A Marriage Celebrant is authorized to conduct your marriage ceremony to meet the legal requirements. This includes ensuring that your ceremony contains certain mandatory words; the correct completion of your Notice of Intended Marriage (NIM) and all other marriage documents; and the lodging of your marriage documents with the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. I will also assist you in personalizing your ceremony and will offer some choices as to what you may like to consider for inclusion in your ceremony. You can write your own vows and indeed, if you would prefer to write your own ceremony, and I would be pleased to help with this, and most importantly, would ensure that your ceremony complies with all the legal requirements.
I will provide you with the necessary NIM, and it will be lodged with me at least one month and one day prior to the date of your marriage. At the earliest, it may be lodged up to 18 months prior to your marriage.
You would need to meet a minimum of two times with me. The first meeting concerns the signing of the Notice of Intended Marriage, and preliminary thoughts about how you see your wedding coming together. The second of these meetings would be held quite close to your wedding date. At this meeting you will be required to sign a document, declaring that there is no legal impediment to your marriage. This second meeting allows you to refine your ceremony and if necessary to practice certain parts of the ceremony (e.g. the exchange of vows and the exchange of rings), to pay the balance of the fee and generally attend to any other outstanding matters.
I will charge you a fee (which is non-refundable) when you meet to complete the Notice of Intended Marriage (NIM). It is a deposit which covers the meeting time, the initial legal work and associated paperwork and for the kit which you take with you. Payment of this fee also secures your chosen date and time for your wedding.
You do have obligations to me as your Marriage
Celebrant once you engage me. You will sign an Agreement that sets out
these matters. This is actually a contract between us. A
typical Agreement would include the following.
(a) The payment of the full amount of the fee by the
required date that will be prior to your wedding.
(b) Advise me prior to making any change to the time
of your wedding - as it is quite possible that I may have another commitment
at this new time and will be therefore unable to perform your ceremony at
the new time.
(c) Advise me of any change to the location of your
marriage ceremony as soon as such a decision is made. The onus for
this rests with you.
Yes, I am prepared to travel some distance to officiate a ceremony. You may have to pay an additional charge for mileage depending on the distance to be travelled; and if you require me to travel other than by my own vehicle, you are responsible for the cost of ferry tickets or the like.
Yes. The number of guests at your wedding and its location will determine whether a PA system is necessary.
Yes a rehearsal can take place if requested by you. However please remember that, I am entitled to charge an additional fee for this service. In many cases, having a simple "run-through" with me at your my home office may be sufficient.
I will arrive at the venue for your ceremony no later than the time that had been agreed in our discussions. The Code of Practice for Marriage Celebrants stipulates that I must be at the venue for your marriage ceremony at least 20 minutes before the agreed commencement time.