Choosing your own celebrant

Can I choose my own celebrant? Do I have to have a celebrant that is recommended by the Funeral Director? What funeral home do you work for?

These are questions that are frequently asked, and this topic has come up more times than I can count since I embarked on this career in early 2008.

However in the last week, it has come up three times to me personally.

A couple who have been to services that I have officiated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Leppington, saw me at Pinegrove Memorial Park, Minchinbury - they had no idea that I went to other places to conduct a funeral. I personally travel all over Sydney, places such as Rookwood Memorial Gardens, Castlebrook Memorial Park, Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Macquarie Park, and have been to Newcastle, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains when requested.

I had a call from another person to whom I was recommended as a celebrant and who is looking at organising a funeral for a family member. He had called funeral directors who told him that they had their "own" celebrants. He wasn't aware that he didn't have to go with one of theirs. He could go on the recommendations of others,