21 May 2020

Marriage celebrants in Canberra - Recommendations?

| lula
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My partner and I are tying the knot next year but are a little stuck on selecting a celebrant.

There are so many to choose from, who all pitch themselves in the exact same way. I’m hoping that fellow Rioters might be able to give some recommendations.

It will be a civil ceremony in the garden, and we would hope to find someone who is friendly, reliable and supportive with a good sense of humour.

I’m terrified of ending up with someone who dresses like they got spewed on by a rainbow and talks in that sickly-sweet sing song sort of way that makes you feel like you’re either going to be sick or burst into an inappropriate fit of laughter.

So if you can suggest some names and any feedback about local celebrants please share!

Horror stories also welcome (about celebrants, that is, not marriage) 🙂

If you’re looking for a marriage or wedding celebrant, take a look at our article, The Best Wedding & Marriage Celebrants in Canberra, for a helpful guide to Canberra’s best.

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Michele the Celebrant10:30 pm 18 Nov 09

Hi Lula
Congratulations on your happy plans. I’m a well-established Canberra celebrant and I’d love to be there for you and your partner on your big day. I am confident you would find me ‘friendly, reliable and supportive with a good sense of humour’.. I wear suits that blend discreetly with the colour scheme the bride has chosen. I’ve had two years of voice training and have an excellent PA system – hope you find all this reassuring. You’ll get a good feel for the service I provide by visiting my blog http://www.celebrantcanberra.blogspot.com, and my contact details are there.

The other reason for commenting on your post is to let you and other Rioters know that there are no longer any Registry Office weddings in the ACT. It’s been that way for several years now. This means you must use a private celebrant. In response to this, I offer my beautiful garden in Weston (at no extra charge) to couples who want a small, quiet weekday wedding. There’ll be three weddings in my garden in the next couple of weeks.

I wish you and your partner well with your decision. Your celebrant is certainly a significant part of your wedding and of course, you want all your memories to be wonderful ones. All the best to you both for tying the knot, and for a long and happy life together.

Daphne Cole 02 62910131. Friendly and professional, have seen her perform several ceremonies and always has happy customers. Specialises in including children or family members.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy2:38 pm 26 Oct 09

James-T-Kirk said :

Is VY here?

I would so become a celebrant to marry hot chicks!

You may now kiss the bride.

Awwww yeah…

+3 for Roger, he’s married my wife and I, plus 3 couples we know. 5 years later we’re all still married, so he must be good 😉

James-T-Kirk2:12 pm 26 Oct 09

Is VY here? I would so become a celebrant to marry hot chicks!

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy2:03 pm 26 Oct 09

I only believe in gay marriage when both chicks are hot.

+ 1 more for roger – I have seen him do several weddings and never with a hitch, he is very calm and composed and if something had ever gone wrong, you wouldn’t know about it, he just deals with it. best wishes for your wedding & marriage, I hope it is a very special day!

Hi Lula, feel free to message me direct about who my celebrant was. I’d hate to publically defame her as the celebrant we had was particularly challenging! We got married in April and at first really enjoyed working with her in the lead up to the wedding. She had lots of resources on hand and really assisted us. Closer to the wedding though she was really pushy about what we should include. We kept telling her it was a laid back casual wedding and she kept trying to insist we include elements in our service that we didn’t want. For example she kept pushing us to include a section where we thanked out parents for raising us so well.

Our wedding was a night wedding and we had a candle lit church. We had a rehearsal the night before (at the same time the wedding was going to happen) and everything was fine but come the night, she couldn’t read the service! She had a little torch but had put everything in a plastic sleeve that reflected the light so she mumbled her way through trying to read the service! We couldn’t focus on the service as we were all cringing as she kept ummming and ahhing!

Then when she publically declared us husband and wife she called my husband by the completely wrong name!!

Oh and during the rehearsal she was trying to dictate what photos we should have and how the lighting should be positioned. Our photographer was a friend who is a proper photographer who normally shoots advertising and commercial images and not weddings so to have her boss him around and tell him about lighting was quite entertaining.

Thanks so much everyone for all the useful advice!
Looks like a few names keep coming up repeated, so might start by meeting a few of them and seeing how we go!

Yurgle_the_Yeti11:41 am 26 Oct 09

We had Margaret Mitchell (slevents.com.au) for ours. She was calm and professional (dress and speaking) and actually listened to what we wanted to do. She supplied all her own sound gear and all we really had to do was turn up and she ran the show based on what we had organised with her. Quite a good feeling knowing that someone knows what is going on and you don’t have to stress…

I have seen some shockers over the last couple of years and I was really happy not to have one myself. I saw one recently who stopped the ceremony so that she could get a photo of herself and the couple together to put on her website… Not classy.

Try Karen at http://www.celebration4life.com.au
She will help you create the most special and memorable ceremony
You should shop around and speak to a few different celebrants.
You can reach Karen on 0423814162.

Always shop around first! You must meet them and feel comfortable with them. They should be able to do anything and everything you ask.

I’ll never forget, ten years ago, looking for a celebrant. We met one in Belconnen. She a had a speech impediment. She rolled or slurred her Rs. I couldn’t believe anyone would use her as a celebrant! She sounded like Peter Cook in the Princess Bride (“Wuv and mawwiage…”)

also, it’s always best to shop around first – go and meet a few and see who you like…

+1 Roger Thompson.

Lovely chap. Calm, clear spoken. Was happy to do it virtually anyway you like with or, as in our case, without all that frilly, touchy-feely, hippy, spiritual crap.

Really calming, gentle sort of bloke – nothing fazed him which is what you need on a day when your head is going to be worrying about lots of things.

Also, before he was a private celebrant he was the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages for the ACT for 20yrs so he knows what he’s doing and, if you are like my wife and were born in Canberra, his signature is probably on your birth certificate too!

I can also recommend Peter Hyland. My Japanese wife and I got married in Nara Park, and Peter was very patient with her, both in practising, and on the day itself.
He was able to be both friendly and professional, which took much of the stress out of the situation 🙂

If it’s needed, the other person we found really helped us was Thierry Nguyen Cuu of Nomad Photography (www.nomadphotography.com.au)

Good luck, hope it all goes well ;D

darakat said :

I would say that Mick Andrews was the bloke I found most useful for the more alternative wedding, he was quite happy to help us do exactly what we wanted and include it in a legal ceremony. http://www.earthlycelebrations.com.au/

Mick married friends of mine. He is lovely.

StrangeAttractor said :

We had Roger Thompson, very nice man, based in Chifley. It was nice to see him again presiding over a mate’s wedding.

http://www.rogerthomson.com/

Another vote for Roger Thompson. He has been used by quite a few people I know.

gertel said :

Bill Marsh was our celebrant – a lovely man, dressed well, easy to speak with and supportive before the day…!

+1. Attended to our ceremony over a decade a go, and both naming ceremonies for our kids. Nice bloke, very good at putting nervous brides, grooms and later parents at ease!

edgyoyster said :

Peter Hyland: http://www.weddingcelebrant.com/
We married in 2006 and he did a wonderful job. Very dignified and professional. We were provided with lots of ideas without being overwhelmed and the ceremony was exactly what we wanted. Reliable, and to my memory wore a dark-coloured suit – no tree-hugging hippy s**t 😉

molongloid said :

We were very happy with Peter Hyland. We heard good things about Roger Thomson and also Stefanie Morosi too.

Another vote for Peter Hyland- we were extremely happy with him for our small garden ceremony in 2003. Lovely man, unobtrustive but gently guiding you when you forget the words (nervous anyone?), extremely professional. you get to write your own ceremony but he had a book of options/suggestions you could choose… would not hesitate to recommend him.

Joe Canberran10:25 am 24 Oct 09

I’m fairly sure that I and my (now ex) wife used Mick Andrews as well. Nice bloke.

Not exactly a horror story but at the end of the ceremony when he introduced us as a married couple to the gathering he called us by my wife’s maiden name. Quite funny and he was very embarrassed. Given that my ex has a very strong personality everyone thought she had put him up to it.

I would say that Mick Andrews was the bloke I found most useful for the more alternative wedding, he was quite happy to help us do exactly what we wanted and include it in a legal ceremony. http://www.earthlycelebrations.com.au/

Hells_Bells749:21 am 24 Oct 09

Barry Williams (also founder of Lone Fathers assoc) recently did my mum’s wedding at her house and he was wonderful (in a suit).

Sorry for three posts.

Hells_Bells749:00 am 24 Oct 09

**That was long before they moved, I have no idea now.

I do recall the registry office for an extra fee will send the celebrant out to your venue too.

We felt that every celebrant looked old and crusty; we wanted someone young and funky. We found Stefanie Morosi Ditchburn – she’s great!

http://www.dayofchoice.com.au/

Hells_Bells748:52 am 24 Oct 09

Granny said :

We got married in the registry office, so we just had one assigned to us. She was really good, though, considering she didn’t know us from a bar of soap.

Same here and she was dressed well and most patient with us (I will be late for my own funeral) and the room they use is lovely we all thought 🙂

BenMac said :

The celebrant for my wedding was Carol Moon. She was fantastic, reliable and had tons of ideas for the ceremony that my wife and I wouldn’t have thought of, but she also embraced our ideas.

More info HERE

I know Carol…I used to work with her…she is a truly beautiful soul. I don’t know how she goes as a celebrant as I’ve never seen her in action but I do know she is such a delightful lady. Caring, thoughtful, engaging…and she makes a mean sticky-date pudding…yum 🙂

We were very happy with Peter Hyland. We heard good things about Roger Thomson and also Stefanie Morosi too.

Charles something. An American. Also a physco counsellor. Does gay marriages too. nice guy.

Hi, I used the lady called Deb Roach and her company is called Cornerstone Ceremonies (02 6161 0506). We had a very nice, relaxed ceremony at the Cotter. She is like a nice aunty doing your ceremony.

Bill Marsh was our celebrant – a lovely man, dressed well, easy to speak with and supportive before the day. I felt his voice didn’t carry as much as we’d hoped in the garden environment – but he probably did quite well sans microphone.

Our friends were married by Roger Thompson and he seemed very professional but easy going. Good strong voice!

StrangeAttractor9:46 pm 23 Oct 09

We had Roger Thompson, very nice man, based in Chifley. It was nice to see him again presiding over a mate’s wedding.

http://www.rogerthomson.com/

We got married in the registry office, so we just had one assigned to us. She was really good, though, considering she didn’t know us from a bar of soap.

I work with a guy who has just become a celebrant. People keep asking him to marry them to cups of coffee, but I think hes pretty serious about the whole thing..

Judy Aulich- she was FANTASTIC. She made our ceremony everything we wanted and so much more. So easy going, so straight forward- perfect.

http://www.brideonline.com.au/act/judyaulichcelebrant/

Stay clear of a bloke with glasses who does weddings at Gold Creek Chapel. No idea of his name but he married friends of my wife and mumbled & stuttered his way through the Service, mispronounced their names, completely stuffed up their Vows and generally made the Service a shambles.

** disclosure -this is a client of mine **

Chris Counsel at Gundaroo is a celebrant who fits your bill. See her website for details. Her mobile’s listed there too.

Peter Hyland: http://www.weddingcelebrant.com/
We married in 2006 and he did a wonderful job. Very dignified and professional. We were provided with lots of ideas without being overwhelmed and the ceremony was exactly what we wanted. Reliable, and to my memory wore a dark-coloured suit – no tree-hugging hippy s**t 😉

The celebrant for my wedding was Carol Moon. She was fantastic, reliable and had tons of ideas for the ceremony that my wife and I wouldn’t have thought of, but she also embraced our ideas.

More info HERE

Meet them before you book them. Can’t recall her name but there is one who definitly fits the description of what you don’t want.

Years ago I got an invite to a colleague’s engagement party, to be hosted in his parents’ fairly expansive backyard / rear deck. When we turned up (dressed fairly informally, as directed) and got settled down with food and drink, the colleague stood up with his beloved, cleared his throat and said something along the lines of

“Hi guys, thanks for coming along today. We lied; today is actually our wedding day and we just wanted to keep it low-key.”

I’d been wondering who the one guy wearing a tux was… As it turns out he was the celebrant. Great wedding, I thought. Possibly the most pleasant I’ve attended yet.

Sorry, useless post. I have no idea who the celebrant was 🙁

Inappropriate4:51 pm 23 Oct 09

If you’ve got time, head along to any wedding fairs – they usually hang out there, and you get a chance to meet ’em.

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