Sue Dearman Celebrant

14/11/2025

💭 As human beings most of us are good at planning. We plan for our holidays, weddings, house moves, school uniforms, meals, birthdays, even what we shall watch on TV. From large events to everyday tasks, we plan. Yet most of us are reluctant to plan for what will happen when we die.

🖤 Death is not something we like to think about, even though ALL of us will die. Death is a painful thing, as in it mostly causes painful grief to those of us who lose someone. It can be painful because of the nature of someone’s passing and it can be painful because we know someone is going to die — especially so if we ourselves have to face our own mortality.

🌅 However, some comfort and indeed joy can be captured by planning what will happen once we or our loved one has gone. Planning for a funeral or memorial can be empowering — imagine being able to plan everything and tell those around you — ‘this is how it will be’.

🕊️ Planning in advance takes the stress out of the situation for those left behind at a time when they should be able to concentrate on their own grief. Planning isn’t necessarily about going to a Funeral Director and paying for a funeral in advance (although it can be that); it is about telling people what you want.

📋 Do you want a cremation or a burial? What music (if any) would you like? Do you want a eulogy/tribute or would you prefer a reading? Do you want your funeral to be a celebration of life and held in your favourite pub instead of in a chapel? Would you like it to be themed because you loved Star Wars? Does everyone have to wear a Canaries scarf (sorry Tractor Boys)? The options are limitless.

🌟 One of the things about a modern funeral is that it can be anything you like — if you are unsure what is available, then speak to a Funeral Celebrant — they can give you lots of ideas and tell you what is possible. They will also recommend the best Funeral Director for you and your family. Even if you want a DIRECT CREMATION, please remember that your local Funeral Director can also do that for you for a similar, if not the same, price as a faceless company.

❤️ Please plan now, take control of your goodbye and take the stress from your loved ones.

https://www.suedearmancelebrant.com

12/11/2025

Katie is passionate about death education. What she doesn’t know isn’t worth knowing. And what she does know is worth sharing 👇

There are so many myths about death, dying, and funerals and so many things we simply don’t know. These six things below are just some of the topics I often cover but that I have also covered in the last few days alone, and it’s only Wednesday!

🫶🏼 You can keep someone at home after they’ve died.
If a person dies at home, you don’t have to rush to call a funeral director. You can take your time, sit with them, wash or dress them if you wish, and say goodbye in your own way.

⚰️ You don’t have to use a coffin - a shroud is absolutely legal too and often more eco friendly. If you do want a coffin, it can be made from all sorts; cardboard, willow, wool, bamboo, or reclaimed wood.

🥂 You don’t have to have a traditional, formal funeral.
Some people choose a direct cremation, a home farewell, or a quiet moment with loved ones instead. There’s no law saying you must have a service. But it’s worth thinking about that fact that ritual and ceremony are very important to our grief.

🎩 You don’t have to use a funeral director. Families can handle everything themselves - from paperwork to transport - though many choose to have professional support. And also in the UK, we often have to wait weeks so another reason a Funeral Director can be helpful.

🌳 You can be buried in your back garden/private land. With the land owners permission, it’s absolutely possible.

🕉️ You can mix faith, culture, and creativity. Saying goodbye can look and feel however you want. You can have a blend of traditions, rituals, faith, food, laughter, and music if you wanted. You could have a priest and a Celebrant if that’s appropriate for your person.

The more we understand, the more choice we have and the more personal, fitting, respectful and appropriate our goodbyes can be ❤️

07/11/2025

Let's talk about Direct Cremations/Unattended Cremations. I am a Funeral Celebrant and how people are honoured at the end of their life matters to me and I hope it matters to you.

Everywhere we look now there seem to be advertisements for direct cremations, sometimes called unattended cremation. They come with the promise of a cheap or inexpensive funeral. Great, who doesn't like to save money? In fact, some people don't want a funeral at all and a direct cremation might feel like the answer for that person. But do you really understand what a direct cremation is, or what that company will offer? If you want to know more about this please read on.

A direct cremation means there is no service, no words are spoken and no one can attend that funeral. This can be hard for family and friends who would like an opportunity to honour and celebrate the life of the person they have lost. But there are other ways to fulfil that desire in the form of a memorial or ash scattering. What is more concerning is that people often don't realise that a direct cremation company does not offer the same service as the local funeral director, despite the fact that your friendly funeral home can also offer a direct cremation with those
lower costs.

Your local funeral director will talk through all the options available to you with a direct or unattended cremation. They will get to know you personally. They will keep you informed of what is happening with your loved one and they will take care of that person as though they are their own family. Respect, dignity and caring are vital at a time of loss.

Direct cremation companies are large corporations who collect your loved one and take them to a storage facility. They are then cremated at a crematorium that is likely a long way from you and usually you will not know where or when they will be cremated. The person who has died is just a name and number on a sheet of paper.

If you want to know more about direct cremation and my recommendations of the best local funeral directors don't hesitate to reach out - I am passionate about people, I don't charge for advice.

www.suedearmancelebrant.com
suedearmancelebrant@gmail.com
07824 637174

31/10/2025

As a society we don't like talking about death. But that often means we miss out on creating a comforting and fitting farewell for a loved one, or indeed ourselves.

If you would like to talk about this please do contact me, details at the end of the video.

If you don't want or funeral, or indeed your loved one didn't have a funeral, then I can also help with Memorials or Ash Scatterings.

Bring peace and comfort to you and your loved ones.

30/10/2025

A Celebrants' Gathering which took place on 18th October was an amazing day of learning, friendship and inspiration.

We thank our Partners and Sponsors for helping us make the day possible Obitus, Memorial Print Westerleigh Group and Made in Matlock. Malmaison Birmingham for taking such good care of us.

Thank you to on Instagram for the reel.
Available through Becca Pountney - Wedding business consultant and speaker

28/10/2025

As Celebrants we need to provide a good service for EVERYONE whether that is a wedding, a funeral, or any other type of commemorative or celebratory event.

Most of us already provide services regardless of who someone is, we are a generous and open-minded bunch - we love and embrace diversity. But are we always recognising the less obvious differences - neuro-divergencies, visual complications such as dyslexia or cognitive stresses such as dementia?

We were all made more aware of these issues, and many others that may compromise our couples and families, at A Celebrants' Gathering on 18th October during a talk by Michelle Taylor.

Michelle highlighted lots of potential problems for us and our clients and all the ways we might mitigate those issues, from fonts for those dealing with dyslexia, to how to accommodate cultural differences to understanding dementia.

It was such an insight to the things we might be missing as Celebrants and I have already taken an online course from Alzheimers.org.uk so that I am more dementia aware. I hope you will too.

Thank you Michelle for your brilliant and informative talk.

26/10/2025

As Celebrants we are often the most visible thing at a funeral - after the coffin. We don't want to be, but that is a fact. Everyone is looking at us to deliver the perfect ceremony for their person. But without the people in the background that you don't see, we would not be able to do our jobs.

Some of those people are the chapel attendants that make sure the music is ready and played at the correct moment. That music is provided by Obitus. Obitus now provide the vast majority of funeral venues with the music for services and they have an amazing number of tracks available for use.

To tell us more about what Obitus provide Janeen Key and her colleague Katie came along to A Celebrants' Gathering on Saturday 10th October. Obitus also provide a vast array of memorial items such as books, dvds and video books for loved ones to treasure.

We also heard about a new portable device that Obitus and their sister department Vivedia have developed. This means that music can be provided in almost any environment.

Thank you to Janeen and Katie for giving up their Saturday to come along and talk to us. Do go to their webpage for more information

https://www2.obitus.com/our-services/tributes
https://www.vivedia.net/
Key Occasions Celebrant

25/10/2025

can’t believe it’s been a week since A Celebrants’ Gathering!

What a day we had, loads of information to take in, I know I learnt a lot. Here is Katie Costello - Soul Midwife and Funeral Celebrant talking to us about how we make meaningful ceremonies for people. How to engage people with the idea of death and dying so we might talk about it while our loved ones ares still here with us. As she quoted ‘talking about s*x won’t make you pregnant and talking about death won’t make you die’. Yet talking about death is still taboo.

Katie has a podcast which I urge you to listen to https://open.spotify.com/episode/6XbjCB57i2rQWUlIMZD6Nj?si=MgSDwF-FT8qvXOheCug0vQ

And she has a training programme that can be accessed here https://www.katiecsoulmidwife.com/dyingforacuppa

25/10/2025

I can’t believe it’s been a week since A Celebrants’ Gathering!

What a day we had, loads of information to take in, I know I learnt a lot. Here is Katie Costello - Soul Midwife and Funeral Celebrant talking to us about how we make meaningful ceremonies for people. How to engage people with the idea of death and dying so we might talk about it while our loved ones ares still here with us. As she quoted ‘talking about s*x won’t make you pregnant and talking about death won’t make you die’. Yet talking about death is still taboo.

Katie has a podcast which I urge you to listen to https://open.spotify.com/episode/6XbjCB57i2rQWUlIMZD6Nj?si=MgSDwF-FT8qvXOheCug0vQ

And she has a training programme that can be accessed here https://www.katiecsoulmidwife.com/dyingforacuppa

24/10/2025

Just a reminder that the group meets at 10am tomorrow morning in our new home at Roydon village hall. Tomorrow we will be carving pumpkins and baking spooky Halloween cupcakes. If your child is aged between 5 and 16 and is living with a bereavement come along and join in.

23/10/2025

If you are a wedding celebrant how do you get the attention of potential clients? If couples choose to have a celebrant led wedding celebration they have a wealth of choice when it comes to a celebrant - there are lots out there - and how do they know which one to choose?

Not only does a wedding celebrant have to work out who they are/what they offer/what makes them different; they have to work out how to convey that to other people.

This is why marketing is so important for a wedding celebrant and who better than the UK’S LEADING WEDDING BUSINESS MARKETING EXPERT Becca Pountney - Wedding business consultant and speaker Becca joined us at A Celebrants' Gathering on Saturday and gave us an energy filled, information packed talk, as well as spending the day with us so she could give our delegate's advice on their web pages.

I know she sent a lot of people home on a buzz and we are so grateful for her advice.

22/10/2025

As Celebrants we tend to love what we do - helping couples plan for their special day and helping families say goodbye to loved ones - it is very rewarding work. It is easy to forget that we are running businesses.

Being a Celebrant is a challenging job, made more so by the number of people now training and entering the workplace. We literally have to compete for work everyday. Therefore, it is important we have a business strategy and we know what we need to do when.

We were very grateful on Saturday at A Celebrants' Gathering to have Rebecca Waldron Celebrant Rebecca Waldron Chartered FCIPD give us two sessions on how to strategise our business and the realities of celebrancy. She had energy married with reality and sent us all away looking at what we should be doing to build a successful business.