SICA celebrants save the day!

by Michael Hannah, SICA Chair.

 

In the past couple of weeks I’ve heard of three cases where a (non-SICA) celebrant or officiant has had to be replaced at very short notice and a SICA celebrant has filled the breach. Two funerals and a wedding.

It may just be coincidence. And I don’t know all the details of why the original celebrant had to be replaced. I do know that in one case the original celebrant backed out because the family hadn’t responded to him sufficiently quickly (!). And that in another, the family had problems with the celebrant’s attitude.

But I can’t help thinking that as the number of celebrants grows and grows we may see more cases like this. Celebrants cutting corners; celebrants who are all about their “performance”; celebrants whose focus is on social media; celebrants who are more comfortable with ChatGPT than, well…chat!

There’s not a lot that SICA can do to stem the tide of new celebrants entering the profession. But we can hold fast to our sense of values and professionalism. We can try to ensure that being a SICA celebrant is recognized as a mark of quality.

And we are developing SICA as a trusted network that can respond quickly and effectively when things go wrong for families and couples in all sorts of situations. We try to nurture a sense of community and to help make contacts among our members via the Facebook page, our monthly drop-in chats, our peer reviews and the new celebrant-led self-reflections. That helps us as an association and as individuals to get to know our fellow SICA members, and to get a sense of their style and approach, so that we can make recommendations based on knowledge and experience.

I had thought that these three cases were maybe just coincidence …. but in discussing this blog I’ve already heard of more examples. So, I’d love to hear from you about times that SICA celebrants “saved the day” – in whatever circumstances!

16th September 2025