A celebrant led funeral offers you a personalised approach.
What is a funeral celebrant?
A funeral celebrant is a compassionate and experienced professional who will officiate a funeral or a celebration of life on your behalf. Their role is to guide the service, ensuring that every aspect of the ceremony is handled with the utmost care and respect.
With a celebrant-led funeral, the service can be either religious or non-religious or have elements of both. It can be a green funeral and held in an established woodland or natural burial ground for example.
With a celebrant-led funeral, you are free to include anything you like, whether it’s a favourite song, a poem, or a prayer. An independent funeral celebrant is dedicated to fulfilling requests and accommodating wishes to create a personalised ceremony that perfectly reflects the memory of the person who has passed away and provides comfort for those who grieve.
How can a funeral celebrant help you with the funeral?
A funeral celebrant will assist you by leading and officiating the ceremony and providing support and guidance throughout your time of grief.
From the very first meeting right through until the end of the service they are there to support and guide you.
The celebrant will create a space for open dialogue between themselves and you, they will listen to get an understanding of what is wanted and from that they will prepare a eulogy which will reflect your wishes.
The celebrant will take charge of the timing of the service so that it takes place without any concern for the clock. This will happen with liaison with other people such as the funeral home or place of rest.
What happens when I meet my funeral celebrant?
Your funeral Director will liaise with your funeral celebrant and a meeting will be arranged – in the main, these take place face to face. However, if there are issues of distance this can also be done by other methods such as Zoom or by phone for example.
When you meet with your funeral celebrant, they are there to listen to you, and your feelings and to hear your memories of your loved one. This helps them gain an understanding of who the departed was and carefully craft a service that does justice to their memory. This process is considered by many, a very cathartic time allowing an opportunity to share your grief and express your loss. Working together to build a final farewell celebrates the many different layers of the deceased’s unique personality and life.
Celebrating a life of love – gone too soon.
A celebration of life service
A celebration of life service is gaining in popularity. This would usually mean that a smaller burial or cremation service will have taken place separately and typically before the celebration of life service.
Some people prefer a private service and that is perfectly fine. It is your choice.
The celebration of life service may take place later the same day or on a separate day.
You can opt for a structure that is similar to a celebrant-led funeral or you can choose to go for something different that is unique to you and your loved one. You may wish to hire a venue that is not typical for a funeral, somewhere personal to you and have a very different kind of occasion – this is your choice.
The celebrant’s role would be agreed upon with you before proceeding.
What happens at a celebrant-led funeral (burial or cremation)?
While the structure of a funeral will differ depending on whether the family chooses a crematorium or burial-based ceremony, there are typical features that will largely remain the same.
Before the funeral ceremony
As previously mentioned, before the funeral, the family will have had a meeting with the celebrant, and they will remain in close contact throughout the days leading up to the funeral. The family will be responsible for approving the funeral service (any necessary amendments will be made in good time) including any music choices, readings and readers. Any specific actions – such as the handling of ashes in a cremation – will have been confirmed and passed on to the funeral location. Typically there is an order of service. This can include details of any wake (gathering) taking place after the service. Also if you are thinking of having a collection for a charity or chosen recipient you can include those details within the order of service.
At this point, the family should not need to worry about anything, as everything will be taken care of on their behalf.
On the day
The celebrant will arrive early to liaise with members of staff, whether this is at a crematorium or a burial site. They will ensure that everything is ready and in place for your service.
It is usual for mourners to be at the venue around 10-15 minutes before the start of the ceremony. Weather permitting, some will gather outside and wait for the hearse and ‘main’ mourners to arrive. This is a way of showing respect for the departed and solidarity and support for the bereaved before the service begins.
The ceremony
The celebrant will lead the way with the Funeral Director, followed by the coffin, the chief mourners, and finally, everyone else. Guests, who haven’t already, will take their seats. Once the Funeral Director has left the space the funeral celebrant takes over the ceremony.
The service will now take place led by the celebrant.
The ceremony will generally be broken down into four sections:
1. Introduction.
2. Eulogy or tribute, as well as any guest or family readings. If a guest or family member is unable to undertake the reading they have to do, the celebrant will always be on hand to assist.
3. The committal, which may then be preceded by a moment of quiet reflection, often accompanied by music, a poem, or perhaps silence.
4. Final words and close. At this point, any information regarding a wake and/or a collection will usually be given here.
You can read more about what happens at a celebrant-led funeral here.
How long will a funeral ceremony last?
There are typical timings for funeral services and your celebrant can advise you of these. For example, a burial ceremony typically tends to be longer than a cremation (the average time for which is about 40 minutes).
However, you can make the service as unique as you would like. The main factors for determining this will be budget, attendees and often any particular wishes of yourself or the deceased. For example, a funeral service can take place in two places/countries. Spreading ashes at sea or from a favourite site. A celebration of life service might see you hiring a non-conventional funeral venue and having a band play. You can discuss all of this with your celebrant and finalise the service that works for you.
Benefits of having a celebrant-led funeral.
A celebrant-led ceremony allows you to create a funeral that is a true reflection of the departed by having them at the front and centre of the whole ceremony. This gives those who mourn an opportunity to possibly laugh and cry. To go on a journey with their grief and make some sense of the loss they are feeling.
Also, a celebrant-led funeral gives you the flexibility to factor in different beliefs and wishes, without being tied to a specific structure. This is your time to say goodbye and to pay tribute to your loved one. It is about them and you and it is a celebrant’s role to facilitate this.
