Drinking before your wedding ceremony

Lots of couples mention drinking before the ceremony and are all very quick to point out that they won’t have too many. I’ve seen quite a few articles on the net talking about celebrants telling their couples that they are not to have any alcohol at all before the ceremony.  Well that is news to me. Firstly, I’m not a booze bus or the fun police, really why can’t people have a champagne when getting ready, or a drink in the car with the groomsmen? There is nothing in the marriage act that says that you have to have a zero blood alcohol content.

A lot of couples that I have conducted weddings for have had a drink before the ceremony. There is nothing wrong with one or two drinks, but that should be about as far as you go. Drunk couples are not a classy affair and there is plenty of time to drink as much as you like at the reception.  Unfortunately, if you are in an altered mental state to an extent that this could impair your ability to consent to the marriage, then the marriage cannot take place.

If you appear that your aren’t quite aware what is going on, then you have 2 options. The wedding can be called off. This can be embarrassing but I think turning up to your wedding drunk is embarrassing enough in itself. This is a really tough situation to be in. Thank goodness this hasn’t happened to me as yet and I hope it never does.  Not an ideal situation to be in and I can only imagine the expense. The other option that you would have is to have the ceremony without all of the legal bits. You can always do the legal component a few days later or even weeks later if necessary. Have all of the festivities as you would a normal wedding just have the legals done at a time when you were not under the influence.

Really though, for everything that  you go through to make your wedding a special and wonderful day, you and your partner deserve better than having either of you turning up that drunk. Enjoy your day, just save the serious drinking for after the ceremony.

Thank you to Untamed Images for the use of their image on the blog this week. Check out their website here or their facebook page by clicking here.

Wedding dresses with pockets

Ok, I have to admit, this must be one of my favourite wedding trends. Wedding dresses with pockets seem to be gaining popularity, and why not? It is the best idea. I love a dress or skirt loads more if it has pockets. So why not have pockets on your wedding dress? You wear it for a long part of the day and really who can be bothered keeping tabs on a bag or clutch? Especially when you can just have pockets!

You can keep all sorts of wonderful things in them. You can keep traditional necessities, like lipstick or lip gloss, mints, or tissues. Anything that you might keep in a purse or clutch. You may also want to carry with you something that is just for you. A photo of someone that you would have loved to have been there on your wedding day. An embroidered handkerchief that belonged to your grandmother or a lucky charm that was given to you by your little nephew that you have had for years. Let’s not forget the post ceremony selfie. How are you going to take that if you have no where to put your phone? (Just don’t forget to have it switched to silent!)

Lots of dresses are now coming with pockets and if you are having your dress made, it’s easy enough to ask them to do. I have seen more and more bridesmaids dresses that have pockets too which makes even more sense. Not only can they keep things that they need with them, they can also keep some things with them that the bride might need too.

The pockets themselves can be a fashion statement. They could be a part of the design with lace or have something about them that is obvious so that they stand out. They can be made so that you wouldn’t even know they were there unless you saw the bride with her hands in them.
I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to have pockets in your dress, especially if you were having it made. Can you think of any reasons that it wouldn’t be a good idea? Or have you seen it done badly at a wedding?

All these images of wedding dresses with pockets are from Pintrest.

Notice of Intended Marriage

The Notice of Intended Marriage is the first official paperwork that most couples will fill out in preparation for their wedding. The Notice of Intended Marriage needs to be filled in 1 month before the wedding and no longer than 18 months before your wedding day.
The Notice of Intended Marriage has all sorts of information about you and your husband or wife to be. It has all the usual information like your Full Name, Date of Birth, your Birthplace. If you were born out side of Australia you also have to state how long your period of residence in Australia has been.

You are required to lodge it with the celebrant who will be conducting your wedding. You also need to show evidence that you are who you say you are. You can do this by showing your birth certificate and a drivers licence, or if you cannot provide those, you can also show your passport (It is really handy for the celebrant to be provided with the birth certificate, it really helps with the accuracy of names of parents and important information) Basically, you need to show where you were born and have something that has your photo on it, so that the celebrant knows that you are who you say you are.

This is an important document and not everyone who starts the wedding process are aware that these forms need to be filled out. It is important that these forms are filled out accurately as they are what the celebrant will use to fill in all of the official certificates that will then go to Births, Deaths and Marriages. It is also important that they have the correct information on them as it can make things difficult for the bride if she is  wanting to change her name. When applying for her updated passport, if the information on the marriage certificate and birth certificate do not match, she may have to chase around getting documents corrected.  It is also beneficial to have all of this information correct for generations to come if they are looking at historical records.

You have to have the Notice of Intended Marriage witnessed by someone that is authorised to do so. Most of the time the celebrant conducting the wedding will do this, but sometimes this is not feasible, for example, if the bride and groom are interstate or in another country. If this is the case, the celebrant needs to receive the signed copy of the Notice of Intended Marriage within the 1 month prior to the wedding date.
If any of the parties to the marriage have been married before, the celebrant will also need to see evidence of the death of their previous partner or proof of the divorce of the previous marriage. There are also questions about any children from the previous marriage in the document.

A big thank you again, to Love Journal Photography for the use of their images on the blog this week.  Visit their website by clicking here. Or follow them on facebook to see what they are up to.

Why I became a celebrant

I have been asked on a number of occasions, why I became a celebrant. The main reason is that I was inspired, and not so much in a good way. I love a good wedding, (who doesn’t really?) and I have a degree in Photography, but wedding photography wasn’t really my passion. I love photography and I love a wedding but that was it. I didn’t like all of the things that go along with being a wedding photographer and lets be honest, it takes a love and an art to be a great wedding photographer, not every brilliant photographer is even a good wedding photographer. But I digress, back to the topic.

I attended a wedding ceremony, and it was… I don’t want to say terrible, or horrific, or as one person said “the worst wedding I’ve ever been to”… But it had potential to be lovely, and it just wasn’t. It wasn’t the couples fault. There were things that clearly they didn’t think of or that the celebrant hadn’t  mentioned. I’m not too sure what the celebrant had to say either it may have been really nice things, but it wasn’t memorable and I couldn’t hear all of it.

Firstly, the celebrant arrived early as any good celebrant should. They set up a table away from where the ceremony was being held and just waited. There had been no wedding rehearsal.  ( I know this as someone close to me was in the bridal party) the celebrant had the perfect opportunity then to tell the Groom and Groomsmen what would be happening, where they would need to go for the signing of the register, but none of this occurred. They just stood there.

The ceremony was in an area that was open to the general public, and it was a hot hot hot, stupid hot day. The celebrant didn’t speak to any of the people in the area and tell them that there was going to be a wedding taking place or to ask them if they would mind just staying out of the way while the ceremony was on. (It is always a good idea to think about the general public that might be around if you are getting married in a public place and check if their are permits that you need to get, as it is much easier to ask them to move on if you have booked the area)

No one could hear the celebrant, the guests were standing a little way away from the ceremony (maybe 3-4 metres) and there was no PA system. I heard a bit of what was going on when I got up close to take photos. No PA system mixed with the fact that there were people in the area going about their day, made it almost impossible for guests to hear. I know a wedding is about the couple, but why have guests come along if you don’t want them to be witness to the promises that you make.

The confusion that ensued when they had to sign the marriage register baffled me. I remember driving home and talking about it with my husband saying, if the celebrant had just explained it to the groomsmen when she first arrived they could have told the bridesmaids what was happening and it could have at least looked a bit seamless.  I was upset and annoyed that things weren’t perfect for the couple. I really hope that they thought that it was and they weren’t too upset or that people didn’t whinge and moan about it to them. I was also quite baffled that the celebrant would have been paid a considerable amount of money to do the job. She didn’t seem to love what she did or be excited or happy for the couple. I then told my husband that I thought I could do a better job than that. He responded saying ‘why don’t you? You love weddings’. The next week I started looking into the course, and the rest as they say is history.

I just want to make people’s day about them, and have the wedding that they want. I must admit I do love it when guests come and tell me that they thought the wedding was wonderful, or just really suited the couple. I love what I do and always want it to be the best for the people that have chosen me to be a part of their day.

A big thank you to all the photographers who have captured me doing what I love, and letting me use the photos. Check out some of their work.

Thank you to : Amy Schultz, Kirralee, Ateia Photography, and Sarah Churcher!