A Registrar is employed by a local authority such as the local council, and are responsible for registering births, deaths and legal marriages. By law, a ceremony conducted by a registrar takes place in a register office or licensed premises.

Registrars don’t offer bespoke vows as a celebrant would do and they are not permitted to deviate from the official script. No live music is allowed, and religious content or references are prohibited. There is no personal aspect to a ceremony, it is merely a formality.

Celebrants are not employed by an authority, and as such we cannot technically legally marry people. 

However, working with an independent celebrant means couples have free reign to have the ceremony they want in the way they want to have it at any location they choose, and at any time of the day. Celebrants help couples to write bespoke vows all about their personal love story and even offer a mixture of cultural or religious content or symbolism to further enhance the ceremony; this makes it truly bespoke and meaningful, memorable to both the couples and their families.

Most couples who engage a Celebrant arrange to have a small, legal ceremony in a register office and have their wedding celebration written and officiated at the place and time of their choosing by a professional Celebrant.

The great thing about being a Celebrant is the vast variety of venues and locations in which we can work. It may be on a hillside or in a forest, at a beautiful beach or at an ancient monument. Most of the time you will work from licensed venues such as hotels or dedicated event venues. Professional, modern Celebrants deliver ceremonies in some of the most beautiful – and unusual – locations in the country, and even abroad.

Lots of Celebrants work on a part-time basis or run their Celebrant career alongside another job or business. A career in Celebrancy can be a very flexible option if you are someone who doesn’t mind working irregular hours, so being flexible is ideal. You may choose to make this your full-time occupation, plus you can specialise in funerals, weddings, baby naming, vow renewals, wedding hosting and toastmastery, we will teach you all of this!

This depends on your situation and preference, UK Celebrant Academy recommends that you should seriously consider and be open to potentially training to deliver weddings, funerals, vow renewals and more.

Certain areas of Celebrant work are seen as somewhat seasonal (the majority of weddings tend to take place in the summer months), so if you decide to train in all areas this will maximise your earning potential for your new business and allow you to work with a wider variety of clients. A number of our certified Celebrants train in one particular specialism, then come back to us to learn another area once they are up and running.

Not necessarily – but it helps massively!

Social media is a fantastic marketing tool for your Celebrant business and will help you to grow. During your training we will introduce you to various marketing strategies, helping you understand how social media can work for you in showcasing the best of your business.

Each individual and business is different, so we will have a social media specialist present at your course to guide you. 

We train you to engage and learn the many options for marketing your business. In today’s world, social media is a powerful tool used by many businesses – however, if you prefer a more analogue approach, there are ways you can build your business without it and we will show you how you can do that.

It’s simple – we are passionate about what we do and we have the experience to help you develop your skills.

It’s not about the money you pay for your course; once training is completed, we do not consider ‘the job done’. We will not only train you to become a Celebrant – we will show you how to make a success of your business and walk with you through the ongoing process.

Once you have achieved certification, we will enrol you as a full member of UKCA so that you can demonstrate to your future clients that you are part of a high-standard Celebrant network with competent, fully-trained professionals.

As an added bonus, your first year’s insurance is complimentary on completion of the course as a fully-certified Celebrant of UKCA, enabling you to work at a variety of venues across the country.