Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Funeral Celebrant?
What can I expect from a Celebrant funeral?
How much will it cost?
Do you provide pre-planning?
Why have an end-of-life service?
My loved one stated that she did not want a funeral, but my family wants to do something. What do you think we should do?
Do you offer pet memorial services?
What qualifies you to officiate at funerals?
Do you have any videos of you officiating?
What is a Life-Cycle Celebrant®?
Funeral Celebrants who are trained and certified by the Celebrant Foundation and Institute are ceremony specialists who have a sound background in the history of ritual, ceremony and funeral traditions in many cultures and religions. We have been drawn to this work by a strong belief that every life has meaning and deserves to be celebrated with honesty and dignity. Funeral Celebrants are convinced that funerals and memorials can be a valuable source of healing to the family and friends of the one who has died. Nothing can take away the grief of your loss, but a genuine, well-prepared tribute may ease the pain.
What can I expect from a Celebrant funeral?
The Funeral Celebrant’s mission is to create a ceremony that reflects the wishes, beliefs, cultural background and values – religious or non-religious – of your loved one and your family. It offers an alternative for families who do not have a religious affiliation, or whose deceased loved one did not want a clergy-led funeral or memorial. A Celebrant funeral reflects the wishes of the family and the deceased. Nothing is imposed on you. You have complete choice of and final approval over the ceremony. The Celebrant spends hours creating the ceremony and learning about your loved one in unhurried meetings with designated family and friends. In collaboration with you, your Celebrant will carefully craft a eulogy and create a ceremony using only music, quotes, readings, symbols and rituals which are meaningful for the family of the deceased. No ceremony is delivered unless every detail of the eulogy is checked and approved by a designated member of the family. Then, with compassion, sincerity and great care, the Celebrant officiates at the ceremony at the funeral home, crematorium, cemetery or memorial location of your choice. After the funeral, the Celebrant presents your family with a keepsake copy of the ceremony.
My fees reflect the time and care I will take to carefully craft the eulogy and ceremony, the number of services you require, and the training and experience I bring to this ceremony. They range from $150 – $450. When we talk, I will be able to offer you a fee quote, based on information you give me about your service needs. Call 314-322-0906 to discuss your ceremony.
Yes, I am happy to meet with you to plan the details of your funeral or memorial ceremony. Other preplanning funeral arrangements should be made with your funeral director.
Why have an end-of-life service?
Human beings have used ceremony and ritual to mark life’s many milestones since our earliest beginnings, in cultures and religious traditions throughout the world. An end-of-life service gives mourners an opportunity to take time out of our daily lives to notice and acknowledge the transition and change that the death of this significant person means to us. A good ceremony gives those of us who must learn to go on with our lives an opportunity to articulate the meaning of this loss for us individually, as a family, and as a community. If done well, a funeral, memorial, or life tribute can help us begin to heal from the pain of our loss.
My loved one stated that she did not want a funeral, but my family wants to do something. What do you think we should do?
Although end-of-life ceremonies focus on the life of the deceased, their primary value is in the ways they can help the living. Many times when people tell their loved ones that they do not want a funeral, they imagine that it will be too hard on their family, or they are trying to spare their families the expense. Other times they may say this because they may not have ever seen a funeral that was actually helpful to the mourners. What they may not understand is that, for many family members, going through the process of a funeral can be a part of healing from their loss. Working with a Funeral Celebrant, your family can plan a personalized ceremony that will both honor the life of the deceased, and give the family the opportunity to express what is most meaningful to them about this loved one.
Do you offer pet memorial services?
Yes, I do. For many people today, relationships with their pets run deep and strong. After the death of your beloved pet, your need for ceremony may be just as powerful as after the death of a human family member or friend. Contact me and we can talk about some ways to honor a pet who has meant so much to you.
What qualifies you to officiate at funerals?
I am a Non-denominational Minister and Life-Cycle Celebrant®. I was ordained with the Universal Brotherhood Movement in 2008, and my Funeral Celebrant certification is through the Celebrant Foundation and Institute, where I was certified in “Funerals and Ceremonies for Healing” in 2010. Since then I have officiated at over 80 funerals, memorials, and celebrations of life
Before becoming a Life-Cycle Celebrant®, I worked as a theology teacher and campus minister in a variety of high school and college settings. I was an epilepsy educator for the Epilepsy Foundation of the St. Louis Region, and a free-lance pastoral writer for the CareNotes series with Abbey Press. I have a B.A in psychology and theology from St. Louis University, and an M.A. in Religious Education with a concentration in Campus Ministry from Fordham University.
Currently, when I’m not performing funerals and memorials, I perform weddings and other ceremonies for couples. As a Life-Cycle Celebrant ® I am trained and experienced in creating personalized, customized, and meaningful ceremonies marking all of life’s milestones.
Do you have any videos of you Officiating?
Yes. Thanks to the family of Jennifer Nagle for their permission to share these excerpts from her memorial service.
What is a Life-Cycle Celebrant®?
Life-Cycle Celebrants® are people in your community who are trained to officiate at, compose, and perform the highest quality personalized ceremonies for couples, individuals, and organizations. The Celebrant’s mission is to create a ceremony that reflects your needs, beliefs, cultural background, values, and tastes.
Celebrancy is an established and flourishing movement that began in Australia and New Zealand in the 1970s, where over one million ceremonies have been officiated at by Celebrants. The Celebrant Foundation and Institute educates Certified Life-Cycle Celebrants© in the art of celebration, symbolism and tradition to offer personalized ceremonies to mark the milestones in people’s lives and reflect the needs, beliefs and values of the couple, individual or family. Celebrants are trained to officiate at virtually every life event, including: weddings, engagements, funerals and memorials and end-of life tributes, baby welcomings and blessings, parenting ceremonies, home and dwelling ceremonies, adoptions, dedications, anniversaries, birthdays, civic/community/non-profit ceremonies, survival-healing and transition ceremonies including divorce, recovery and job loss. The Celebrant Foundation & Institute has been featured in: NPR, CBS Nightly News, Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, BBC News and voted #3 for Top Ten Careers on CNN News & Money Magazine. For more information about the Celebrant Foundation visit: http://celebrantinstitute.org/.