North East Celebrant for Weddings, Funerals, Naming Ceremonies and More
Celebrant Covering Tyne and Wear, Co. Durham, Northumberland, Teesside and Beyond
Hello and welcome! I'm Kate Mukungu, a celebrant for all occasions in North East England. I’m here for the seekers of beautiful, inclusive ceremonies. My superpower is my ability to put you at ease so we can create a warm, meaningful ceremony full of togetherness.
People choose me for my warmth, humour, sense of calm and unwavering commitment to make every ceremony a true reflection of the people being celebrated. Whether honouring a birth, death or marriage, or any life milestone, you deserve a ceremony the captures your essence.
I want you to have the ceremony you want. If you a love a traditional ceremony, it would be my pleasure to capture those features that matter to you. If you want to put conventions aside to truly express who you are, I am here for you. Not everyone sees themselves in the rituals that society tells us belong in a ceremony. I see you and I would love to support you to do it your way.
I mainly cover Tyne and Wear; South Tyneside, Gateshead, Sunderland, North Tyneside and Newcastle, and surrounding areas of Northumberland and Durham. I am happy to discuss travel throughout North East England and beyond.
“Her guidance was supportive and gentle when we needed it.. and helped us make the service exactly how we wanted it to be. I’m very grateful to her. ”
“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
1. I care about providing the best 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, though inclusive, calm and engaging get mentioned a lot too. Client reviews highlight how I supportive I am in the build up to and during the ceremony.
2. I am trained, qualified, insured and focused on quality
I was trained by the International College of Professional Celebrants (ICPC) and achieved a nationally recognised celebrant qualification. I get regular training updates as an ICPC member. I value quality training and am currently 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 skills are sharp when it comes to safe practice. You can put your trust in me. I am fully insured for my celebrant role.
3. I am a celebrant for all ceremony types
From the outset I knew I wanted to be a celebrant for baby naming, 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 - whatever people feel a need to express.
4. 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. This approach means I may get fewer clients but my values tell me to work this way, as I believe people should be free to choose their own celebrant and I know some funeral directors don’t offer people that choice. By maintain my independence as a celebrant, I can ensure I always act in the best interests of my clients.
5. I push for changes that help 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 were restricted for a long time. Although improving, I find many people still don’t know what choices they can make. 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 mistakenly refer 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).
Is a Community Celebrant Like 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.
