The Celebrants Collective is a lively membership space where celebrants from around the world meet to learn, share and engage around the many facets of what it is to be a wedding celebrant. 

Here we’re looking at useful resources for wedding celebrants. We think our 33 sources of top-notch information will be for you if: 

• you’re considering training as a wedding celebrant
• you’re planning on offering wedding celebrant services with or without a qualification
• you’ve been asked by friends or family to conduct a wedding ceremony, and you need to put together a wedding ceremony celebrant script
• you’re looking for alternative wedding ceremony ideas to keep things fresh
• you’re looking for alternative wedding ceremony music
• you’re looking for alternative wedding ceremony rituals

Resources for wedding celebrant training

You’ll find tons of information on how to become a wedding celebrant in the UK, Europe and elsewhere in the world all around our site, including a guide to online wedding and funeral celebrant training courses. We’re not shy about tooting our own wedding celebrant training course either, so have a look there too. 

If you prefer to lock yourself away with a book on the subject, then the Complete Celebrant Handbook is a favourite.

Resources for establishing your wedding celebrant services

If you have all it takes to be a wedding celebrant already, you can offer your wedding celebrant services without the need to gain a qualification first. Admittedly we think it really helps ensure you’ve got all the angles covered and you don’t develop blind spots. Check out this one – what does a wedding celebrant do? – to get the low down.

Before considering this as a career or part-time addition to your work, you might find it useful to read what it’s like to be a wedding celebrant to mentally try it on for size.

If you’re researching how much a celebrant earns, find out how much a wedding celebrant costs. Having read that, you might then be interested in three ways to make more money as a celebrant. As there’s a definite link between your skills and experience and your reputation, our advanced guide to becoming a professional wedding celebrant might be the way to go.

Resources when being asked by a friend or family to conduct a wedding ceremony

One huge step up from being best man, best woman, bridesmaid, bridesman or other similar person is when the couple ask you to conduct the ceremony.

If this fills you with at least some dread, take comfort in the fact that they asked you, as that shows how much faith they have in you to pull it off with finesse.

That said, you might now be scrabbling around to understand what shape a celebrant-led wedding should have, what a wedding ceremony script should look like, or maybe a big list of what you need to think about. In truth, we’re not massive fans of generic wedding scripts where you more or less just drop in the name of the couple. That’s largely in the past. These days, the wedding ceremony is free to go where you want, and fully express the unique character, the values and beliefs of your couple. That said, help is at hand!

If you’re worried about the public speaking part of being a celebrant, then organisations like Toastmasters International run local meetings around the world to help you build your skills and enjoy the experience. There’s also this offical TED guide to public speaking which takes it to the highest level.

If you’re on the lookout for ideas for your wedding ceremony script as celebrant, then you could look at these Literary readings for weddings, or you may want to turn up the creativity with 15 quirky, non-traditional and lovely readings. We have yet more to wade through with 60 of the best wedding readings and for just the right balance of poetry, wordplay and sentiment, take a look at 30 wedding readings from song lyrics!

If you’re worried about your voice, projection and sounding the part as a celebrant, then maybe these Exercises to warm up your voice will help. And if you’re feeling under the weather, many actors and professional speakers swear by Vocalzone pastilles and tea range.

If you don’t know how you should look, or what you should wear, then the first port of call is probably a conversation with your couple. They may have very clear ideas about what they’d like you to wear, right through to insisting you squeeze into the whatever it is thing they’ve bought for you without your knowledge or approval! At the other end of the scale, it might be left totally up to you, in which case, our very own Natasha discusses how to dress for success as a celebrant in a podcast.

Resources for alternative wedding ceremony ideas to keep things fresh

Increasingly, couples are looking for an escape from the constraints of the past as to what qualified as an official or approved wedding ceremony. The sky is the limit (literally, as you’ll see from this company offering skydiving weddings and proposals!).

A firm favourite to check out is Offbeat Bride, which looks at the world of alternative ceremonies.

If you’re the one getting married and you really want to take an alternative look at the whole fiesta of getting married, then delve into the Bridechilla Podcast which will possibly be up your street. It’s very funny anyway and will take the edge preparations.

Resources for alternative wedding ceremony music

OK so let’s pause for a reality check. All you need to know here, is that anything goes! If you’ve ever seen the film About Time, you may recall the moment that Rachel McAdam’s character Mary walks down the aisle to her husband’s off-beat favourite Il Mondo. 

If you need some real-world inspiration, then please watch JK Wedding Entrance which takes things to a whole other level.

It’s not always about just picking the right music to walk down the aisle to, of course. What will often make the wedding memorable to guests is how involved they all go, and how much they were able to actively participate. Consider then, if you will 10 cool group songs for ceremonies where you can get everyone joining in.

If, as a wedding celebrant, you want to make sure your wedding ceremony music ideas are a safe choice, then check out the 60 most popular wedding songs by year, though that’s you firmly back in the mainstream!

Resources for alternative wedding ceremony rituals

Things really have moved on, and rightly so. Just to confirm your suspicions or understand today’s wedding ceremony landscape, then read why marriage is an unequal insitution that belongs in the past and appreciate what you may wish to move away from as a wedding celebrant with Wedding traditions and their strange origins.

Stepping into the world of rituals and rites, then pop on the kettle and watch Grayson Perry: Rites of Passage to get your alternative thinking off to a powerful start. There’s also a fascinating look at the religious angle to ceremony with a little help from Morgan Freeman: The Story of God.

If you’re looking for wedding ceremonies for LGBTQ+ couples then there are some brilliant resources to follow up on, including A queer vision of love and marriage, How to talk and listen to transgender people and The importance of using inclusive language.

We also really love How to create an autism-friendly environment. 

Find out more

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