family celebrant

family celebrant (plural family celebrants)

1. A person who conducts weddings, civil unions, naming ceremonies, and other celebrations of life events, but who is not a government or church official.
   • 2009, Neil Dorward, The Guide to a Dead Brilliant Funeral Speech, →ISBN:

     Some families are taking this further and are finding their own family spokespersons or family celebrants.

   • 2016 May 15, Rosalie R. Radomsky, “Linda Jeng and Conor Healy: A Rat, a Leap and a Neat Bookshelf”, in New York Times:

     On May 29, they are to have a nonbinding cultural ceremony at Luttrellstown Castle, an event space in Dublin, where Simone Walsh, a civil family celebrant, is to lead the couple in a Celtic handfasting ceremony in which they bind their hands together with a ribbon.

   • 2017 February 25, Hilarie Stelfox, “Who was Marie Curie and why should you buy a daffodil this March?”, in Huddersfield Daily Examiner:

     She is also a family celebrant and conducts baby naming ceremonies.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see family,‎ celebrant.
   • 1996, Nancy E. Snow, In the Company of Others: Perspectives on Community, Family, and Culture, →ISBN:

     Family celebrants believe that familes are too good for justice. While justice negotiates between competing self-interests, family members share a single interest, the good of the family and each of its members.

   • 2003, Mario Puzo, Carol Gino, The Family, →ISBN, page 41:

     Cesare Borgia followed his father, the Pope, up the aisle; in their wake were Cesare's mother, Vanozza, his sister, Lucrezia, and his brothers, Juan and Jofre. Behind them were other family celebrants.

Some people consider funerals to be within the purview of a family celebrant, while others restrict the term to people who only conduct ceremonies for family milestones, and use the term civil celebrant for someone who also conducts funerals and memorial services.