with great power comes great responsibility
Marriage celebrants play an exciting role at weddings, but it takes a lot of work to become one.
Imagine having the power to declare two people deeply in love that they are now husband and wife. Being right at the heart of this life changing moment is what attracts many people to train in the area of marriage celebrancy.
But marriage celebrants do much more than show up at weddings to marry the bride and groom. They need to meet with the couple well before the big day and get an intimate understanding of what they want their wedding to be like, as well as how they would like their commitment to each other to be expressed.
As well as personalising the wedding service, marriage celebrants also need to ensure that the marriage is legal. They need to determine that both parties are entering the marriage willingly, and neither party is being pressured or coerced into the marriage. In addition, there is quite a lot of paperwork and key wording that must be included to formalise the ceremony.
On the big day, marriage celebrants play a key role in ensuring the wedding service runs smoothly. This could range from anything from organising PA equipment to making sure the groomsmen and bridesmaids look picture perfect in spite of unpredictable weather. One marriage celebrant I spoke to fondly remembers having to spray the groomsmen with aeroguard to keep the flys away!
Not surprisingly, confidence in public speaking and empathy are two important qualities to be a good marriage celebrant. Being open minded and really listening to what the couple want is important too. One marriage celebrant mentioned that when it came to her own wedding, she was alarmed to find that most of the marriage celebrants she spoke to tried to impose their ideas on what the vows should be – basically cutting and pasting from other ceremonies they had conducted. Not only does this demonstrate a lack of effort and creativity on the marriage celebrant’s part, but also a lack of respect and understanding for the couple’s special and unique feelings towards each other. There is an enormous amount of trust being given to the marriage celebrant, and doing the role effectively requires a genuine interest to get to know the couple. So, that means that if the couple want traditional vows at their wedding, or something quirky (like a Dr Seuss theme!) then as far as their marriage celebrant is concerned that is absolutely fine (as long as the legal aspects are covered of course).
Training as a marriage celebrant takes time. In Australia, a new qualification in Certificate IV in Celebrancy has recently been released, and it covers 13 units, five of which are compulsory units, and four of which are mandatory electives.
The Attorney-General’s Department website will tell you all you need to know about training as a marriage celebrant in Australia, and also some interesting statistics on civil marriage ceremonies.
Good luck!
I am grateful to both Maggie Ramsay and Samantha Morgan, two very bright and engaging marriage celebrants, for answering my questions about their profession. For more information about them or how to become a marriage celebrant please visit the following websites:
+ Maggie Ramsay
+ Samantha Morgan
+ Australian-Government Attorney-General’s Department