Funeral celebrant and the director. A celebrant, by this definition, does not come from the standpoint of any doctrinal belief or unbelief. A trained celebrant usually operates professionally on the principle that their own beliefs and values are not relevant. An acknowledged pioneer of civil Celebrancy, Dally Messenger III claims to have officiated at the first funeral celebrant ceremony. This was in the sense that the client sought a service from Messenger, as a government appointed civil celebrant, and as a professional ceremony provider. There had occasionally been secular funeral ceremonies before this date, but they were extremely rare and informal, e.g.
Marriage in New Zealand held in a place of their choice. In 1976, The Marriage Act Amendment Act 1976 replaced the words "officiating minister" in the 1955 Marriage Act with "marriage celebrant" and allowed for marriages to be performed by organisational and independent marriage celebrants in addition to religious organisational marriage celebrants. The Humanist Society was the first organisation to have a nominee registered under the amended Act and a Humanist marriage celebrant was appointed in Auckland. The Humanist Society followed with the appointment of further Humanist celebrants in Auckland and at various locations throughout New Zealand. Other secular organisations followed and registered their