We get a lot of questions about celebrant training. It’s only natural. But of all the questions that people interested in celebrant training ask us, this has got to be the most popular.

We know what it’s like when you’re doing your research into celebrant training, you can get lost, deep down in the huge well of information that’s out there online. And it can all get a little bit confusing/overwhelming/frustrating/bewildering (delete as appropriate)!

So we wanted to break down some of the info for you and make it super easy to make sense of it all, because it’s actually not as complicated as it might seem!

How celebrant training works

In the UK, most other European countries, the USA and Canada, it’s mostly not necessary to have any type of qualification to be a celebrant. In many places, whilst it’s not legally required to train as a celebrant, it is necessary to fully appreciate and understand how a celebrant works.

The countries outlined above have no national governing body for celebrants, which dictates course formats, duration, content and structure etc, as well as different standards of practice, for example.  So it’s purely down to each training organisation to determine their own structure of training, delivery of training and recognition of training.

So in the UK for example, some training organisations have made their courses into academic courses which give their trainees a diploma or other type of academic qualification on passing their course.

However, the majority of trainers, like us at the Celebrants Collective, don’t. There’s no right or wrong, and neither path is more beneficial than the other. Nor does one path give celebrants more weight than the other.

Many training providers like us, provide our own certification and accreditation system which allows trainees to become certified and/or accredited celebrants with us.

Our courses have been designed to provide our trainees with an awesome educational framework, which supports learning in a variety of ways from online personal study to twice-weekly group tutorials for deeper discussion and learning.

Why don’t we offer diplomas?

Whilst we appreciate that some trainee students like the idea of getting an academic qualification, for us, our emphasis is on teaching you to become the best celebrants that you can be, which is a process that goes beyond academia and qualifications.

Learning to be a celebrant calls on many different skills: listening, intuition, communicating, story-telling, creativity, performance, empathy, understanding, compassion, sense of humour, among a huge list of many other things.

Ultimately as a trained celebrant, what will draw couples to you is your warmth of personality and the way that they resonate with you. More so than how you actually trained to become a celebrant.

So whether you’re a certified celebrant, an accredited celebrant, or a diploma-holding celebrant, you are all trained celebrants. And it’s down to you to use the training and guidance that you’ve been given. To put your best self out there for your ideal couples to find you, see you and love you! And this is what our training prepares you for.

What’s the difference between an accredited celebrant and a certified celebrant?

So now you’re probably wondering what the difference is between being certified and being accredited. Well, in a nutshell, when you finish and complete your training and pass all of the necessary assignments and tasks, most organisations will certify you as a celebrant so you can trade as a certified celebrant.

However, here at the Celebrants Collective, our celebrants are not only certified but are also accredited. Once your training is finished, you continue your journey with us in our Members HQ. Here you will continue your development regularly. Your celebrant knowledge is continually reinforced and monitored to allow you to be an accredited celebrant. This means that you belong to an organisation which is continually helping you to improve, develop and grow as a celebrant, which keeps you accountable and whose support you always have.

Hopefully, we’ve cleared up all the terminology and different training processes. And if not, do contact us and let us know! Or leave a comment below.

If you’re ready to come and join us, we’d be excited to welcome you onboard. You can read about our wedding training here and our funeral training here, as well as sign up and get started from as early as today!