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ABOUT OUR LIFE-CYCLE CELEBRANT (TM) TRAINING

Continuing the Legacy of the Celebrant Foundation & Institute (CF&I)

Live, instructor-led online certification programs guide you to become successful Life-Cycle Celebrants™ so you can make a positive difference in your community. Every course equips you with the confidence, skills and know-how to offer personalized, custom created ceremonies that serve contemporary clients from diverse backgrounds.

We train, you transform
Explore Certifications

Online via Zoom, so you can join in from anywhere in the world.

Led by a dedicated experienced instructor currently practicing as a Celebrant.

Meet once a week for 90 minutes.

Small cohorts provide ample opportunity to master the craft of writing personalized ceremonies that tell each client's story.

Robust marketing components to assist you in launching and establishing your professional Celebrant practice.

Create customized ceremonies that reflect the needs, beliefs, and values of the people you are honoring. 

Graduate as a confident ceremonial officiant ready to attract clients and serve in your community

Pick My Certification & Get Started!

What sets us apart from other Celebrancy training programs?

This is not a crash course. We offer comprehensive training with robust in-course mentorship from experienced, successful Celebrants (including marketing and sales training), designed to build skills and confidence to serve a variety of clients in a dynamic contemporary world.

Our certification prepares you to best serve and anticipate the nuances, challenges, and family dynamics of a particular type of ceremony, be it funerals, weddings, or other ceremonies across the life cycle.

You benefit from seasoned mentorship provided by instructors who are currently practicing as Celebrants and who bring their real-world experiences into the classroom.

We don’t just love you and leave you. We provide ongoing support for you to continuously improve your practice through seasoned advice and tips in our alumni community.

UPCOMING CELEBRANT CERTIFICATION TRAININGS

Continuing the CF&I tradition of training Life-Cycle Celebrants™ for over 20 years

Fundamentals of Celebrancy Training

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

This is a seven-module, instructor-led, live-online training, taught in small cohorts, led by an active Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant™.

Fundamentals of Celebrancy is a prerequisite training that all students seeking certification from the Natural Transitions Institute must complete. It is led by an active Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant™. This training is only taken once, before the first Certification training. Subsequent Certifications do not require this to be completed again. 

NOTE: As a new student, you will be required to select your first certification in order to enroll. Don’t worry – should you decide to change your certification path while in Fundamentals, it can be changed.

In this training, students will study:

Students will emerge from Fundamentals of Celebrancy, having internalized the essential building blocks of ceremony to create ceremonies of all types and will be well prepared to take on their first Certification, being more conscious and mindful of the possibilities for ceremony all around. 

  • The foundations of creating effective ceremony
  • Rites of Passage theory
  • Ceremony Structure (Ordering elements in a ceremony to promote transformation)
  • Symbolism – using personal, family, cultural and universal objects to enrich ceremony meaning
  • Storytelling, the hallmark of the personalized Celebrant ceremony
  • Introduction to Client Relations

In addition, students will analyze a complete Celebrant ceremony case study, and begin to exercise their ceremony creation muscles in short assignments, applying each module’s key concepts.

Price: This course is bundled with your first certification training as part of the New Student Package.

Program Start Date: February 6, 2025

Natural Transitions Institute celebrant training and certification for life’s meaningful moments
FUNERAL CELEBRANT TRAINING: LEARN MORE
WEDDING CELEBRANT TRAINING: learn more
Life-Cycle Celebrancy Training: Learn More
End-of-life ceremony training and resources for professional celebrants

Funeral Celebrant Training

This is an eight-module, instructor-led, live-online training, taught in small cohorts, led by an active Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant™. 

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Students will emerge from the Funeral Celebrancy training with the skills to create and perform personalized funerals, memorials and graveside ceremonies for clients of all beliefs and backgrounds.

In this training, students will study: 

  • Funeral ceremony structure
  • Eulogy writing
  • Personalized funerals
  • Funerals for difficult/traumatic deaths
  • Ceremonies for disposition of the body
  • Client relations and family interviewing
  • Ceremony prep & performance, marketing
  • Community ceremonies
  • Setting up your business practice and working with funeral homes

Students will complete 3 major assignments:

  • Write a ceremony with a provided client profile
  • Craft a ritual for a ceremony they might be interested in offering in their own community
  • Writing a eulogy for a friend or family member

Program Start Date: April 9, 2025

new student registration
alumni registration

Wedding Celebrant Training

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

This is an eight-module, instructor-led, live-online training, taught in small cohorts, led by an active Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant™. 

In this training, students will study: 

  • The role of a wedding certified Life-Cycle Celebrant™
  • Wedding structure
  • Processionals
  • Elements of a traditional western wedding
  • Common wedding rituals  
  • How to create personalized, interfaith, spiritual, and same-sex weddings,
  • Client relations and interviewing
  • Rehearsals and ceremony performance
  • Legal issues affecting wedding certified Life-Cycle Celebrants™
  • Business startup, marketing, and how to expand their reach with a range of services and community events

Students will complete 3 major assignments:

  • Write a ceremony with a provided client profile
  • Craft a ritual for a ceremony they might be interested in offering in their own community
  • Complete their own legal plan of how they will conform to any legal requirements in their jurisdictions

Program Start Date: April 8, 2025

Wedding officiant training through the Natural Transitions Institute certification program
new student registration
alumni registration
Transformative celebrant training for weddings, funerals, and life’s milestones

Life-Cycle Celebrancy Training

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

This eight-module certificate training will examine the role of the Life-Cycle Celebrant™ in co-creating and facilitating personalized ceremonies and rituals to mark and celebrate life milestones and transitions across the human life cycle and to foster connection in community. This course focuses on ceremonies other than Weddings and Funerals

This training combines essential elements from both Healing and Transitions Celebrancy and Ceremonies Across the Life Cycle and contains revised content and a many targeted case studies to give Life-Cycle Celebrants™ the tools to expand their practice with ceremonies for tender and joyous life transitions and milestones such as: 

  • Baby Naming
  • Adoption
  • Renaming
  • Home/Home Leaving
  • Adult transitions – parenthood, gender, work & health
  • Relationship Transitions – divorce, renewal & recommitment
  • Mid and Late Life Transitions - Croning/Saging/Eldering

The students will apply their learnings as they write a ceremony from start to finish for a client based on one of the two detailed client profiles provided, and as they envision a ceremony and devise a ritual for a group of people in their community to expand their reach, build their practice and serve in their own community.

Program Start Date: April 10, 2025

NEW STUDENT REGISTRATION
ALUMNI REGISTRATION

Real celebrants, real success stories

 "The staff is amazing, extremely knowledgeable, helpful and supportive."

I highly recommend Celebrant Foundation & Institute if you are considering becoming a Celebrant.  The courses are in depth and prepare you to be a master of ceremony and ritual. You will graduate with professionality and lots of information and tips to get you started on this amazing journey. I 100% recommend this school! I just celebrated my 103 wedding and the feedback I receive from all my ceremonies  (Wedding, Celebrations of Life, House Blessings, Baby Blessings) has been overwhelmingly positive, I credit a lot of this to the training and ongoing support I receive from C.F. & I.

Rachel Edwards 
 "I feel as prepared as I'll ever be for the wedding I'm officiating."

Thank you CF&I, for your support thus far! I really enjoyed my recent Fundamentals course, lesson curriculum, and teaching style in doling out manageable content for us. So amazing we can all participate across the continent and from different countries effectively and simultaneously. I appreciate instructors who are open and approachable and Elisa, Jen, and Lenny were both.  This fuels me to complete the Weddings course this Fall 2022.

Holly Galbraith
 "CF&I certification training is life changing in so many ways."

It is delivered by teachers who are actively serving as Life-Cycle Celebrants™ in their respective communities. Their “in-real-life” experience is invaluable to informing a start-up practice as a Life-Cycle Celebrant™. The integrity, depth and art of the program sets it apart from all others. It provides you the support, guidance and tools to officiate at life-changing milestone moments allowing you to make a  difference in people’s lives. It has afforded me a career that is rewarding, of service to others, and provides me a powerful way to give back to my community. It is an organization with a compassionate, empathic heart and I am ever grateful to the standards it sets and the support it offers.

Ben Martin

Who can become a Life-Cycle Celebrant™?

NO PREVIOUS CEREMONY OR OFFICIANT EXPERIENCE IS NEEDED

The Life-Cycle Celebrant community includes former teachers, social workers, therapists, nurses, yoga instructors, life coaches, energy healers, corporate professionals…and more! Manyhave completed successful careers and were looking for a fulfilling third chapter career where they could make a difference in their communities.

We believe the clients of our graduates are best served in celebrating life’s special milestones by an officiant who is well-trained in the art of creating meaningful ceremonies.

Our Life-Cycle Celebrants™ receive a comprehensive celebrant education and ongoing professional development.


Enjoy a supportive community and practical guidance to ensure the highest level of success in continuing practice as you make a positive difference in your community.

JOIN OUR ALUMNI COMMUNITY

Ongoing support from your instructors & fellow Life-Cycle Celebrants™


As an NTI graduate, you are invited to join in person local, regional, and private online communities to connect with your fellow Celebrants. 

This resourceful network offers alumni the opportunity to share in mutual support, gain insight into their local as well as national markets, and to know that the combined wisdom of experienced Life-Cycle Celebrants™.

Learn to officiate weddings and end-of-life ceremonies with expert training

BECOME A CELEBRANT

Your dream of making a difference starts here

STEP ONE

Choose your online Celebrant Training Course and enroll today.

STEP TWO

Get instant access to your online learning portal.

STEP THREE

Learn to make a difference in the lives of your clients.
Explore All Certification Courses
 "You have given me such a solid foundation and so much ongoing support - Thank You!"


The more ceremonies I do, the more clearly I see how well I have been prepared. I love what I do and I love what I offer to people - ceremonies that speak to and reflect their deepest selves. 


Mary Glazer

"Becoming a Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant™ was a life-changing, life-enhancing experience for me."


I believe CF&I is a fantastic vehicle for gaining the skills, knowledge, confidence and support needed to become a successful Celebrant. The classes I took – Fundamentals of Celebrancy, Wedding Celebrancy, Funeral Celebrancy – gave me a solid foundation to succeed. Through my studies and conversations with instructors and fellow students I gained in-depth knowledge in the areas of writing great ceremonies, managing client relationships, launching a successful practice, creating ceremony rituals, becoming a great story-teller, and developing unique themes for each ceremony that tie a ceremony together. Perhaps one of the most important intangible benefits of taking classes through CF&I is the networking and support that occurs. Whenever I face a new ceremony challenge, delving into an area that represents unfamiliar territory, I’m able to turn to my alumni network for their counsel, suggestions, ideas and feedback. 

Danny Lewis

 "CF&I certification training is life changing in so many ways."


I was a little nervous about the time commitment of taking classes, especially since I was still working full time. Because it's remote learning, you can literally do it from anywhere you have WiFi—even in your hotel room on business trips. The homework is very manageable for busy working professionals and the assignments are exactly what you need to practice for real-life ceremony work. The instructors are wonderful teachers who truly care about their students' success. They are all working Celebrants and the details they share about their experiences with clients helps their students understand what it will really be like to create and officiate ceremonies. Doing my Celebrant training with CF&I has honestly been life changing. Thank you, CF&I!

Julie Patroski

"The CF&I training is fantastic."


The post-training support and network of alumni is incredibly collaborative. Would highly recommend if you are interested in pursuing a vocation as a highly-trained, professional celebrant.

Karla Combres

"Best decision ever to take the Certification course with the CFI!"


The instructors provide valuable feedback and give you everything you need to start your business prepared, not to mention the supportive network of Celebrants all around the globe. Just 1 month in and I am already booked for several weddings. It is a beautiful vocation!

Alexandra O’Geil

Have questions about our live online Celebrant Training courses?

Want to speak with a real person? Get in touch through the form on our contact page - We’d love to connect with you.

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Wedding officiant training through the Natural Transitions Institute certification program

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