10/06/2023
After witnessing a wedding back in 2011 I decided to become a marriage celebrant.
My biggest hurdle was how to use a computer!
With help and encouragement from my family and friends I persisted and later that year I was granted the honour by the Attorney General.
Thank for your beautiful reference CC, I’m sure it helped them decide if I was suitable for this honour.
Throughout the years I have experienced laughter, tears, happiness, sadness, elation, frustration, nervousness, rain, hail, thunderstorms, excessive heat, bitter cold, wind, wind, wind.
Every type of bride and bridezilla’s and bridesmaidzilla’s, (if there is such a word), loudmouth best men to teary grooms, from the ever so grateful, to the downright rude (thankfully these are a minority). The bossy parents, the, “all about me guests,” fainting guests, swearing from guests, late guests (arriving after the ceremony or midway through), even guests that talked during the ceremony! The ones that took photos or videos regardless of telling them NO photos or video’s!
I’ve worked with interpreters, deafness and sign language and sadly families of the dying.
I’ve performed weddings for the multicultural, indigenous, Chinese, Pilipino, New Zealanders, A Scottish couple on holidays, family weddings, friends, friends of friends, relatives, same s*x, young couples, older couples, second and third marriages, covid weddings, the list goes on and the age group has been from 18-92!!
I know of lots of babies that have been born and sadly heard about divorces and deaths.
It’s been an absolute privilege to witness and perform these ceremonies for over 11 years. Thank you to my wonderful roadie (Garry) who has helped me with the task of carrying all sorts of equipment needed, operating the PA with great anxiety at times, damn those batteries when they die, and generally being a great support throughout every ceremony.
Every couple has a story and I feel grateful and humbled to have been entrusted to be their celebrant. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing and performing every single ceremony.
Some of the places where I have performed ceremonies-
Beaches, Botanical Gardens, Baseball club, Bars, Backyards, Carousel, Camps, Docklands, Decks, Estates, Farms, Fish farm, Golf Links, Garages, Homesteads, Hotels, Inns, Kitchens,
Lakehouses, Lodges, Lounge rooms, Lookouts, Mansions, Mills, The McKellar Centre, Observatory, Parks, Piers, Private Gardens, Private homes, Resorts, Restaurants, Reserves Sanctuary’s, SLSC’s, Winery’s and even The Melbourne Zoo.
From
Aireys Inlet, Anglesea, Armstrong Creek, Barwon Heads, Batesford, Bellarine Peninsula, Bells beach, Bell Post Hill, Bellbrae, Belmont, Bannockburn, Curlewis, Corio, Diggers Rest, Eltham, Emerald, Fyansford, Freshwater creek, Geelong, Gellibrand, Highton, Jan Juc, Kallista, Kialla, Lancefield, Lorne, Modewarre, Meredith, Newcomb, Newtown, Ocean Grove, Queenscliff, Springmount, Sutherlands Creek, Smeaton, St Leonards, Sunbury, Torquay, West Geelong, Waurn Ponds, Wallington, Williamstown, all the way to Western Australia!!!
Thank you to all my beautiful couples I have loved meeting and getting to know you and your families, literally hundreds of people over the years, thank you, thank you, thank you for the honour and privilege.
Thank you to all the other lovely celebrants I have met along the way and the support given when needed.
It’s now time for me to resign from this amazing journey and move forward in anticipation of life to come.
(Although I will no longer be doing the legalities of marriages, I will still be conducting Funerals and other ceremonies)
Cheers 🥂Laurel
