North East Celebrant covering Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, Co. Durham and beyond
Hello and welcome! I'm Kate Mukungu, a celebrant for all occasions; funerals, weddings, naming ceremonies and more. I’m here for the seekers of beautiful, inclusive ceremonies. I put you at ease and create a warm, meaningful ceremony with you, one that is full of togetherness.
Based in South Shields, I cover Tyne and Wear; South Tyneside, Gateshead, Sunderland, North Tyneside and Newcastle, and the surrounding areas of Northumberland and Durham. I am happy to discuss travel throughout North East England and beyond.
“Kate made us feel so comfortable and reassured throughout the whole process. She brought a feeling of balance, calm and support”
Celebrant Services At a Glance
Funerals and Memorials
Weddings and Vow Renewals
Naming Ceremonies
Community Ceremonies
Five Reasons to Choose Kate Mukungu as Your Celebrant
“She was wonderful - her guidance was supportive and gentle when we needed it. She brought her experience and her ideas which we hadn’t considered, and helped us make the service exactly how we wanted it to be. I’m very grateful to her and would wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone looking for a celebrant.”
I care about providing the highest level of ceremony experience
If you want a ceremony with a warm atmosphere, where people feel valued and included, I am a definitely celebrant to consider. Reviews of my ceremonies are extremely positive and the most common word used to describe my celebrant style is warm. Client reviews also highlight how I supportive I am in the build up to and during the ceremony. The next three most words common in reviews to describe me are inclusive, calm and engaging.
I am a trained, qualified, insured celebrant focused on quality
I completed a celebrant training course with the International College of Professional Celebrants (ICPC) and achieved a nationally recognised celebrant qualification before marketing myself as a celebrant. Most celebrants do not hold pursue a national level qualification, perhaps because it is not legally required. I value good quality training and make use of ongoing ICPC opportunities. I am also completing an advanced celebrant skills course with Match and Dispatch called Celebrant Plus.
Being a celebrant of quality means being serious about practical responsibilities like health and safety, and handling confidential data. With my extensive celebrant training and a long track record of leading community health charities, my safe practice skills are sharp. You can put your trust in me. I have professional insurance designed for celebrant work through my ICPC membership
I am a celebrant for all ceremony types and occasions
From the outset I knew I wanted to be a celebrant from baby naming to end of life ceremonies and everything in between. To me, the essence of being a community celebrant is sharing key milestones with people at all stages of life. A good ceremony holds space for people to be together to express their love and gratitude, whether in joy or sad loss. I am comfortable with the emotions that come with that. I welcome laughter at a funeral, tears at a wedding and whatever people feel they want to express.
My community work values shape my approach as a celebrant
Some ways I work are a little unusual. For example, I don’t ask funeral directors for referrals. Instead, I promote myself to the public. In many ways this is a more difficult way to work approach, as it means I will get fewer clients, However, my values tell me to work this way, as I believe people should be free to choose their own celebrant. I know some funeral directors don’t give people a choice of celebrant. By not letting myself become reliant on funeral directors, I am able to maintain my independence. In short, I work for families and with funeral directors, not the other way around.
I push for changes to make ceremonies better for people
I am passionate about promoting choice in ceremonies. I believe people should be able to determine the words spoken in ceremonies, the places where ceremonies are held, and how they express their identity and beliefs in ceremonies. Peoples’ ceremony choices have been restricted for a long time. Although the situation is improving, I find many people still don’t know what the possibilities are. I make sure the people I work with are aware of the options open to them. I am very happy to speak in public about issues I think need to be addressed, such as funeral poverty and out of date wedding laws.
I get asked this question a lot. I could have chosen the title Independent Celebrant, Professional Celebrant or Civil Celebrant. All these terms are accurate. I chose the Community Celebrant, which I relate to because I bring my community work values into my work. I do this in the way I support people to make informed ceremony choices and in my willingness to campaign for positive change.
Some people have mistakenly referred to me as a humanist celebrant. Perhaps they think I am a humanist because I am not part of any religion. Although the ceremonies I carry out are mainly non-religious, I am happy to have religious or spiritual elements that are meaningful to the people being celebrated. This is a key difference between me and a humanist celebrant. Humanist ceremonies are completely and explicitly non-religious, because a humanist is somebody who “rejects the idea of the supernatural, and is therefore an atheist or agnostic”(Humanists, UK).
Are You the Same as a Humanist Celebrant?
Affiliations and Memberships
I am proud member of this North East collective promoting conversations about how to have the best possible end of life.
I am a trained, qualified and fully insured ICPC Celebrant.
I have adopted the Funeral Celebrant Accord which states the attributes and skills of an excellent funeral celebrant.
As a pledgee I promote co-operation and good practice between people and businesses in South Tyneside.
Contact Kate
You are welcome to message me through my social media or this website and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
