Emily Karp Officiating

Whether you refer to the person speaking and keeping the event organized as the “Moderator,” the “Emcee,”  or the “Officiant,” the responsibilities at a funeral or Celebration of Life event remain the same. The officiant takes charge of the event, keeping the schedule organized, ensuring other speakers follow through on their duties, and most importantly speaking themselves to lead the event — sharing stories, readings and the other elements chosen for the day. 

While most people just focus on finding someone to say a few words and formally introduce other speakers at their events, hiring a “Celebrant” ensures that someone is performing the “Master of Ceremonies” duties at the event itself, while also having the support of the celebrant designing every element of the event leading up to the date.

All celebrants are officiants, but not all officiants have the desire, care and experience to provide these additional specialised duties.

 

Why Hire an Officiant?

While some families wish to have a funeral or celebration of life event led by a friend or family member for reasons such as cost, the intimacy of the person having known the person who passed away, or perhaps simply because it’s easier than figuring out who to hire, having a professional speaker officiate over such an event has so many advantages. It is a gift to have support from someone who is not personally invested in the event, but who is still able to sympathize and match the emotional environment of the day to make this event meaningful.

Part of an officiant’s role is to make it easier to manage the scheduling and avoid missing important small details that need to be planned ahead for to ensure the event runs smoothly. At the same time, it allows each person who loved this honouree to focus on their individual grief, rather than the aspects of designing and running the event. 

Officiants bring meaningful, hands-on experience with public speaking. They also bring experience navigating the practical logistics of typical ceremony spaces, such as anticipating whether a microphone or video screen will be needed. In addition, they have experience managing the emotional and interpersonal dynamics common at such meaningful transitions with sympathy and clarity.

Certified Life-Cycle Celebrants^TM have been trained in writing ceremonies as well as officiating Celebration of Life events by the Celebrant Foundation and Institute. They provide expert guidance to the families going through this grieving process while planning a funeral or Celebration of Life event. These professional individuals specialize in crafting personal and unique ceremonies, focussing on the honouree as an individual and their personal life journey. Having a professional touch to design, plan, organise and moderate the ceremony while guiding the desired emotional tone through the event, leaves less stress on the family and allows them to focus on the event, spending time with event attendees, and reflecting on their own thoughts. 

A celebrant plays a lot of different roles preparing for the day. They work with families to create a personalized ceremony celebrating the honouree, typically including writing a very detailed eulogy that captures many aspects of their life story and how their loved ones will remember them. The personalized ceremony the celebrant creates carefully honours the beliefs of those involved, and also incorporates elements requested by the family, including many of the following: eulogy, readings, music, an appropriate small personal memorial ritual activity for attendees to participate in, a short burial or deposition of ashes service and of course an opportunity for any friends and family members to share their own personal remarks, if they so desire. 

A celebrant is happy to help loved ones prepare their personal remarks if they wish for some guidance. Celebrants will then create a precise schedule for the ceremony and adjust the length of the elements to fit within the desired timeframe for the full event, typically 1 hour but sometimes shorter events are requested. Optionally, a hired officiant or celebrant may preside over a burial or spreading of ashes if requested.

On the day of the event, the officiant will eulogise the honouree, share selected readings, ensure music is played at the right times, lead the invented personalized memorial ritual activity, follow the pre-planned burial or spreading of the ashes ceremony, and act as Master of Ceremonies or Emcee — being the official host for the event, introducing other speakers, and keeping speakers organized and on schedule for the event, ensuring the event runs smoothly.

 

Why Hire Emily Karp as Your Celebrant?

There are many types of officiants that you can hire for a funeral or Celebration of Life event, each will specialise in a different type of event and atmosphere for the ceremony.

 

Celebrant Emily Karp, Officiating

Owner of Grief Pictured LLC, Emily Karp, specializes in highly personalized, non-religious funeral and Celebration of Life events. Emily is a certified life-cycle celebrant with strong, professional experience in public speaking and leading funeral events. Emily works very closely with the families who hire her to learn about the honouree, create a personalized eulogy, choose resonating readings and poetry proses, design and share a personalized memorial ritual, create a memorial slideshow, support those sharing personal remarks, organize, manage, speak and Emcee the event. Emily puts a lot of effort and pride into creating a meaningful and memorable event for the honouree and their loved ones. 

Emily strives to be the ideal presenter when officiating a ceremony. While Emily is a very skilled public speaker, she constantly finds the opportunity to further fine tune her delivery. She attends her local Toastmaster club to continue to sharpen her public speaking skills. At the club she is able to present and have feedback from other public speaking professionals to support her personal and professional development.

 

Tibetan Prayer Flags at 

Funeral- Emily Officiating

Throughout her life she has also had the opportunity to speak at conferences, speaking about LGBTQ+ topics, sharing her experiences with others in the community. Speaking in this variety of environments gives Emily flexibility to fit the atmosphere for different styles of events.

When Emily Karp speaks at a memorial event, she is highly professional and compassionate, speaking genuinely to all those in attendance. Feedback from event attendees and loved ones of the honourees consistently reflect their utmost gratitude for the thoroughness and flow of the event. Many are taken aback with how Emily can write a eulogy that truly captures their loved one, present their life story and emphasize who the honouree was in life without ever having a chance to meet them.

Emily is able to capture the atmosphere of the event, allowing the air of remembrance and celebration to take over while reflecting on the memories of the honouree. Being able to command attention while holding the atmosphere to lead the event and her ability to write, allow her to provide a beautiful and moving experience.