What Is A Civil Celebrant?

What is a Civil Celebrant?

A Civil Celebrant is an individual who specialises in conducting ceremonies for people wishing to organise or celebrate a; Wedding, Funeral, Vow Renewal, Naming Ceremony or more. A Civil Celebrant is there to ensure that your ceremony runs smoothly and effortlessly, making sure that you are relaxed and happy with the outcome of the day. Civil Celebrants lead ceremonies for people who wish to exclude or have as little religious context as possible and they usually take place in a registered Wedding or Ceremony venue. The main difference between a Civil Celebrant and a Humanist Celebrant depends on how much religious content you wish to have included in the ceremony. A Civil Celebrant is there to ensure that the ceremony revolves completely around the couple or individual whereas a Humanist Celebrant is known as a completely non-religious ceremony entirely. To find out more about Humanist Celebrants, check out our Humanist Celebrant page on our website. 

Civil Celebrancy is a fairly new and modern industry as the first Civil Wedding was conducted by a Civil Celebrant in Australia in 1973. Since its arrival in Australia, the Civil Celebrancy movement became more and more popular with other countries as well and arrived in the UK in the 1900’s, which then also caused a huge decrease in numbers of Church Weddings or ceremonies which involved any form of religion. As the role of the Civil Celebrants become ore popular around the world, so did the gay right movement, as a lot of Celebrants who conducted these ceremonies were also conducting a lot of same sex marriages. This movement was great for the modernisation of Weddings and it really adapted and formed ceremonies, which we see and know today. 

Civil Celebrants are there to ensure that all ceremonies are bespoke and personal to each customer/couple, which is why the majority of people tend to choose Civil Celebrants over registrars, Vicars/Priests/Ordained Ministers etc… Civil Celebrants will spend months and months with the customer or couple to ensure that no stone is unturned and they will make sure that every detail, need and requirement is met during the process. This will include a number of meetings in person and online, usually at the chosen ceremony venue, to answer any questions you may have. I would suggest making the most of your time with your Civil Celebrant and ensure that you go to each meeting prepared with a list of questions or queries you wish to ask them. A Civil Celebrant will be there to guide you through the process, especially if this is your first time! You will also need to make sure that you are clear and precise on what you are looking to gain from the day or ceremony, making sure that the Civil Celebrant understands your brief entirely.

Having a Civil Celebrant will also allow you to have more choice and you will be able to choose more freely in terms of music, readings & songs, as there is no limit or regulations with what style of ceremony you would want to have. However with Humanist Ceremonies or church ceremonies, you are fairly limited in what you can have during that ceremony. For example; a registrar or Humanist Wedding will not allow any religious content whatsoever during the ceremony, this will mean that you cannot choose any religious hymns, music or readings whilst the ceremony is taking place. 

Choosing a Civil Celebrant can be quite a difficult process, especially if you are unsure of what to look for in a good Celebrant. To ensure that you are choosing the correct Civil Celebrant for your ceremony, you will need to do a lot of research on local Civil Celebrants near you and narrow them down to a select few, which you would like to choose. There is no issue in speaking to more than one Celebrant, as this is an important decision which you will need to make carefully. 

To find out more about Civil Celebrants, check out our Civil Celebrant page on our website or contact us for more details. At Bookacelebrant.co.uk have a wide range of Civil Celebrants, which have been handpicked specially for you and your region, so if you are looking to get married or you are organising some sort of ceremony, get in touch today and get a Civil Celebrant quote in under 60 seconds.