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How to Choose the Right Celebrant for Your Wedding
Do you want your wedding conducted by an experienced and knowledgeable celebrant working with you to create a unique and joyful ceremony; a ceremony that celebrates the special nature of your relationship and your marriage? One who is sincere, a good public speaker and can help you put together a celebration that reflects you; by being relevant and using variety, humour, drama and interest; ensuring everyone's included and enjoys your wedding? If so, this is a most important article for you to read.
I am not going to talk about the legal requirements, as there are many references on the Internet that do this. In fact it would appear from these websites that the legality of your celebrant is the most important issue to address and while we all know that it is very important, it is also the easiest to resolve.

Then there is much advice such as:
• What do their clients say about them?
• How long have they been a celebrant?
• What celebrant qualifications do they have?
• How many weddings have they conducted?
• Do you "click" with them?
• Do they have good public speaking skills?
• Do they have a PA system?
• How professionally will they dress for the ceremony?
• Can you do a rehearsal with them?
• Ask to see photos from previous weddings

If you want a great ceremony, you and your guests will really enjoy, then read on to see what is of equal importance but never spoken of on the various websites relating to choosing your celebrant.

All of the above listed points are perfectly true but what does not get talked about is the demeanor of the celebrant. The way many of them put themselves forward forgetting that it is NOT their day, it is YOURS!

• The celebrant should be in the background performing his or her duties as required.
• They should not speak too much apart from their legal requirements.
• They should remove the microphone from their mouth when prompting you with your vows, instead positioning their microphone near you. Your guests do not want to listen to them saying your vows; they want to hear you committing yourselves to each other in love and forever.

I have never seen a celebrant "mess up" a ceremony -- there are many well-qualified marriage celebrants. However, are they going to make your ceremony interesting and of value to you, your family and friends or are you going to be bored and embarrassed with their poor performance?

I would suggest you don't let them "say a few words" of their own unless you have seen on paper what they intend to say. I have filmed many weddings where the celebrants are posturing and full of their own importance ultimately boring you and your guests, let alone the poor video editor who has to go through it all later.

Seeing photos of a celebrant at previous weddings is a waste of time -- it is how they sound, the content of what they say and their manner that is important.

Avoid a celebrant who has a headset microphone on them; this is not flexible enough for the different parts of the ceremony.

Your marriage is a celebration -- enjoy it!! It should be what you want, so spend time thinking about how to achieve this and don't leave it up to the celebrant

Watch in the above video how Michael Teuloon conducts this ceremony with sensitivity and joyousness; allowing the couple to shine forth and be the centre of attention.

Lastly, there is the signing of the register. It is important that the celebrant guides you in where to sign then steps back so your guests, your photographer and videographer have clear views of what you are doing.

Too often I see a celebrant hovering over the couple and putting their back to the audience with their arms and documents in front of the couple's faces, staying more or less in that position the entire signing of the register ceremony thereby preventing anyone else from seeing it.

Watch this ceremony at St Thomas' Church with priest, Richard James. This is another officiate who put the couple first. He took care not to speak their vows to us and when the signing of the registry was happening he stood back so all could see.
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Unfortunately, in my experience which is considerable, only about 5-10% of celebrants and priests are aware on the above points I make here so do be careful who you choose. It is very important to have the right marriage celebrant as your wedding day is one of the most significant days of your life.

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