When it comes to planning a funeral, it can be confusing to differentiate between funeral celebrants and their various offerings. In trying to find a funeral celebrant, you may find yourself asking a lot of questions: What area does the funeral celebrant service? What types of services does the funeral celebrant do? What are the funeral celebrant’s fees?

Our funeral celebrant comparison service makes it easy to get the answers to those questions, and to find a funeral celebrant.

In this guide, we not only explain how to find a funeral celebrant using our website, but also cover everything else you need to know about choosing the right funeral celebrant, including:

1. 1. What is a funeral celebrant?
   2. Types of funeral celebrants
   3. What does a funeral celebrant do?
   4. What should you expect from a funeral celebrant?
   5. Funeral celebrant fees
   6. How to choose a funeral celebrant

If you’re also looking for information about funeral directors in your city, take a look at:

• Funeral Directors, Sydney
• Funeral Directors, Melbourne
• Funeral Directors, Brisbane
• Funeral Directors, Adelaide
• Funeral Directors, Perth

1. What is a funeral celebrant?

A funeral celebrant is the person who leads or officiates a funeral service. The funeral celebrant may assist a family with the planning and management of a loved one’s funeral proceedings and, generally, the funeral celebrant will conduct the funeral service itself.

 2. Types of funeral celebrants

There are various types of funeral celebrants and who you choose will often be based on whether your loved one was religious or more secular, or whether you and your guests speak a language other than English.

Funeral celebrants typically include civil celebrants, humanist celebrants and ministers. With the exception of ministers (who perform religious services), funeral celebrants conduct non-religious, semi-religious and spiritual funeral services. A number of celebrants can conduct a funeral service in another language (or a mixture of that language and English).

Some people choose to use a celebrant as opposed to a minister because they want greater flexibility in the service they create.

3. What does a funeral celebrant do?

First, let’s talk about the difference between a funeral director and a funeral celebrant. A funeral director takes care of the arrangements for the entire funeral – everything from transportation of the body, and location of the service, to where the body will be buried. A funeral celebrant’s role is usually to take care of the funeral service itself; that is, they stand in front of the gathered mourners and have the main speaking role at the service.

Sometimes, a funeral director may act as celebrant, but usually they will assist with finding and booking a celebrant that you have selected or that they have recommended.

In order to conduct a funeral service and pay tribute to your loved one, a funeral celebrant will:

• meet with you at your home or a mutually agreed place to discuss the funeral and the type of atmosphere you would like to create;
• spend a number of hours talking to you about your loved one to get a good understanding of who they were and the life they lived;
• liaise with your funeral director;
• assist you to plan the funeral service, including – if desired – suggesting readings, poems and/or music;
• assist you in putting together an order of service for the funeral;
• if you prefer for the funeral celebrant to give the eulogy, the celebrant will ensure they have sufficient detail about your loved one’s life;
• on the day of the funeral, deliver a funeral service of approximately 20-30 minutes which reflects on the life of the deceased and gives you and all attendees the opportunity to say goodbye.

 4. What should you expect from a funeral celebrant?

While no two funeral celebrants are the same, there are some basic standards that you should expect your chosen funeral celebrant to meet. Your funeral celebrant should:

• treat your family with respect, and do their best to honour your wishes;
• use their experience to guide you in putting together the funeral service, and to offer suggestions where requested;
• dress in a professional manner when attending the funeral;
• deliver a personalised and fitting memorial of your loved one;
• at all times act with compassion and sensitivity.

5. Funeral celebrant fees

If you organise a funeral celebrant through your funeral director, the cost of the celebrant will be included in the funeral director’s fee. If you select your own funeral celebrant, you will pay their fee directly to them. For more information, see Guide to Funeral Celebrant Fees.

6. How to find a funeral celebrant

Choosing the right funeral celebrant to help pay tribute to your loved one is an important task but, with so many options out there, deciding who to use can often prove overwhelming. Our website takes the stress out of this process by making it easy to compare funeral celebrants, and to choose the person who best suits your needs.

To find a funeral celebrant:

1. Go to www.gatheredhere.com.au/funeral-celebrants/
2. Type in your postcode and click “Compare”

For more information about funeral celebrants in your city, see our city guides:

• Funeral Celebrants, Sydney
• Funeral Celebrants, Melbourne
• Funeral Celebrants, Brisbane
• Funeral Celebrants, Adelaide
• Funeral Celebrants, Perth

We hope you’ve found this guide to finding a funeral celebrant helpful. If you have any questions about our funeral celebrant comparison service, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at support@gatheredhere.com.au or start a live chat by clicking the floating message box in the bottom right corner of your screen.