During a Marriage Ceremony, the role of your celebrant is to:
- make sure all conditions for eligibility for marriage are verified
- ensure the ceremony includes the legal wording required and that the marriage is registered
- make sure that your two witnesses see and hear the ceremony and everybody signs the marriage certificates
- cater to your needs and wishes while developing a meaningful ceremony
- make sure that your guests can hear the ceremony
- lead and guide the ceremony through its various stages
Getting married is about making one of the most important legal, emotional, social, economic and practical commitments you will ever make in your life, so it's a pretty important part of your wedding day - some would say the most important... without the ceremony, you're just having a party.
Having witnesses reduces the risk of fraud and gives a protection in case anything should go wrong in ensuring the marriage is registered.
In Australia, weddings can take place in any location (some limitations apply), on any day, at any time. Mostly weddings happen at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon so everyone can spend the morning getting ready, have photos at sunset and spend the rest of the weekend celebrating and recovering. However, it is just as legal to hold your wedding on a Tuesday evening after work or a Thursday morning over breakfast.
Your marriage ceremony sets the tone for the rest of your wedding day. There is a general format that celebrants use to guide a marriage ceremony which includes all the legalities and from there you can add other elements to personalise the ceremony ie:
- personal vows
- your 'love story' - reviewing your journey as individuals and as a couple
- outlining your expectations for your marriage and your hopes and dreams for the future
- music - you will usually have music in 3 sections of the ceremony: 1. to enter the ceremony; 2. to play whilst the register is being signed; 3. to walk out together.
- colours & themes
- readings, poems, rituals
- cultural traditions
Under Australian law, the point at which you are married is once you both recite your legal vows saying that you will take each
other as husband, wife or spouse in front of two adult witnesses and an authorised marriage celebrant.
This comes from our historic roots where a couple declaring before their community that they
were going to live together as married, was THE process for marrying.
Other things to plan for after the ceremony:
- Photos - there will generally be family photos directly after the ceremony with family and other guests, then the couple and wedding party will usually go to certain locations to have professional photos. Some people will hire a professional photographer, others will ask a friend with a camera.
- Reception - food and drinks are served either at the ceremony location or a different location. This is generally a sit down meal or a cocktail style affair and can begin directly after the ceremony (somewhere for the guests to go while the couple and wedding party are having photos) or it can begin once they all return.
- Speeches - in the olden days speeches were only made by the father of the bride and the best man and there were 'rules' about what they said and who they thanked - today, anyone the couple choose can make a speech and the only rule is that they please keep it short!
- Dancing - depending on your locaiton and theme, music might be played by a band or a DJ. Some couples like to do a 'first dance'together, others prefer everybody just get up and hit the dancefloor.
- Honeymoon - there are no hard rules on the honeymoon either anymore. The couple used to leave the reception and head straight for the airport or drive away into the sunset to their honeymoon destination, but now, the honeymoon might not happen for weeks/months afterwards. It will all come down to work, family and financial committments and what suits you.
The pressure to spend big needs to be balanced with the effect of that spending on your future.
There are many ways to make your wedding day special without over-committing yourselves financially.
Choose a celebrant from The Celebrants Network directory to guide you through the process of planning your ceremony