Whether you choose a humanist wedding ceremony or another civil ceremony, your choice means that you need a celebrant. But, how and where do you find one that is the right match for you?

First step to finding your celebrant

The first thing you need to do is to find a celebrant that feels right for you - one that you trust to create a magical ceremony for you that authentically reflects your values.

Maybe you know you want a vegan celebrant that is committed to ethical and compassionate choices. Or someone that understands your first language and can incorporate it into your ceremony?

But, how do you find them?

Finding a celebrant is like finding any other wedding supplier, except it is much more personal. It is almost like dating, as you need to like each other! So, just like dating, go online or by recommendation!

Celebrants are usually one-person businesses that market their services online, such as through a website, social media and directories, as recommended suppliers for venues or wedding planners or by good old word of mouth.

If you are not using a wedding planner that matches your values with awesome celebrant-finding skills or someone perfectly matching your needs in their network already, you have the power of the internet to help you.

If you have already decided on a humanist ceremony, the easiest and quickest way to find one in the area that you wedding will take place is using Humanists UK’s Celebrant Search. Here you’ll see a photo of the celebrant, their contact details, including a link to their website.

Celebrant websites

Professional celebrants have great websites portraying their personalities and skills. The best way to find a website for a celebrant for your needs is probably to do some clever searches in Google or other search engines. Make sure you include location, the word ‘celebrant’ and any other words that reflect what is important to you, e.g. ‘vegan’. You might have found me by searching ‘Humanist celebrant Brighton’ or ‘Vegan celebrant Sussex’.

Social media

Another way to find a celebrant is on social media. Instagram is especially good for celebrants, as you can get a great idea of what they are like and the values they promote from their images, videos and copy. Instagram is really easy to search on using hashtags, such as #VeganCelebrant and #MultilingualCelebrant that are focussed on the ceremony and celebrant, whereas #FunWeddings brings up many different suppliers and ideas - it would be hard to find celebrants quickly amongst the results.

Directories

You will also find celebrant profiles, which should highlight their personal values and/or specialities as well as their location, on directories, such as Rebel Love Directory (LGBTQ+ inclusive suppliers), Rock My Wedding or Hitched.

Note that those appearing on the top of page are the ones who paid to be there, not necessarily the ones matching your search most accurately. So, take your time and scroll all the way down to find ones that look interesting to you.

Next steps after identifying potential celebrants

Once you have found a celebrant (or maybe a few you want to check out), the next step is choosing one. Although websites and social media can give you a really good idea of the person behind the site or account, you should not commit until you have met them in real life - either in person or on a video call. This first ‘discovery meeting’ usually lasts half an hour and will be your chance to ask some specific questions and just a more personal chat.

Celebrants are people that bring a lot of themselves to the work they do with couples and their personalities will show in their meetings and ceremonies, so it is important to meet with a celebrant before you commit. Make sure you have a good connection and understand each other. The only way to find out if a celebrant matches that attitude is by having a real face-to-face chat or a video ‘chemistry call’ (e.g. Zoom).