ACT Celebrant - Dave Segal

I have a diverse career background including retail, chef, SCUBA instructor, Mental Health First Aid Instructor, and Head of Hall of a university student residence for 500 young people. I have a range of qualifications including Cert III Commercial Cookery (chef), Cert IV Celebrancy, Cert IV Training & Assessment, Bachelor of Communication, Master of Management and currently undertaking a Grad Dip in Community Counselling. Two of my closest friends asked me to be their celebrant so I undertook the training in 2012/2013 then applied to the government to become a celebrant. Once I had completed this I joined the Celebrants & Celebrations Network and the next thing I knew I was getting calls for weddings. When I met the first couple I explained my experience in public speaking and that I had not yet completed a ceremony other than several practice ceremonies which are a requirement of the Cert IV. They liked my honest, open and attentive approach and booked me anyway. I worked with the couple to complete their script and we completed a practice at the Tuggeranong Homestead. On the day the ceremony was beautiful, great weather, lovely couple, surrounded my friends and family. The ceremony went as planned and everyone enjoyed it immensely. What I really enjoyed about that ceremony is how much involvement both of them had in writing their ceremony. They had invested time into the ceremony and that gave it more meaning on the day. I, unlike some other people, really enjoy public speaking and what I find fascinating about celebrancy work is that geographically I am the centre of attention yet socially I am furthest from it. If you were to ask someone what the celebrant said during a ceremony most people would be unable to remember as they focus is on the bride and groom. It is so rewarding to watch two people take a step closer to each other by committing themselves in such a beautiful way. Dave Segal, Canberra Civil Marriage Celebrant