For the Joy, the Love and Everything In Between

I often get asked what I love about being a celebrant.

The honest answer? The people. Always the people.

Being a celebrant has given me the privilege of stepping into some of the most important, emotional and meaningful moments in people’s lives. From the excitement, laughter and happy tears of a wedding day to the quiet sadness, memories and love that surround a funeral, I feel incredibly lucky to be trusted with these moments.

And perhaps that is why being a celebrant feels so natural to me.

I have always been someone who feels things deeply. I’m naturally empathetic, I notice the little things, and I’m genuinely interested in people. I love listening to their stories, understanding what makes them tick and finding the little details that make them, and their relationships, completely unique.

I think my biggest strength as a celebrant is simply being in tune with people.

I can usually sense when someone needs a little more reassurance, when they need a moment to breathe, when a laugh would lighten the room, or when sometimes the best thing I can do is simply listen.

And I listen properly.

Not just to the words people say, but to the things they sometimes find difficult to say.

Celebrating love and celebrating life

One of the things I love most about being a celebrant is that no two ceremonies are ever the same.

A wedding is a celebration of two people choosing each other. It’s about love, friendship, family, memories, dreams and everything that makes their relationship special.

A funeral is different, of course, but in many ways it is also about love.

It is about a life lived, people loved, memories made and the enormous impact one person can have on the people around them.

Whether I am sitting with a couple talking excitedly about their wedding plans or sitting quietly with a family remembering someone they have lost, my role is ultimately the same:

I am there for the people.

I am there to listen.
I am there to understand.
I am there to tell their story.
And I am there to make what can sometimes feel overwhelming just that little bit easier.

I’m the calm one!

I’ve always been quite good at keeping a calm head.

Which, as you can imagine, is a rather useful quality when you are standing at the front of a wedding ceremony and someone has forgotten the rings… or when a funeral service is approaching and emotions are understandably running high.

I don’t panic easily.

I tend to take a breath, work out what needs to happen and quietly get on with it.

I think people need that from their celebrant. They need to know that someone has got them.

Someone who can step in when necessary, keep everything moving, but also knows when to step back and let a moment simply be a moment.

And then there’s my big heart…

I’ve always been a caring person.

Probably too caring sometimes!

I genuinely want people to feel comfortable, heard and looked after. I want my couples to feel that their ceremony is completely theirs. I want families saying goodbye to someone they love to feel that their person has been represented with warmth, dignity and honesty.

I don’t believe in cookie-cutter ceremonies.

I don’t want to stand up and deliver something that could belong to anybody.

I want to know you.

What makes you laugh?
What makes you cry?
What do you love about each other?
What stories do your friends tell?
What were they really like?
What little quirks made everyone smile?

And for funerals, I want to know the person behind the photographs and the dates. The funny stories. The favourite sayings. The things that made everyone roll their eyes. The things that made them wonderful.

Because those are the details that bring someone to life.

I always try to bring a little joy with me

This might sound strange when talking about funerals, but I think joy has a place in every room.

Even in sadness.

I’m naturally quite upbeat and I have a slightly infectious personality. I love making people smile, and I believe there is almost always room for a little warmth, humour or lightness — even during the most difficult moments.

That doesn’t mean ignoring sadness or pretending everything is okay.

Quite the opposite.

I think acknowledging the difficult emotions makes the moments of joy even more meaningful.

At a funeral, that might be remembering something hilarious the person used to do.

At a wedding, it might be making a room full of people laugh while telling the story of how the couple first met.

It might simply be a reassuring smile, a hug, a well-timed joke or a glass of bubbly afterwards.

Whatever the moment needs, I try to bring a little bit of myself into it.

My life has taught me to appreciate the important things

Life has taught me that the big moments aren’t always the grand ones.

Sometimes it is sitting around a kitchen table listening to someone’s story.

Sometimes it is laughing until your stomach hurts.

Sometimes it is watching two people look at each other and knowing, without them saying a word, how much they love one another.

Sometimes it is remembering someone who is no longer here and hearing a story that makes everyone in the room laugh through their tears.

These are the moments that matter.

And I feel incredibly privileged that my work allows me to be part of them.

Being a celebrant isn’t simply about standing up and speaking beautifully.

It is about connection.

It is about trust.

It is about being able to walk into a room and meet people where they are — whether they are bursting with excitement, completely overwhelmed, heartbroken, nervous, emotional or somewhere in between.

It is about listening carefully enough to understand what they need and caring enough to give it to them.

So, why do I love being a celebrant?

Because I get to meet incredible people.

Because I get to hear extraordinary stories.

Because I get to celebrate love.

Because I get to honour lives.

Because I get to laugh, cry, listen, write, travel, meet families, make new connections and occasionally enjoy a glass of bubbly at the end of it all!

But most of all, I love being a celebrant because I get to be there for people.

For the excitement.

For the nerves.

For the laughter.

For the tears.

For the memories.

For the goodbyes.

For the new beginnings.

For all those wonderfully messy, beautiful and completely human moments that make up our lives.

And if I can make someone feel a little more comfortable, a little more understood, a little more celebrated — or simply bring a tiny bit of light into their day — then I know I’m doing exactly what I’m meant to be doing.

I’m Claudia, and I’m a celebrant.

A hopeless romantic, a good listener, a calm head in a crisis, a lover of people and stories, and someone who believes that every life deserves to be celebrated in its own unique way.

And honestly?

I wouldn’t want to do anything else. ❤️

Claudia x