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5 mistakes that celebrants can make when it comes to being creative

By Natasha Johnson

April 21, 2021

celebrant creativity, The Creative celebrant workshop 2021
It’s easy to forget as a celebrant, that one of our most valuable assets and raison d’etre is our creativity.

Our ability to create ceremony based on the thoughts, ideas, experiences and passions of others.

Our ability to skillfully craft ceremonies creatively and artistically, which bring maximum pleasure, joy, comfort and harmony to those experiencing them.

Our ability to use words and actions to create powerful, unforgettable moments.

For many celebrants however, this valuable asset can also be their biggest headache. Something which causes stress, uncertainty and worry as celebrants try to use their creativity to do their absolute best for their clients.

So let’s take a look at where some celebrants might be going wrong when it comes to their creativity.

  1. Celebrants who don’t trust their own abilities
For some celebrants it’s not that they aren’t creative or can’t be creative when they need to be, it’s that they don’t trust it when they are! Celebrants who are so worried about ‘getting it wrong’ that they don’t even allow themselves to get it right. The celebrants who want to see other celebrants work first, before having a go themselves. Or who need to see other celebrants work to get validation for what they’re doing. Trust your own abilities!

  1. Celebrants who use poems as a crutch
Yes poetry falls into the realms of creativity, but the use of poetry in ceremony itself is an artform! Poetry should bring something extra to a ceremony, not to fill a gap or to pad out a ceremony. One of the worst mistakes a celebrant can make is to rely heavily on poetry. To use it when it’s not needed or when a sentiment can be expressed in a different or better way. It’s about having the confidence in your ability to be creative without needing to use poetry as a ceremony crutch and knowing when it’s right and appropriate to use it.

  1. Celebrants who don’t think outside the box
The celebrants who have become samey-samey with their creative and writing processes. The celebrants who have followed what they did in training and not really expanded on what they’ve learnt, whether for a fear of thinking outside the box or not knowing how to. The celebrants who have slipped into a templated style of writing that is hampering their creativity, even though they don’t use templates per se. (Ps using a template or structure to help you construct your ceremony flow can be useful!) Celebrants who need a nudge and a reminder of their creative talents.

  1. Celebrants who think they're not creative because they don’t have a degree in English literature (or whatever language you speak!)
Some people are born creative. Yes, this is true. But those who aren’t, can learn! Being creative, writing scripts, creating ceremony are skills that can be developed and nurtured over time. But you’ve got to want to develop and nurture those skills. Everytime you create one ceremony, it will inspire and re-energize you for the next. You will look back and think ‘I could have done this or that,’ and so you’ll save your ‘this or that’ for the next time, because your ‘this and that’ is you being creative! It’s an evolutionary process so don’t worry if you’re not where you want to be with it yet.

  1. Celebrants who don’t kill their darlings.
‘Kill your darlings,’ is an old literary expression that refers to the habit that writers get into where they write self-indulgent paragraphs or content that adds nothing to the story they’re trying to tell. We can all suffer from this as celebrants. How many times have you written an amazing line, or a paragraph into a script that you absolutely love, but perhaps it serves no purpose in the script and only really showcases your great writing skills? Well, this would be when it’s time to kill your darlings. Learning how to edit yourself for the greater good of your script and the ceremony as a whole is a skill in itself. The best creatives are also the best editors!

Can you recognise yourself in any of these examples above?

Don't forget that every celebrant has a well of creativity within them. Every. Single. One.

It’s part of the driving force which led you to want to be a celebrant in the first place.

But the skill comes in knowing how to dip into that well and how to use what you have in the best ways possible.

To rid yourself of any fears, lack of confidence, doubts, procrastination and insecurities that stifle your creativity and make you downplay your abilities.

From Monday May 24th to Wednesday May 26th, we’re going to be hosting three awesome days of celebrant creativity in our Creative Celebrant Online Workshops. We’re going to go back to basics - to the essence of celebrancy and we can’t wait to welcome you along for the ride.

All next week we’re going to be releasing the details of our fabulous workshop leaders, the workshops they’ll be leading and how you can get involved. And trust us, you will want to be involved.

Learn more about our workshop here including our special discounts for Celebrants Collective members and early bird bookings.

Photo by Andreas Holm Photography

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About the author 

Natasha Johnson

Natasha is the founder and co-director of awesomeness at the Celebrants Collective, with her business wife, Claire Bradford. When she's not overseeing celebrant development and supporting the hell out of their members, she can be found drinking fabulous Spanish wine, dancing to Beyoncé and hanging out on her veg patch, sometimes all at the same time. She lives in Malaga, Spain with her two favourite humans, three dogs, eight chickens and two giant African snails. (Don't ask!)

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