A successful wedding means attention to a great number
of things, I mean where would you begin and there’s
certainly no end for example seating for the elderly but
then do you hire seat covers with bows made of silk etc
etc etc. But
I suppose the basic principle for any ceremony and
myself as a civil celebrant with hatching matching and
dispatching the most important ingredient is that the
ceremony MUST BE HEARD.
Recently I attended a garden wedding in Melbourne and I
left deeply disappointed as I was unable to hear what
was being said from either the Marriage Celebrant or the
bride or groom.
Adding to this the well researched verses from
those doing the readings had no impact at all as all I
could hear was mumbled, muffled voices. I stood at the
back of the crowd and as a professional celebrant I was
trying to pick up some good ideas from the guys in the
city.
Especially as I believe most celebrants in Sydney and
Melbourne particularly have a sealing price of between
$750 and $800 to perform and authorise the marriage
ceremony.
The bride looked stunning, the bridesmaids delicious in
their pale mauve with bright purple and red bouquets,
the father of bride looked very suave in his morning
suit and silver grey hair and when he presented his
daughter to the groom and had tears in his eyes the
moment was wasted instead of being a very emotional part
of the ceremony.
Later I said to him, what words did you actually
say and he stated I give my Susan to you Peter with all
my love and support and want you to know that I will be
there for you both through all of life’s trials and
tribulations.
He was actually quite upset when he realised
no-one had heard a single word as he had practised for
weeks the words he was going to say and felt now that it
had been all a bit of a waste of time.
It is therefore very important that the wedding ceremony
has a PA system if at all possible.
If not it can be hired by looking through the
Yellow Pages under audio visual equipment and although I
have my own system, Albury Sound and Lighting I would
recommend.
The celebrant must also gather all the company together,
close enough so that you feel that there is a close
atmosphere of celebrant, bridal party and guests and the
celebrant must also make sure that the bride and groom
look at the celebrant during the ceremony.
I have found that if they give their attention to
you that the guests will also.
Often as the ceremony starts guests tend to hang
back so as not to get to close and feel that they may be
imposing. Of
course this isn’t right but when there is a large
gathering I ask that everyone move forward and assure
them that I’ve never married the wrong couple yet.
This week’s ZIP or ZAP
Nominate someone to take a photo of each guest or couple
as they arrive at your reception, then at the end guests
can take their photo home or you can enclose it in your
thankyou note. (Chances are the guest will look a little
worse for wear at the end).
Love Annie
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