About Celebrancy
“The more you praise and CELEBRATE your life, the more there is in life to CELEBRATE.” Oprah Winfrey
As a lot, the Aussies are known more for their creativity and sense of adventure than their piousness. Professional Celebrancy was created by the Australian government in 1974 as a third option for weddings (after church and government officiants). It grew quickly. Today, almost 10,000 certified Celebrants lead the majority of weddings and funerals in Oceana, and offer a wide menu of ceremony options.
Celebrancy then moved into North America just before 9/11, and took off immediately. It was a natural fit in a culture with a cornucopia of heritages, a growing discomfort with organized religion, and a preference for individual expression. Celebrancy offered something fresh and new: the ability to include non-traditional elements, and to celebrate a wider variety of contemporary life events.
The hallmark of a Celebrant ceremony is that you (the client) have ultimate power and control: you own the ceremony. Your beliefs and values are paramount. The celebrant’s beliefs are immaterial. Celebrants aren’t affiliated with any particular religion. Ceremonies are designed to be inclusive and welcoming.
Training and qualification
Celebrancy is still in its infancy. Where training programs are available, they tend to be somewhat focused on administration, and limited to marriages and funerals.
The gold standard in Celebrancy Training is set by the Celebrant Foundation and Institute (CFI) in New Jersey. Training takes the better part of a year, with a solid focus on ceremony design and ritual development outside a religious context. With both an educational and experiential focus, the program covers traditional rites of passage (birth, marriage, death) and also extends to non-traditional events such as divorce and retirement ceremonies, pet memorials, vow renewals, and even business wakes.
The CFI goes deeper. That’s why, for CFI graduates like myself, its all about the ceremony and our clients’ experience. After we graduate, we receive ongoing professional development and work as a community to share ideas and learn from each other.
Today, there are over 400 CFI trained American and 15 Canadian Celebrants (of which I am one). Check out some of them here.
The fine print
Professional Celebrants are required to comply with local laws (while ceremonies are expansive and meaningful, we also take care of the details). The local meaning of the word Celebrant itself also varies by geography.
Internationally, certified Celebrants conduct a variety of ceremonies, and are usually recognized as legal wedding officiants. In Canada, it’s all different. Here, the term Celebrant is often used to describe people who lead formal funeral services. Normally, they are ministers-for-hire or graduates of a two-day program connected to the funeral industry. Marriage in Canada, well that’s another story.
I design a full range of ceremonies: the usual, and a few you may not have thought about before. Many of my clients are local to me. However, if you’re ‘away’, whether out of province or out of Canada, do get in touch. Virtual communication can be a wonderful thing.
Marriage in Canada
Using a celebrant to officiate a marriage is not a legal option in much of Canada. Hopefully, we’ll get there one day (we managed to legalize gay marriage, didn’t we?) But we’re not there yet.
The good news: couples wanting to be married outside the traditional realm of “church or state” are ahead of current practices. Not to fear…there are ways to get the wedding you want. Here’s some food for thought.
- Choose to hold the legal ceremony in advance of your custom ceremony. This common practice is growing with the expanding demand for non-traditional weddings.
- Add the legal or religious component into your custom ceremony
- If the two of you come from mixed faith backgrounds, consider inviting religious officiant(s) to participate in your custom ceremony (a way to keep you – and your family happy).
I’m happy to talk to you about the steps you can take to make your wedding both legal and remarkable.
Specialization
Many Celebrants choose to specialize. Some may love to find ways to enhance traditional events like weddings and funerals. Others may get juiced up by designing ceremonies to celebrate (the growing trend) non-traditional beginnings and endings.
