Celebrants | Forget Me Not Fields

WHAT IS A FUNERAL CELEBRANT?

The traditional role of a funeral celebrant is to lead the funeral service. This can involve giving the eulogy, presiding over the order of service, inviting friends and family members up for readings or leading the attendees in a period of quiet reflection.

As well as leading the service itself, a funeral celebrant can help plan a funeral service. Funeral celebrants can provide valuable guidance before the funeral about the structure, timings and contents of the service. Choosing the right celebrant can help to ease the stress of planning.

The term funeral celebrant is usually used in funerals not affiliated with religion although each religion has an equivalent religious leader to oversee the service.

WHAT DOES A CELEBRANT DO?

How involved your funeral celebrant is in the funeral planning and the funeral service itself depends on your preferences and budget. Ideally, your celebrant will take the time to understand your family and the type of funeral you would like to have for your loved one.

These are some of the services typically offered by a funeral celebrant.

Meet with you in advance

Many funeral celebrants will offer a face-to-face or online meeting at a time and place to suit you ahead of the funeral. Doing so allows them to get to know about your loved one and gives you the opportunity to ask questions.

Share ideas and advice

Funeral celebrants will have experience with lots of different funerals. They can offer suggestions for popular or less commonly used poems and readings as well as giving you ideas for other ways to personalise the funeral service.

Help with order of service

Funeral celebrants will be familiar with the conventional timings and contents of funeral services. Your celebrant may have an order of service template you can follow or you can work together to create a unique funeral order of service to reflect your loved one.

Help with the eulogy

Also sometimes referred to as a tribute, a eulogy about the person who has died is traditionally read at their funeral service. If you're not sure where to start, your celebrant can often offer advice about writing a eulogy based on their past experience. You may wish to read the eulogy yourself or have someone who was close to your loved one read it. However, if there is no one attending the funeral who feels comfortable or emotionally ready to read the eulogy, a funeral celebrant can take on this role for you.

Lead the funeral service

Conducting the service on the day of the funeral is a funeral celebrant's key role. Your celebrant will carry out the service according to your wishes and you and your family can be as involved as much as you would like to be.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FUNERAL CELEBRANT

The religious beliefs of the person who has died or the person arranging the funeral will influence which type of funeral celebrant, officiant or minister oversees the burial or cremation funeral.

Forget Me Not Fields is open to everyone- religious or not.

Religious funeral

Each religion has a different officiant to conduct the funeral service.

Depending on religious belief a vicar, Catholic or Hindu priest, Muslim imam, Jewish rabbi, Buddhist monk or Sikh granthi will lead the service.
If you are a regular churchgoer, you may already have a local religious leader in mind.

Non-religious funeral

Within non religious funerals there are also two different types of celebrants. Humanist and civil celebrants are both unaffiliated with any religion.

Humanist funerals typically don’t include any religious elements.
Civil celebrants may be happy to leave space in the service for prayer or to incorporate traditional hymns and readings with religious connotations.

HOW MUCH DOES A CELEBRANT COST?

The amount you can expect to pay for a funeral celebrant or officiant varies. Factors that can affect the cost include the region you live in, the level of involvement you’d like the person leading the service to have and the religion of the service.

You should expect somewhere in the region of £200 - £400.

CHOOSING A FUNERAL CELEBRANT

A good funeral is one that gives thanks for and even celebrates a life, whether short or long. It can bring comfort, but when we are at our lowest ebb a funeral can be hard to plan.

There are a few main ways to find a funeral celebrant.

Existing relationships

You may already have a friend who is a funeral celebrant or you’ve attended a funeral in the past where you appreciated the celebrant’s style of delivery. Asking friends and family for celebrant recommendations helps you to keep the funeral personal and choose a celebrant who will suit you.

Do some research

You can have a look for a funeral celebrant online. There are several celebrant directories including Celebrant Directory, Funeral Celebrants, Humanists UK, UK Society of Celebrants, UK Celebrants and Independent Celebrants. You can also have a look in local magazines and directories.

Ask your funeral provider

Your funeral director or funeral provider will most likely have celebrants that they can point you towards. Some funeral providers may work with specific funeral celebrants and include the celebrant’s fees in their prices so it’s worth asking what’s included if you know you’d like a celebrant led funeral.

CELEBRANTS TO CONSIDER FIRST

The Wirral has a wide range of celebrants and a Google search will provide lots of options for you. We are lucky to have so many fabulous celebrants serving this area. You may wish to consider some of the celebrants listed below. All have provided services at Forget Me Not Fields and received praise from the customers who booked them.

KIRSTIE ATHERTON

I'm Kirstie, an Award-Winning Celebrant based on the border of Cheshire and Merseyside.
I began my working life as a counsellor.
After completing my BA in English Literature (literally in my spare time and just for fun) I went on to complete a Masters Degree in Creative Writing.
In 2021 I was able to combine these two varied experiences into one by training as an Independent Celebrant.

www.kirstiecelebrant.co.uk

www.facebook.com/KirstieAthertonCelebrant/

www.instagram.com/kirstie_celebrant/

07306 153 989

enquiries@kirstiecelebrant.co.uk