Most celebrants are brilliant at helping other people find their words. Vows, tributes, eulogies. The right words for the most important moments of someone’s life. And yet when it comes to asking for a review of their own work, many of those same celebrants go completely silent.
I understand it. This work feels so personal, so intimate, so far from the transactional world of products and star ratings, that asking someone to review you can feel inappropriate. Especially after a funeral, when the relationship has been so tender and human. The idea of following up to say “could you leave me a Google review?” can feel, at best, clunky, and at worst, like a betrayal of the warmth of what just happened.
But here’s the thing. Reviews are how the next family finds you. The next couple who needs exactly what you do. The next person in grief who types a search into Google at midnight because they don’t know where else to start. Your reviews are not for you – they are for them. And when you think about it that way, asking for them becomes an act of generosity rather than self-promotion.
Let me share how to ask for reviews as a celebrant in a way that feels natural, genuine, and right for the kind of work you do.
Timing is everything
The single biggest factor in whether someone leaves you a review is when you ask. Too early, and they haven’t had time to process. Too late, and the moment has passed and other things have taken over.
For wedding celebrants, the sweet spot is usually one to two weeks after the ceremony. When the couple are back from honeymoon or the immediate whirl of the wedding has settled, and they’re still riding the warmth of the day. This is the moment when they’re most likely to be genuinely moved to say something, because the feeling is still fresh and specific.
For funeral celebrants, this requires more care. The period immediately after the funeral is not the right time. But a few weeks later, when the initial shock has softened slightly and the family has had space to reflect, a gentle, warm message can land beautifully. And for many bereaved families, being asked to share their experience is actually part of the process of honouring their person.
What to say and how to say it
How to ask for reviews as a celebrant is mostly about tone. And the tone should be exactly the same as the one you use in everything else: warm, personal, without pressure.
Send a short, personal message – not a template that could have gone to anyone, but something that references their specific ceremony, their person, their day. Let them know that reviews genuinely help other people find you when they’re looking for support. And then give them one clear, easy link directly to your Google Business profile, or wherever you’d like them to review you.
Something like: “I’ve been thinking about [name]’s ceremony and wanted to say again what a privilege it was to be trusted with their story. If you felt moved to share a few words about your experience, a review on Google would mean a great deal – not just to me, but to other families who might be searching for support right now. Here’s a link if you’d like to: [link]. No pressure at all.”
The phrase “no pressure at all” matters. It gives people an out and, paradoxically, that makes them more likely to respond, because they don’t feel cornered.
Make it easy for them
One of the most common reasons people intend to leave a review but don’t is that the process turns out to be slightly fiddly, and they give up before they get there.
Send the direct link, not instructions for how to find you. If you can, tell them roughly how long it might take (“just a couple of sentences would be wonderful”). If they come back to you saying they’d love to but aren’t sure what to write, offer some gentle prompts: what was it like working together, how did the ceremony feel on the day, is there anything they’d say to someone else who was considering a celebrant?
The easier and more guided the process is, the more reviews you’ll receive and the more specific and useful they’ll be.
Asking after funerals – a note
I want to address this specifically, because it’s where celebrants hesitate most.
Asking for a review after a funeral is not crass. Done well, with genuine care, appropriate timing, and no sense of pressure, it is something many bereaved families welcome. They want to tell someone that their person was celebrated well, that this celebrant was worth trusting. They are often looking for ways to feel that something good came from something terrible.
The key is that your message leads with care for them, not with what you need. You’re not asking them to do you a favour. You’re offering them an opportunity to honour their loved one’s memory by helping other families find someone who might serve them as well as you served them.
Framed that way, it feels completely different.
When reviews arrive, use them
A final thought: the most common mistake after receiving a good review is doing nothing with it. Make sure your best reviews are working hard for you – on your website (not buried in a reviews tab, but placed where uncertainty lives), shared occasionally on social media, perhaps quoted in your enquiry responses.
Every review a client has taken the time to write deserves to be seen. Not just by you, but by the next person who is searching, uncertain, and hoping to find someone they can trust.
If building your celebrant business – from reviews and testimonials to the whole client journey – is something you’d like support with, I’d love to talk. I offer coaching for celebrants at all stages of their journey.
And if you’re exploring whether celebrancy is right for you, book an Informed Decision Session and let’s find out together.
Warmly, Dinah
She/Her