Funerals by secular, humanist
and civil celebrants (officiants)

Created according to the original standards, they are the most personal funerals
which have ever existed in the Western world.

FUNERAL CELEBRANTS - they listen, they engage, they create, they check, they deliver

• The best civil funeral celebrants are trained, experienced, capable, and skilled.
• They are committed to quality preparation of the funeral ceremony.
• They engage in creative dialogue regarding every detail.
• They carefully check the ceremony with the family before delivery.
• They deliver the ceremony with commitment and compassion.

THE FUNERAL CEREMONY - the eulogy, the music, the readings, the poems, the reminiscences, the symbols, the photos, the committal

This website describes a best practice funeral ceremony, which includes a permanent record of the person's life, based on the following principles:

Funeral Celebrants prepare a quality ceremony including a eulogy:

• A well prepared and checked eulogy, written and delivered by a qualified celebrant, puts the person's life on record. Such a eulogy is distinct from reminiscences, and is central to a proper ceremony.
  
  
• There is no such thing as a short cut to a worthwhile funeral ceremony. Creatively organising the central eulogy, the reminiscences, the poetry and quotations, symbols, choreography, and especially the music, needs time. It is a process of consultation, preparation, correction and checking with you, our client.
  
  
• A quality ceremony, which pays proper tribute to the deceased person, rarely takes less than 45 minutes — usually over an hour.

Make sure to contact your Funeral Celebrant first, before contacting a funeral director. Get your Funeral Celebrant to recommend, and to contact on your behalf, the funeral director. There are some excellent Funeral Directors but many are unsympathetic to the quality of the ceremony; they naturally prefer to emphasise the non-ceremonial elements e.g. coffins, limousines, and embalming, which are central to their business. Funeral Celebrants prefer to emphasise the tribute, the eulogy, the reminiscences, the poetry and prose, the music, the choreography, the photo record (audio visuals and display) and the symbols.

Give yourself time. Grieving families, and the Funeral Celebrant, need five working days to prepare a quality funeral ceremony, to revise it and refine it. You also need time to inform family and friends of a funeral ceremony - giving them time to arrange to be there.

Diploma in Funeral Celebrancy   OR   Funeral Short Course -- We invite you to study either!