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.
Jan
09

Why have a ceremony?

ASK CELEBRANT BLOG:

Add a ceremony to your celebration!

Intuitively we know that a celebration is a way we mark important rites of passage.

Many Australians celebrate important events though, by having a booze-up and throwing in a few words towards the end.  We have forgotten that the food and drink were meant to accompany the speeches or ceremony, not be the celebration itself.

Without a meaningful core to the gathering, a celebration may be boring and unsatisfying and more likely to lead to excessive eating and drinking.

Ceremony is an Act of Love - quality time spent together, a way of re-establishing that meaningful core to the event.

READ MORE

Continue reading
  3737 Hits
3737 Hits
Jan
18

How do "civil" celebrants set their fees - some are wildly different?

ASK A CELEBRANT BLOG:

Most professional civil celebrants are professionals in private practice.

That is, unlike most religious celebrants, the civil celebrant has to cover all their costs of operating a home-based celebrancy practice from the fees they charge 'up-front' for their ceremonies, BEFORE they make an hourly rate for their work.

Consider:

  • Couples have not 'lay-buyed'  part of their ceremony as couples have via donations to a church or via government taxes to a Registry Office.
  • A religious celebrant is usually supported financially by their church stipend and has their travel, phone and other expenses covered by their religious institution. Likewise registry office celebrant.
  • A independent civil celebrant is required to ensure the ceremony suits the individual couple.
  • In most cases, this requires considerable extra work in sourcing wedding prose, poetry and other materials, or even writing of new material by the celebrant.
  • READ MORE
Continue reading
  3236 Hits
3236 Hits
Dec
24

Missing loved ones at this time of year?

ASK A CELEBRANT BLOG. Merry Christmas! Poem by TCN Melbourne Funeral Celebrant and Poet Graeme Cook.

This is the little verse I put inside a Christmas Card for all the families I have dealt with through each year. It's called  Merry Christmas! I’ll Be Home For Christmas.

Set that happy Christmas table, you need leave no empty space,
For I shall sit between you all, in a peaceful state of Grace,
I shall hear your laughter, I’ll be a part of every smile,
From the kitchen to the pudding, I shall be there all the while.

The gifts you give each other, shall be your gift to me,
The Love that you shall share today, I will clearly see,
Enhance it with my memory, let your hearts be light and free,
For I’m that extra special glow, that coats your Christmas tree.

No matter where you have your Christmas, at home, the bush, the beach,
Cicadas, flies, and heat and gum trees, there no place I can’t reach,
Not just now, forever, as past the years go flying by,
I’ll be home for Christmas, on that you always may rely.


Graeme Cook 2007


Graeme Cook
Funeral Celebrant
http://funeralcelebrantmelbourne.weebly.com/index.html

Ringwood East, Melbourne Vic.
0417 149 382
Continue reading
  3994 Hits
3994 Hits
Dec
29

Brisbane Celebrant - Elizabeth Wilkie

This weeks featured celebrant is Elizabeth Wilkie from Brisbane, QLD.

My name is Elizabeth Wilkie and I am a newly appointed Celebrant as of June 2009. I’ve been married to Anthony for nearly 20 years now and we have two beautiful boys Paul 16 and Christopher 14. Anthony and I run a small building renovation business which has given me the flexibility to stay home with the boys. I have also worked part time in retail which I loved except the hours were a bit of a juggle especially when the kids were little.

Continue reading
  4119 Hits
4119 Hits
Nov
24

Batemans Bay Celebrant - Sonia Collins

This week featured celebrant is Sonia Collins from Batemans Bay NSW.

My name is Sonia Collins and I am a Civil Celebrant in Batemans Bay, New South Wales.   This is a very popular area for weddings, with couples coming from Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, and country towns across NSW and Vic, as well as our local area. The area has great venues for weddings and for receptions and with the natural beauty of the coast and the bush it is not surprising that Batemans Bay is a first choice for many couples especially those with happy memories of time spent here on holidays.I have enjoyed a satisfying career in Human Resource Management and my interest in people led me to undertake the training to become a Marriage Celebrant.

Continue reading
  4459 Hits
4459 Hits
Nov
06

Grooms - How do you tell if marriage is for you?

Question_mark_150ASKACELEBRANT BLOG - Are you a bride or groom wondering about whether marriage is really for you? Marriage is a long term commitment. Even in a country where there is divorce, marriage carries thousands of years of expectations and hope that this is a relationship  "for life".

So what questions do you ask yourself to figure out if you are ready to take that BIG step?

Here's an article that uses no religious arguments - yet would be very much at home in many religious faiths - and what's more it is written by a bloke!

Our thanks to Seth Adam Smith for sharing his personal experiences on marriage :

http://sethadamsmith.com/2013/11/02/marriage-isnt-for-you/

Continue reading
  13179 Hits
13179 Hits