The Celebrants Network Inc - BLOG

This blog is updated by passionate celebrants. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the latest from The Celebrants Network

More Blog posts can be found in the Blog Categories to the right.

Wedding Anniversary Symbols

Have you ever wondered about what wedding anniversary symbols are all about?

No one knows precisely when wedding anniversaries were first celebrated, but the tradition is believed to go back at least to the Middle Ages. At that time in the Germanic regions of Europe, a husband crowned his wife with a silver wreath on the 25th anniversary of their wedding day. If the couple was fortunate to live long enough, the husband presented his wife with a gold wreath on their 50th wedding anniversary.

Over the years more symbols have been added and it is generally believed that increasingly durable gifts were chosen for successive years to represent the progressive strengthening of the marriage relationship. As the years go by, the gifts increase in strength and worth from paper to diamond.

1st - Paper

Anniversary symbols paper

The first year of marriage is like a clear sheet of paper, a new beginning upon which to write your passage through the years together. Also like paper, it is fragile and can easily rip, not having yet been tried by the fires of adversity and the storms of life.

Nov

Remembering Loved Ones

The 11th of November is coming up this Friday which is Remembrance Day. The day we pay our respects to those soldiers who died in the First World War.

Apr

Anniversary Symbols

Are you one of those people who can never remember what you're meant to buy your partner or your wife or your husband or your spouse for your anniversary each year? Is it paper? Is it wood? Which year do I give roses? Here's a handy guide for you..... you're welcome!

Apr

How to add Ceremony to any Celebration

If you think about it, there is always an element of formality to most events. When you think of formal events you think weddings, funerals and naming days, but there are many events in our lives where we can add ceremony. Celebrant Shell Brown from Geraldton, WA shares some ideas as how to add a bit of ceremony to your celebration.

Nov

Day of the Dead

This week Mexicans will be gathering to pray, remember and celebrate those who have died. There are so many ways that many cultures remember their loved ones after they've died. Celebrant Mel Lawson from Oberon, NSW is sharing a few with us...

Oct

Celebrating Older People with ceremonies

In 1990 the United Nations General Assembly voted to establish October 1^st as the International Day of Older Persons. Celebrant Sonia Collins from Batemans Bay, NSW gives us a few ideas about celebrating the older people in our families and communities.

Sep

It's important to continue learning about your partner

Our lives are constantly changing and evolving. This is inevitable. So why do we think that once we get married - that's it, we don't have to try to keep connecting with our partner? A marriage is a union of two separate people who will face personal challenges that may differ from their partners, so it's important that we continue to learn about each other....

Sep

It's Time

It's Time! Spring equinox 23^rd September 2017

It's officially spring....
the flowers are blooming...
new life is emerging....

Aug

Has Covid-19 changed your wedding plans?

Are you one of the many couples finding that you need to change your wedding plans because of the coronavirus? The reality of travel restrictions as well as those on ceremonies and wedding receptions means making some decisions. Luckily we have Celebrant and Chairperson of The Celebrants Network - Sonia Collins at the ready to give some suggestions...

Jul

Celebrants do more than just weddings...

It's true that a lot of civil celebrants only conduct marriage ceremonies or funerals but there are also many Celebrants who identify as Family Celebrants who offer their services for a multitude of celebrations that will continue on throughout your lifetime....

Apr

Renewing Your Vows – What’s the Point?

Throughout people’s lives, there are many good times as well as challenges and hardships, and it is how we react, how and what we feel and think, and the choices we make that can impact our journey.

Nov

20th Wedding Anniversary - What advice would you give?

ASK A CELEBRANT BLOG: When Rona Goold TCN Coordinator celebrated her 20th Anniversary, she sent her 'sweetie husband" Steve a personal e-card on the theme of 'Life is a bowl of cherries' - when you have a good partner, where one's joined at the heart and that they made "a good pair" with this image :-)

Steve and Rona say that knowing each other's Love Languages is one way they strengthen their relationship.

"Fortunately 'gift giving' is not high on either of our lists, but words of affirmation and acts of service are.On receiving his e-card, Steve declared that it is really great to feel so close that neither "gives each other the pip"!" says Rona

What are your words of advice to newly weds about strengthening their marriage over time?

May

Celebrate mothers day with ceremony

ASKACELEBRANT Honours ALL Mothers Everywhere!

Why celebrate with ceremony?

Because Mothers give of themselves in so many ways. Plan now for this Mothers Day. Give a Mothers’ Day Gift that is special and unique!

Within the very busy and time poor world of today, seldom do we take the time to honour some of the vital and important ‘things and people’ in our everyday lives.

True we celebrate Birthdays, Christmas, Weddings, and so on, but when it comes to expressions of love and gratitude to certain people, especially our parents, and particularly our Mothers . . . we are inclined to fall into the ‘commercial trappings’ . . . for up until now, there have been few alternative options.

Read more on:

https://www.celebrations.org.au/everyone/content/63-celebrate-mothers-day

Jan

How old must I be before I can get a message from the Queen?

ASK A CELEBRANT BLOG: Problem is by the time I've reached this age, I'll probably need someone else to organise this for me!

So how can a congratulatory message be organised? Australians who are celebrating a special birthday or wedding anniversary can receive personal congratulations from the Prime Minister, Governor-General or The Queen.

Who is eligible for a congratulatory message?

The Prime Minister will send a message of congratulations to people turning 90 years of age or more.
The Queen and Governor-General will send a message on a 100th birthday.

Nov

Celebrate your Anniversary with Ceremony

Steve Rona 1993 wedding 200 How do you and your partner celebrate your anniversaries? And what is it that you celebrate - the anniversary of first meeting, first moving in together or more traditionally, your wedding anniversary?

First thing of course is to remember the date! This can be tricky as many of us know but it is usually greatly appreciated so well worth doing!

Perhaps you are looking for a different and special way to celebrate this year. Maybe it is a significant anniversary for you for some reason. It may be the number - 1st, 5th, 10th, 25th, 30th, 40th and 50th wedding anniversaries are often deemed more special, But it may also be something else that is special this year - overcoming difficulties together, starting your family, having the last child leave home - the reasons are as individual as the couples who are celebrating.

Why not think about engaging a celebrant from the The Celebrants Network (TCN) to design and conduct a ceremony that meets your individual needs? You can find a celebrant near you on our website . You can also find lots of information about different ceremonies for anniversaries.

Our TCN founder Rona Goold and her husband Steve had their 21st Wedding Anniversary last year and they asked TCN Celebrant Robyn Lenahan to conduct a ceremony for them.

Rona made a YouTube video using pictures from their wedding to use as part of the ceremony, an example of an original idea that had significance for the guests at their celebration. You can watch it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua6Qv2Yn5_o&feature=youtu.be and enjoy the original song "I Wish For You" performed by the Two Macs which was first performed at Rona and Steve's wedding.

Tell us about your ideas for celebrating anniversaries by commenting below.