Top Tips For Celebrants -1

Published: 12 January 2025

(In these blogs, although I use the word celebrant, the information I share applies to anyone who’s presenting a ceremony of any kind.)

I’d thought about writing a blog called something like Ten Top Tips for Celebrants; but a lot of tips aren’t worth sharing unless there’s an explanation to go with them. And that could mean a blog slightly longer than War and Peace! So, this will be a series of blogs. Some tips will have brief, and some will have fuller explanations.

Tolstoy

So, here we go!

You can roughly divide the skills needed for most ceremonies into three broad categories: Listening; Creative Writing; and Presentation. Presentation (which is my specialist area, and what I’ll be writing about) can be further divided into Voice and Communication. There’s no correct answer to this, but try putting those four topics into order of importance for a ceremony.

In each of these blogs, I’ll give both Voice and Communication advice. I used to say that your voice can be your Secret Weapon. I still do; but how you communicate is an even more important Secret Weapon. You might have the most attractive voice in the world, but if your communication is boring, you’ll have your listeners nodding off in no time. If your voice is hard on the ear, but you use it with thought, vitality and a deep interest in what you’re saying, your audience will be riveted. Of course, if you have both secret weapons, well… 

Both my Listeners

I could ramble on for ages as to why they’re secret weapons, but I’d prefer that you stay awake! I’ll put some notes at the end of this blog*. Here’s a voice tip… well, it’s really a celebrant tip. Warmups! They can be oh so boring, but they’re essential if you want to be and stay at the top of your game! Really, there are two warmup versions – the short-term one that you do (I hope) just before a ceremony; and long-term personal care, which I also hope you practise.

My Sort of Warmup

Personal care involves looking after yourself by eating well and sensibly; exercising and keeping reasonably fit, supple and healthy; and perhaps most important of all, given the potential stresses involved with working as a celebrant, maintaining your emotional/spiritual health. This could involve spending time in nature; having a relaxing hobby; meditating; dancing – all sorts of things. And not overworking!

Here’s some handy and potentially enjoyable voice advice. It’s for both long- and short-term warmups. Compile a playlist of songs which you really enjoy. Make sure that they’re reasonably comfortably within your vocal range. Anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes is good. Sing along with it at least three times a week. Give it some energy, but don’t overdo it. If you feel any vocal strain, have a short rest, or stop.

You Probably Don’t Need To Go This Far!

What this does, apart from giving you some fun, is raise your mood. Also, it keeps your voice in good trim and working as well as it currently can; and if you do this the day before a ceremony, the following day your voice should be functioning on all cylinders.

On the day of the ceremony, be as focused, undistracted and relaxed as possible. Shortly before you start, if you’re able, do some stretches of your whole body; and some sort of vocal warmup.

I Challenge You to a Stretch-off

That’s not always possible at the venue – so maybe in the car on your way there. You could sing a little bit, or make some siren noises – going from your lower voice, all the way to your highest note, and back down again. Don’t overdo it – just enough to make sure your voice is warmed up. At the venue, you can do facial stretches such as yawning and massaging the muscles at the joints of your jaws – and some tongue twisters such as “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. It was a peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked”; “She sells seashells on the sea shore”; “The Leith police dismisseth us”; and finally, the hardest one I can think of: “Are you copperbottoming ‘em, my man?” “No, I’m aluminiuming ‘em, ma’am”! Good luck with that one!

A Tongue Twister?

The most important thing is to be as relaxed as possible, but alert and poised.

*The reason why Voice, and Communication, can be your secret weapons is that, bizarrely, hardly any training organisations teach them properly, if at all! It’s easy to know what you look like – there are mirrors and screens everywhere. But to know how you sound, you have to go to the effort of recording yourself. That can be a shock, resulting in a lot of people turning a blind eye/deaf ear to working on their voice. When doing vocal practice – either on how you sound, or how you communicate, you can’t just wave a magic wand, you have to practise. Some people consign the whole thing to the too-hard basket. But if they were to put the work in, their ceremonies would become infinitely better!

One of My Secret Weapons

Oh, one more tip! It’s always an advantage to be guided in this by someone who’s experienced, and really knows what they’re talking about

I hope you’re getting something worthwhile out of these tips. There are many more to come. Here’s a link to the second blog in this series: Top Tips for Celebrants – 2 – Paul Robinson Voice Coaching Feel free to share it. I work with people from all sorts of fields, but my absolute favourite is to engage with celebrants and celebrants-in-training. If you’re thinking about one-on-one guidance, my details are below.

paulyrobinson@outlook.com

07469 957 199 (+44 7469 957 199)

Paul Robinson Voice Coaching – Voice Coaching