When we first set up Match & Dispatch, we were in the middle of some pretty big personal stuff. Kate T’s mum was dying, and, as you might imagine, that rather coloured everything. So if we’re completely honest, the business didn’t begin with a beautifully thought-through pricing strategy or a series of calm, rational decisions made over spreadsheets and long conversations about positioning. It was much more immediate than that.
We built the thing, launched the thing, cried a bit, drank a lot of tea, uploaded it to the website and hoped for the best. There simply wasn’t the headspace for anything more considered. Decisions were made quickly, instinctively, and with a sense that getting something out into the world mattered more than getting every detail perfectly right.
And then, as tends to happen, life didn’t pause to give us a neat window to revisit it all. Work continued. Funerals needed writing. Weddings needed holding. Students needed supporting. Coffin Club kept growing. The days filled up, the months moved on, and before we knew it, what had started as a ‘that’ll do for now’ approach had quietly become the norm.
Until now.
Because at a certain point, it started to feel a bit uncomfortable. Not dramatically wrong, but quietly, persistently off. We spend a lot of time talking to our students about value – about recognising the skill involved in this work, about charging properly, about not apologising for being paid. We talk about the emotional labour, the time, the experience, the care that sits behind every ceremony and every script. And we mean it.
So it felt only fair that we applied that same thinking to ourselves.
Match & Dispatch is not something we knocked together for the sake of it. It is rooted in a genuine belief that celebrant training can, and should, be better than it often is. Over time, we’ve invested heavily – financially, creatively and emotionally – in making sure the courses we offer actually deliver. Not just in a surface-level way, but in a way that properly equips people to go out and do this work well.
That has meant investing in proper production values, because we wanted the learning experience to feel clear, engaging and professional from the outset. It has meant structuring the courses carefully so that people aren’t left floundering or guessing what comes next. It has meant creating resources that are genuinely useful rather than decorative. And, perhaps most importantly, it has meant committing to giving real feedback and ongoing support, rather than simply handing over content and wishing people luck.
Alongside all of that sits the experience we bring. Between us, we have around 20 years of working in and around ceremonies – in registration, in weddings, in funerals, in training, and in writing. We didn’t step into this as theorists. We built our own celebrant business from scratch, learning first-hand what it takes to move from no enquiries and no visibility to something steady, sustainable and respected.
That journey informs everything we teach. Not in a polished, ‘we’ve always had it figured out’ way, but in an honest, practical sense of what actually works and what doesn’t. Because there is a world of difference between understanding celebrancy in theory and living it as a self-employed, client-facing role.
There is also the writing. It is something that is often underestimated when people first consider becoming a celebrant, but it sits at the very heart of the work. A good ceremony is not simply a collection of nice words. It is a carefully shaped narrative that reflects a person or a couple accurately, sensitively and, at times, courageously.
That kind of writing requires more than enthusiasm. It requires judgement. It requires the ability to listen properly, to sift through what you’ve been told, to recognise what matters and what doesn’t, and to find a way of expressing it that feels true without tipping into cliché or sentimentality. It requires an understanding of tone, pacing and structure that most people haven’t had cause to develop before.
This is where Kate T’s background as a former Random House Commissioning Editor becomes such a valuable part of what we offer. The feedback process is not about ticking boxes or saying ‘that’s nice’. It is about helping people learn how to shape their writing so that it actually lands in the way it needs to. And that, in turn, is what allows them to deliver ceremonies that feel considered, personal and genuinely meaningful.
All of this is why we feel so strongly that not all wedding celebrant & funeral celebrant training is equal. If someone is investing in a new career, or even just in expanding the work they already do, they are not simply buying access to a set of videos. They are investing in their confidence, their skillset, their credibility and, ultimately, their ability to build something that works in the real world.
It makes sense, then, that the training they choose reflects that.
At the same time, it has always mattered to us that not everything we do sits behind a higher price point. Coffin Club exists for that reason. It is where we focus on funeral education more broadly – creating resources, offering affordable courses, and sharing information in a way that helps more people understand their options. That work remains a core part of what we do, and it isn’t going anywhere.
But Match & Dispatch is professional training, and it needs to be priced accordingly.
So, from mid-May, our prices will be increasing. Alongside that, we are also changing the way our courses are structured, based on what we have seen, over time, to be the most effective way for people to train and develop.
What’s new with our training?
Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, the training will now sit across three tiers. There will still be the option to take individual courses, for those who want to focus on one area at a time. Alongside that, there will be bundled options for people who know they want a broader offering and can see how different types of ceremony work sit together in practice. And for those who want the full, comprehensive experience, there will be a ‘Gold Standard’ package that brings everything together – including marketing support and additional death literacy training – into one complete pathway.
These bundles are not about encouraging people to buy more for the sake of it. They reflect what we know, from experience, helps celebrants build a more confident and sustainable practice. And, importantly, they will be priced in a way that makes them more cost-effective than purchasing each element separately.
We’re sharing all of this now because we want to give people a fair opportunity to make a decision before the new pricing comes into effect. There won’t be a big countdown or a flurry of last-minute pressure. That isn’t how we tend to do things.
If you have been thinking about becoming a celebrant, or about developing your work further, this is a moment worth paying attention to.
Prices will be going up in mid-May, and until then, the current rates remain in place.
Big love
Kate & Kate x
