A professional celebrant’s best friend
The Celebrant Institute of Australia is the peak professional development institute for Australian celebrants. Home to the free Celebrant Talk Show Podcast; a membership program for professional celebrants; and the Certificate IV in Celebrancy.
The Celebrant Institute is a supportive safe space for you to learn and ask questions about anything and everything related to being an Australian marriage celebrant, including marriage law and legal issues, building and running a sustainable celebrant business, plus creating and presenting ceremony.
Members of the Celebrant Institute set the standard for a high performing professional celebrant in Australia.
For the best
Founded by Josh Withers and Sarah Aird, two of Australia’s most respected celebrants in their field, the institute was created as a home for celebrants to find the support, encouragement, training, and professional development desperately missing in the Australian celebrant industry.
Marriage Law & Legal Issues
In the membership program we address the legalities associated with our role, covering the Marriage Act 1961, Marriage Regulations 2017 and Guidelines on the Marriage Act (think anything you’ve ever asked Sarah Aird, aka The Oracle, about)
Building & Running A Sustainable Celebrant Business
Running a successful and sustainable celebrancy business in the Australian context, think marketing, business processes, automation, client journey, technology, accounting, and other associated topics are important to us.
Ceremony
The ceremonial aspects, including ceremony writing and inclusions, ceremony logistics, PA systems, guest involvement, are valuable topics covered in the program.
Everything Else
Literally anything else you can think of, if you ask the question we’ll answer it, and if we think of an idea and it’s good content, we’ll publish it on the blog.
Helping Australian celebrants be the best they can be
The membership
The Celebrant Institute is a paid membership program hand made by Josh Withers and Sarah Aird to help Australian marriage celebrants become the best celebrants they can be. We write articles weekly, and answer questions directly asap, plus provide mentoring and support for members. Membership is $10 a month or if you sign up for the annual plan you get a month for free.
The podcast
The Celebrant Talk Show Podcast is a candid conversation between Josh and Sarah and the occasional guest on the beautiful process of being a marriage celebrant. Covering celebrant news, industry developments, legal issues, and the rigmarole of just merely existing as a celebrant in the modern wedding world. Listen to the most recent episodes at celebrant.fm where you can also find the links to subscribe and listen to the back catalogue.
The Certificate 4 in Celebrancy
The gateway course to becoming a civil marriage celebrant and funeral celebrant in Australia, the Certificate IV in Celebrancy, is now offered by the Celebrant Institute! Taught by Sarah Aird, with student support from Josh Withers, under the auspice of our RTO partner, Talented Training, RTO #45144.
Over 71% of Certificate 4 in Celebrancy graduates feel unprepared for their work as a marriage celebrant, so we have designed a course that tackles that problem head on. Our celebrant candidates graduate with the confidence needed to stand in front of weddings every day and absolutely rock at what they do, whilst also being prepared to address the legal structures and requirements of being a Commonwealth Registered Marriage Celebrant.
Subscribe for a year to get a free month
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Latest articles published
Ten reasons you should take credit card payments
If your couples don’t have an easy way to pay you with credit card, I’m of the belief that you’re not only missing out on cash flow and cash, but you’re also missing out on the goodwill you would generate by making your couples’ lives easier.
Here are ten reasons I think you should either enable credit card payments (if you already have the option) or look at extending your payment options to include credit card.
Input needed! MLCS & Associations meeting, 5 May 2020
Let us know what topics we should suggest be discussed at the next meeting with the Marriage Law & Celebrant Section!
Moving town as a celebrant
Kath asks: Hey Josh, Just wondering if you have any advice on what I should be doing in preparation to “move/expand” a celebrant biz interstate. I am moving to Hobart mid year and would like to make a start on some marketing now which will in turn affect my bookings for the end or the year and the beginning of next. Apart from reaching out to some lovely local celebs in the area to say hello and booking in to attend an expo, do you have any ideas on what I should or could be doing online (website copy, SEO, blogging, google listing, marketing, back end kind of stuff) while I am in this early transition stage.
You don’t have to do everything
My favourite computing device is my iPad. I’m actually travelling for up to six months of this year with only my iPad – it’ll be my main computing device. There’s two or three little bug bears that really annoy me about the iPad, but the main one is how the Instagram app is still phone-only. There’s no iPad app for Instagram.
A podcast, not by us, with Jerry Saltz
I’ll be honest, I haven’t been able to kick the thought that as much as this podcast episode seems like the least likely thing to recommend to a pack of celebrants, I just have to. So here it is. Jerry Saltz, the New Yorker art critic weigh Dave Cheng, the chef....
What are your travel fees for?
Linda asks: As a regional celebrant I am struggling with travel and how to incorporate this into my fees. I have an “anything over 200km round trip” clause which may seem a lot but its realistic to where I live. My problem is more about inquiry meetings, extra meetings and rehearsals. Obviously I cant charge for an inquiry meeting but do I just have a set higher wedding fee which kind of covers longer distances overall whether the wedding is near or far? Hope you can help!
Music for making ceremonies
Maybe you're a better worker than I am so you don't need this, but over here in Josh-world I'm as easily distracted as a mouse in a cheese tasting room. So seeing this resource made for programmers made me curious as to whether or not it might be helpful for people...
What happens if we don’t submit the official marriage certificate to BDM within two weeks
A Celebrant Institute member asks: “I know celebrants are required send all the legal documents after the wedding day or submit via lifelink within 14 days of the ceremony but what actually happens if we forget?” Sarah’s on holidays this week but luckily for you, this is a question even I can answer.
The golden rule of marriage legals and ethics
Lots of the questions celebrants ask me relate to how far they can push the legislative requirements or ethics of our role. I have one simple test you can apply to any situation
A 29 day challenge to get better at creating online content
I hear a lot of celebrants say they struggle coming up with ideas on what to post on social media. So I've written a 29 day challenge to help you get in the habit of creating great content for your social media on a regular basis. You can read about it at...