar to the requirement for Celebrants in Australia and New Zealand). Although providers of the so-called "Nationally accredited qualification" would like people to believe this qualification would qualify them, it is not competency based (it's academic), it covers irrelevant topics for Marriage Officiants like how to conduct a funeral service and baby naming ceremony, and very significantly, most current and successful Professional Wedding Celebrants working in the UK do not have this qualification any way, so why would they make this "qualification" a requirement. New training will be required if marriage law changes in favour of Independent Wedding Celebrants, but it is more likely to be legal marriage ceremony training provided by Chief Registrars and their teams in local authorities, and not by privately owned & profit-making celebrant training organisations.
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