Below is a useful guide to understanding how much money wedding and funeral celebrants earn in the UK and what kind of income they can earn annually. 

It's a question that so many people ask "How much can celebrants earn in the UK?" and of course they want the answer!

In reading this article, you'll get a good idea of the viability of training and working as a celebrant and it will enable you to calculate if being a celebrant can work financially for you, as well as all of the other bonuses of being a celebrant.

Please note: all figures quoted in this article are approximate based on anecdotal evidence of celebrants within our celebrant community.

Money Money Money

If you're considering a career as a wedding or funeral celebrant in the UK, one of the biggest questions you might have is: how much can I earn? Being a celebrant is a rewarding profession that offers flexibility, creativity, and the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on people's lives. But what about the financial side?

It's super important that anyone considering becoming a celebrant, whether that's a wedding celebrant or funeral celebrant, considers the financial side of this work too. It's important to have an idea of what you can charge, how many ceremonies you have the capacity to do and what kind of earning potential you would need to have as a celebrant.

In this guide, we’ll break down celebrant earnings, from wedding fees to funeral services, and explore ways to maximise your income in this fulfilling career.

Wedding Celebrant Earnings in the UK

Average Fees for Wedding Celebrants

Wedding celebrants in the UK typically charge between £500 and £1,200 per ceremony, depending on several factors:

• Experience: Established celebrants with a strong reputation can command higher fees. We know of wedding celebrants who charge £2,000 per ceremony.
• Location: Prices vary between rural areas and major cities like London or Manchester.
• Customisation: More elaborate, personalised ceremonies often come with higher fees. A lot of time and labour goes into the preparation of a bespoke wedding ceremony and most celebrants try to reflect this in their pricing.

How Many Weddings Can a Celebrant Conduct?

On average in the UK, celebrants officiate between 10 to 45 weddings per year, but this varies based on availability, marketing efforts, and demand. It also depends on each individual celebrant's own personal needs and requirements. Every celebrant has their magic ceremony number which makes their annual income work for them, some may do more than this figure quoted, some may do less!

Potential Annual Income

Let's looks at a potential UK wedding celebrant salary.

A celebrant conducting 20 weddings per year at an average of £700 per ceremony could earn £14,000 annually. With premium pricing and additional services, this could increase significantly.

20 weddings at £1000 would be £20,000 annually, or 10 weddings at £1000, would be £10,000 annually, for example.

As with any self-employed person, you cannot guarantee what you are going to earn each year, but these figures can help you to figure out what your earning potential could be and help you to put together a business and marketing plan to help you try to achieve that.

Our twice weekly wedding training tutorials which are open to our trainees for the duration of their celebrant career, from training and beyond, are the perfect place for trainees to chat with us and their training buddies about everything related to celebrant life, from money, and earning potential to marketing and bookings, as well as ceremony practice and performance.

Funeral Celebrant Earnings in the UK

Typical Fees for Funeral Celebrants

Funeral celebrants generally earn between £180 and £350 per funeral service. Since funeral services are often booked through funeral directors, rates can be more standardised compared to weddings. But where funeral celebrants have built up connections within their local community and can rely on bookings that come directly via word of mouth, they can price their ceremonies at a higher amount.

Workload Expectations

Funeral celebrants who have managed to carve out a great reputation for themselves and good connections with funeral directors or within their local community, often perform 2 to 3 services per week, making it a viable full-time career. Some busier funeral celebrants who only do funerals have been known to have 3 to 5 funerals a week. Some celebrants balance both wedding and funeral ceremonies to diversify their income. It can take time to reach these kind of figures and a lot of behind the scenes work, including marketing and networking really helps.

Potential Annual Income

As an example, a celebrant conducting 3 funerals per week at £250 per service could earn approximately £39,000 per year in terms of a salary for a UK celebrant.

A celebrant conducting 2 funerals per week at £250 per service could earn approximately £26,000 per year.

A celebrant conducting 1 funeral per week at £250 per service could earn approximately £13,000 per year.

Not all celebrants can manage the workload of three ceremonies a week or get the opportunity to lead this number per week, so it's important for each celebrant to reach their happy place with their workload and the numbers of ceremonies they need to do, to make it a viable line of work.

We support our funeral trainees throughout their training and beyond, giving them realtime, live advice and guidance during our twice weekly training tutorials. This unique offering of support is one of the course elements that our trainees love and appreciate the most. Having professional support not just during the course itself but long after you've graduated, is invaluable.

Additional Revenue Streams for Celebrants

Contrary to popular belief, many celebrants also have another job. Whilst we don't have any statistics to give us an exact idea, we do know that lots of celebrants have a full time job and do celebrancy on the side - this accounts for many of our trainees too.

Some have have part time jobs or income streams which bring them earnings alongside what they might earn as a celebrant. The beauty of this role means you can be flexible with how and when you work. Many celebrants supplement their celebrant business income with additional celebrant-related services, including:

• Vow Renewals & Naming Ceremonies – Fees range from £200 to £600 per event.
• Event Mceeing and hosting - some celebrants act as a type of Master of Ceremonies at weddings, as well as a celebrant.
• Online Courses & Mentoring – Some experienced celebrants become mentors or trainers for other celebrant organisations.
• Writing Services – Crafting speeches, vows, or bespoke ceremonies for clients.

Expenses & Profitability

While being a celebrant can offer a good earning potential, it’s important to consider business expenses such as:

• Training & Certification Costs – Initial investment varies based on course providers and training organisations. We say to our trainees that celebrant training isn't just a cost, it's an investment. An investment into your future where you have a joyful, satisfying and fulfilling career.
• Career Development - you never stop learning as a celebrant, and the best celebrants are the ones who keep up with their career development, attend celebrant events and workshops and continue their education.
• Marketing & Advertising – Website maintenance, SEO, and social media ads if any. Directory listings etc.
• Running your business– All businesses have some level business costs. From software, accounting and bookkeeping, stationery and ceremony equipment, you'll need to factor these things in. Thankfully, past certification, getting running as a celebrant needn't be a massive outlay and many things can be done incrementally ie you don't need to do everything all at once!

To summarise everything

Becoming a wedding or funeral celebrant in the UK can be both personally and financially rewarding. Whether you focus on weddings, funerals, or both, your earning potential will depend on lots of factors, some of them 100% within your control and some of them not!

Your experiences (before you were a celebrant too), your marketing efforts, and the way you sell yourself will all influence the work you get as a celebrant. But other things like your local economy and market, being in the right place at the right time, the existing community of celebrants in your area, can also influence your own career to some extent, in both good ways and bad ways.

By setting competitive rates (not intentionally undercutting others), diversifying income streams, and making sure you have other forms of income especially in the beginning, and by building a strong reputation, you can create a thriving celebrant business. But you've got to be prepared to work hard, to be adaptable and resilient and be patient enough to see the seeds that you've sown come to fruition. 

If you're ready to start your celebrant journey, explore the training courses and take the first step toward a fulfilling and profitable career today!

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