Blog Posts in order of
posting (newest first)
The Monitum in a Civil Marriage
(02/05/2025)
Categories: | Wedding Legals |
In every civil wedding the celebrant is required to
recite the Monitum. There are good reasons for this,
and for why it is not required in a religious
wedding.
More ...
Crafting Your Dream Wedding Budget: A
Four-Faceted Approach
(26/04/2025)
Categories: | Wedding Budget |
Blowing your wedding budget can turn your dream day
into a nightmare of stress! The secret? It's all
about how you approach constructing your budget.
Most couples focus solely on dollars, but to truly
enjoy your day, consider all four types of
expenditure: Fixed, Variable, Time, and Opportunity
Costs. Combining these with the four key aspects of
budget planning, will reduce stress and minimise the
risk of overspending.
More
...
Everything You Need to Know about Marrying
Overseas when you Live in Australia
(21/04/2025)
Categories: | Wedding Legals |
Wedding Planning |
What do you need to know as Australian residents
wanting to marry overseas and have your marriage
recognised in Australia? Getting it wrong, believing
you are legally married when you aren't, or are not
legally married when you are, could get you into an
immense amount of legal hot water back in Australia
- even to the extent of ending up with a criminal
record.
More
...
The Luck of the Irish: Why Saint Patrick’s Day
is the Perfect Day for Your Wedding
(21/04/2025)
Categories: | Irish Weddings |
If you're planning an Irish wedding or simply
embracing the spirit of the day, marrying on Saint
Patrick’s Day,, regarded to be the luckiest day of
all to marry, offers a unique opportunity to blend
tradition with modern romance and celebrate your
love story with the luck of the Irish on your
side!
More
...
Post-Cyclone Thoughts on Plan B
(15/03/2025)
Categories: | Wedding Planning |
Having a Plan B is all about resilience,
adaptability, and love. So it is crucial to take a
step back and look at what your mindset is about
your wedding and what you need to achieve if your
Plan A becomes impossible due to circumstances
beyond your control
More
...
3 Easy Ways to Nail Writing Memorable Vows
(25/02/2025)
Categories: | Vows |
These three ultra-easy tips will have you
effortlessly nailing writing vows that are
authentic, sincere, and memorable
More
...
Intimate and Fun Ways to Propose: Making the
Moment Special
(01/02/2025)
Categories: | Proposing |
Proposing to the love of your life is a significant
step in your relationship, and doing it in an
intimate, personal way can make the moment even more
memorable. Not everyone wants a grand public
spectacle, and that's perfectly okay. In fact,
keeping it low key signals that you aren't taking
your partner's answer for granted! Read on for some
fun, intimate, and inexpensive ways to propose that
focus on the personal connection between you and
your partner.
More ...
Keeping your Name after Marriage, the Modern
Option
(30/01/2025)
Categories: | Wedding Legals |
While the majority of women in Australia still
change their names to their husband's name
oncmarriage, the numbers of women who don't
increases every year.
More
...
Competitive Bride: How Social Media is turning
Weddings into an Extreme Sport
(17/01/2025)
Categories: | Wedding Planning |
Social media is turning weddings into an extreme
sport, and the pressure is almost all on the bride
More
...
Form 15: The On the Day Certificate (and yes, it
is a Legal Document!)
(16/01/2025)
Categories: | Marriage Paperwork
| Wedding Ceremony | Wedding Legals |
Despite all the misinformation floating around about
it, the Form 15 certificate your celebrant hands you
on your wedding day IS a legal document and not a
mere keepsake or souvenir.
More
...
Stefana: Love's Royal Crowning Ritual
(11/01/2025)
Categories: | Wedding Rituals |
A beautiful part of Eastern Orthodox weddings is the
crowning ceremony, a ritual that makes a profound
theological statement about the sacredness of
marriage in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.
Although this ritual has deep religious
significance, because Australia allows expression of
the couple's spiritual beliefs within a civil
marriage ceremony, it can be incorporated in your
wedding ceremony to honour your heritage.
More ...
The On-Time Wedding: Clever Strategies to Ensure
Your Guests Aren't Late
(05/01/2025)
Categories: | Wedding Planning |
While punctuality can never be guaranteed, there are
plenty of creative and practical strategies that
will help guide your guests to a timely arrival and
ensure that your ceremony will start on time
More ...
The Quaich: Scotland's Loving Cup
(02/01/2025)
Categories: | Scottish Weddings
| Wedding Rituals |
While many cultures have a tradition of sharing a
loving cup as part of a wedding, the Quaich,
Scotland's traditional drinking vessel, has a rich
history and cultural significance that goes beyond
weddings, making it a beautiful symbol of unity for
your marriage
More
...
Avoiding Gender Stereotypes in your Wedding
Ceremony
(30/12/2024)
Categories: | Inclusive Weddings
| Wedding Ceremony |
There are six reasons why weddings continue to
follow the blueprint for a traditional hetero
wedding. But there are simple ways to avoid gender
stereotypes in your ceremony.
More
...
Next-Gen: The ReImagined Wedding Ceremony
(16.12/2024)
Categories: | Vows |
Wedding Ceremony |
Announcing a complete re-think of what a wedding
ceremony can be. A wedding in tune with your 21st
century values. A wedding ceremony in which
patriarchal values are no longer embedded. The
wedding ceremony you thought you couldn't have
because that's not the way wedding are done.
More
...
How to Create an Inclusive Wedding Budget
(22/11/2024)
Categories: | Inclusive Weddings
| Wedding Budget | Wedding Planning |
An inclusive wedding budget goes beyond what you, as
the marrying couple, will spend. It also takes into
account the potential impact your choices may have
on what attending your wedding will cost your guests
and your wedding party
More
...
How to Create an Inclusive Gift Registry
(19/11/2024)
Categories: | Inclusive Weddings
| Wedding Budget | Wedding Planning |
An inclusive gift registry respects the
diverse financial situations of your guests and
allows them to choose a gift they feel comfortable
giving. By offering a range of options, you can
ensure that no guest feels embarrassed or pressured
to exceed their budget.
More
...
Heads Up: Your Wedding Will Invalidate your Will
(14/11/2024)
Categories: | Wedding Legals | Wedding
Planning |
When planning your wedding don't forget that getting
married will invalidate your will. You need to make
a new one in order to ensure that your assets are
divided up the way you want them to be and that your
children are cared for by someone you trust.
More
...
Who Sits Where at Your Wedding?
(10/10/2024)
Categories: | Wedding Ceremony |
Wedding Planning |
Where your guests and your loved ones are seated at
your wedding not only impacts on the experience for
them,it can make a huge difference to your photos
More
...
Being a Witless Witness is not an option!
(08/10/2024)
Categories: | Wedding Legals |
When you are one of the legal witnesses to a
marriage, you have to have your wits about you
throughout the ceremony because you could be called
on to testify in court
. More
...
Crafting Love: Expert Vow Writing Services
by The Vows Magician
(17/05/2024)
Categories: | Vows
|
The heart and soul of your wedding ceremony are your
wedding vows, words that encapsulate your love
story, dreams, and commitment to one another. If
finding the right words feels overwhelming The Vows
Magician's vow writing service is the answer. ...
More
Sealed with a Kiss, or Not
(16/09/2024)
Categories: | Wedding Ceremony | Wedding
Traditions |
Sealed with a kiss. You may kiss your bride. etc
etc. Every Hollywood movie wedding, every TV soap
wedding, almost every civil ceremony, and even those
solemnised in some, but by no means all, churches
end this way despite a kiss not legally required to
seal the deal. You'll be just as much married if you
don't choose to lock lips. ...
More ...
The Evolution of Wedding Ceremonies: From
Expediency to Personal Expression
(12/09/2024)
Categories: | Wedding Ceremony |
The traditional wedding ceremony as officiated by
civil celebrants in Australia, has roots firmly
embedded in the Church of England marriage service
and even those ceremonies that are regarded to be
contemporary reflect those origins. But the law is
much more flexible about the content of your
ceremony ...
More ...
Finding the Balance: The Role of Humour in Your
Wedding Ceremony
(07/09/2024)
Categories: | Inclusive Weddings | Wedding
Ceremonies |
One of the most common assertions about wedding
ceremonies today is that the celebrant must be
funny, but what does funny mean in the context of
wedding ceremony, and what are the pros and cons of
choosing a funny celebrant?
More ...
Beyond 'I' and 'You': The Unexpected Pronoun to
Omit from your Vows
(17/05/2024)
Categories: | Vows |
Avoiding one particular pronoun in your vows can
take your vows from meh to wow! What you say in your
vows are not just words, they're expressions of
promises, feelings, and commitments.
More
...
7 Ways AI-written vows shortchange you and your
marriage
(12/04/2024)
Categories: | Vows |
When you mention that you are struggling to
write your vows, it is highly likely that multiple
people will tell you to just use AI (Artificial
Intelligence). Before you accept that as a solution,
you need to know that there are seven good reasons
why AI is not a solution that works if you want your
vows to be anything other than vanilla, generic, and
eerily familiar to your guests.
More
...
The thing I hate most about traditional weddings
(11/04/2024)
Categories: | Wedding Ceremony |
Wedding Traditions |
A discussion of my pet peeve - the tradition
of making the groom stand with his back to the
guests and to his bride as she makes her way down
the aisle to join him. And why it has a darker side
More
...
AI, Copyright, and you, the Celebrant
(30/03/2024) (Previously published article)
Categories: | for Celebrants |
Wedding Legals |
A discussion of the risks and realities of using AI
tools such as ChatGPT to write celebrant blogs,
ceremonies, and materials
More
...
What Marriage Changes - and What it Doesn't
(24/03/2024)
Categories: | Wedding Legals |
Getting married immediately changes your legal
status, and with that comes a change in rights and
responsibilities...
More ...
Wedding Red String Rituals
(22/03/2024)
Categories: | Wedding Rituals |
Incorporate a Red String Ritual into your marriage
ceremony to visually express your belief that you
are meant to be...
More ...
Witnesses and Disability
(04/03/2024)
Categories: | Wedding Legals |
You need two witnesses to a legal marriage.
Despite how common ableist assumptions are about
this role, a witness having a disability is not an
automatic disqualification
More
...
Add a touch of Horse Magic to your Wedding
Ceremony
(01/03/2024)
Categories: | Animals and Weddings | Wedding
Planning |
Successfully including your horse in your wedding
ceremony takes a little preparation and a lot of
love ...
More
...
This is me ... a rant from 2019
about ageism and celebrants
10/02/2024
Categories: | Celebrant
|
A discussion about negative images of older
celebrants promulgated within the celebrant
profession ...
More...
Wedding Ring Superstitions
(06/01/2024)
Categories: | Wedding Ceremony |
Wedding Rings | Wedding Rituals |
Dive into the multiple superstitions about wedding
ring and old beliefs about what creates both good
luck
and bad luck for the marriage ...
More
...
Wedding Rings: Essential symbols or outdated
tradition?
(03/01/2024)
Categories: | Wedding Ceremony |
Wedding Rings | Wedding Rituals |
Why do we regard the exchange of rings to be a
central moment in both civil and religious
(Christian) wedding ceremonies? And why is it
generally expected that, by the time a heterosexual
couple is declared married, the bride will have a
ring on her finger, but the groom may or may not?
...
More ...
The Kilt Dilemma: To Underwear or Not to
Underwear?
Categories: | Scottish Wedding
| Wedding Attire |
(01/02/2024)
Is the Scottish tradition of going regimental -
wearing nothing - under the kilt, appropriate for
your wedding?
More ...
Geeky Wedding Dates That Will Make Your Inner
Nerd Swoon
Categories: | Wedding Planning
|
(27/01/2024)
No matter what your nerdy interest is, there's a way
to incorporate it into your wedding, starting with
the date...
More ...
Romantic Days for Weddings
Categories: | Wedding Planning
|
(25/01/2024)
There are many ways to choose the perfect date for
your wedding. One way, explored in this blog post,
is to choose a day celebrated as a day for lovers.
...
More ...
Vows, Love Letters, Speeches: How they differ
Categories: | Vows |
16/01/2024
Vows, Love Letters, and Speeches all have their
place on a wedding day. The important thing is to
understand the differences.
More
...
Curly questions about getting married
Categories: | Wedding
Legals|
12/01/2024
A selection of the curly questions I've received
from people across the country, and how I've
answered them.
More ...
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