Celebrant, help wedding vendors not hate you
Posted by Josh Withers | Apr 28, 2023 | The Art of Celebrancy | 1 |
Chat and AI is going to change your entire busines...
Posted by Josh Withers | Mar 29, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
16 Growth ideas for wedding celebrants
Posted by Josh Withers | Mar 21, 2023 | Marketing and Social Media | 2 |
Five phrases you should use in your sales pitch
Posted by Josh Withers | Mar 5, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
Creating a marriage ceremony versus re-creating a ...
Posted by Josh Withers | Feb 12, 2023 | The Art of Ceremony | 4 |
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Portable PA speaker system purchasing ad...

A massive change to how marriage celebra...
It’s time to change the one month ...

You should charge more, and here’s 10 re...

Marketing: if I was starting today
When the celebrant gets sick mid-ceremon...

Where I stand during the ceremony. Sarah...

Wedding rehearsals – a video

I’ve gone to court for cancelled c...

Which iPad and which apps do you recomme...

Ceremony script writing – Sarah...
How and why you should position your spe...
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LatestSix AI chat prompts celebrants can use to make fresh content today
by Josh Withers | Jun 5, 2023 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
Want to start playing with AI chat in a way that will make sense to your celebrancy practice and business? Here's five prompts you can ask to get a unique insight into your business today.
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Start playing with generative AI
by Josh Withers | Jun 2, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
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Get AI-generated summaries of your video calls
by Josh Withers | May 17, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
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Open up the old internet and just toss some stuff in there
by Josh Withers | May 1, 2023 | Free Podcast | 0 |
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How to become a wedding celebrant in Australia
by Josh Withers | Apr 28, 2023 | The Art of Celebrancy | 0 |
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Celebrant, help wedding vendors not hate you
by Josh Withers | Apr 28, 2023 | The Art of Celebrancy | 1 |
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Marry From Home – is it legal for Australian couples?
by sarahaird | Apr 11, 2023 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 1 |
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It’s time to update and modernise the Marriage Act of 1961
by Josh Withers | Apr 4, 2023 | Community News | 2 |
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Top RatedDissolving a registered relationship
by sarahaird | Oct 7, 2018 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 1 |
Charis asks: My client has registered a relationship. She was never married but registered a relationship with BDM. They told her she could not get married until this is cancelled by them. Do I record this info anywhere? She has...
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Advanced OPD topic on how to skin a rabbit
by Josh Withers | Apr 8, 2021 | Free Podcast | 0 |
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Proof of divorce: what, when, how?
by sarahaird | Aug 13, 2018 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 0 |
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The best tablet computer for celebrants, is it the reMarkable?
by Josh Withers | Dec 12, 2020 | The Art of Celebrancy | 4 |
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Legalities for parties who are vision impaired
by sarahaird | Jul 12, 2021 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 3 |
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The do’s and don’ts of email marketing
by Josh Withers | Jul 26, 2018 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
Latest podcast episodes
Listen NowOpen up the old internet and just toss some stuff in there
Josh wrote an article here on the Celebrant Institute website and received lots of feedback on it,...
- Marketing and Social Media
- The Art of Celebrancy
- The Art of Funerals
- The Art of Ceremony
- The Business of Celebrancy
- Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law
- Community News
Being found is the new advertising
by Josh Withers | Nov 3, 2022 | Marketing and Social Media | 1 |
There are a few different kinds of marketing and advertising, but they can be mostly wrapped up...
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Market your celebrant services like Apple markets the iPhone
by Josh Withers | Oct 7, 2022 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
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Utilise the power of the “Zero Price Effect”
by Josh Withers | Aug 25, 2022 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
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The law of social proof and celebrancy
by Josh Withers | Apr 11, 2022 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
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Do I need more than one domain name for my website?
by Josh Withers | Mar 29, 2022 | Marketing and Social Media | 5 |
How to become a celebrant
by Josh Withers | Apr 1, 2023 | The Art of Celebrancy | 0 |
Want to the rest? log in or become a...
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Love is patient, as should you business be
by Josh Withers | Mar 27, 2023 | The Art of Celebrancy | 0 |
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A lesson from Kobe Bryant for celebrants
by Josh Withers | Jul 4, 2022 | The Art of Celebrancy | 0 |
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How did I do 27 weddings in one month?
by Josh Withers | May 12, 2022 | The Art of Celebrancy | 0 |
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Why I hate wedding awards: “I am in competition with no-one”
by Josh Withers | Oct 22, 2021 | The Art of Celebrancy | 1 |
Getting your start in funerals
by sarahaird | Aug 10, 2018 | The Art of Funerals | 9 |
Mercy asks: Like you I want to create beautiful funeral ceremonies. Because I think funerals can be beautiful. An assignment in my celebrant course had me visit a local funeral director with a bunch of questions on how they work...
Can AI write an original marriage ceremony?
by Josh Withers | Dec 7, 2022 | The Art of Ceremony | 3 |
Yes, yes artificial intelligence can write a marriage ceremony, but can it present one well? You've probably read the news about OpenAI's new GPT-3 chatbot, ChatGPT, so I won't mansplain AI to you, but I simply wanted to share what AI thought should happen in a marriage ceremony. The preparation for this blog post involved asking ChatGPT a few questions, and minutes later I've got a simple and sweet marriage ceremony prepped. I also asked ChatGPT's big brother, DALL-E to create a featured image for this post.
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Be a little more like Robbie Williams as a celebrant
by Josh Withers | Sep 25, 2022 | The Art of Ceremony | 2 |
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Where should the celebrant stand in a wedding ceremony? Josh’s view
by Josh Withers | Aug 31, 2022 | The Art of Ceremony | 2 |
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Ted Gioia’s 10 rules for public speaking
by Josh Withers | Aug 21, 2022 | The Art of Ceremony | 0 |
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A ceremony as a series of ‘riffs’, that’s how I’m unscripted
by Josh Withers | Mar 29, 2022 | The Art of Ceremony | 4 |
I didn’t have a backup! Happy World Backup Day
by Josh Withers | Mar 31, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
As a wedding celebrant, you know better than anyone else how important it is to be prepared for...
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I got scammed, and it’ll happen to you!
by Josh Withers | Mar 3, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
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Change your passwords
by Josh Withers | Feb 2, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
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I’m challenging you to learn Markdown
by Josh Withers | Dec 11, 2022 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
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Are meetings at cafes a business expense?
by Josh Withers | Nov 10, 2022 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
My couple are breaking up, can I just not register their marriage?
by Josh Withers | Mar 26, 2023 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 0 |
Marie asks: I married a couple last night and when I got home registered the marriage and ordered their marriage certificate. This morning I woke up to a string of texts from the bride to not register the marriage and that she no longer wants to be married to him. What do I do? Or what do they do?
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16 Ways a celebrant can end up in jail for six months
by Josh Withers | Jan 17, 2023 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 0 |
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Remote witnessing of NOIMs in 2023
by Josh Withers | Jan 4, 2023 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 0 |
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Celebrant legal obligations online
by sarahaird | Nov 8, 2022 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 5 |
Cyberattack on AGD’s MarCel portal
by sarahaird | Nov 10, 2022 | Community News | 2 |
The Attorney-General's department MarCel database has been accessed by hackers. Find out how it was accessed and what we know about the data leak.
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Marriage statistics 2021
by sarahaird | Nov 10, 2022 | Community News | 0 |
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Not-as-ongoing professional development
by Josh Withers | Dec 21, 2021 | Community News | 0 |
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Facebook’s a bit salty at us
by Josh Withers | Feb 20, 2021 | Community News | 0 |
Tips for completing the compulsory OPD
by sarahaird | Sep 12, 2022 | CI, Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 0 |
We’ve had a lot of requests about whether we’re going to run a session providing info...
Read MoreYou must call yourself a marriage celebrant
by Josh Withers | Aug 14, 2022 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 0 |
I’m sure that all of you have familiarised yourself with the Marriage Act of 1961, so you probably don’t have to read this, but on the off chance that Sarah Aird has schooled you, like she’s just schooled me, on some things in the Marriage Act, I thought I’d share them here. These are new changes since marriage equality was legislated. Today we’re talking about section 39G, Obligations of each marriage celebrant.
Read MoreMy iPad lost everything, how can I prevent this?
by Josh Withers | Aug 8, 2022 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
S writes in with a question about data loss and iPads: What are your back up plans when it comes...
Read MoreThis is your permission to raise your fees in 2022
by Josh Withers | Jun 9, 2022 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
Sarah and my accounting software of choice – Xero – just emailed us that our Xero plan...
Read MoreComputer and internet security for a modern marriage celebrant
by Josh Withers | Mar 11, 2022 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
Every day I wake up and check the technology news – as is my habit – and scroll through the headlines I’m expecting to find a marriage celebrant in there. Why?
Read MoreThere’s Gold In Them Thar Questions
by Josh Withers | Feb 18, 2022 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
There’s gold in the questions you get asked by other celebrants, people in the wedding industry, our clients, friends, and social media followers. Do you know what to do with them?
Read MoreHow to spy on other people’s Facebook Ads
by Josh Withers | Feb 18, 2022 | Marketing and Social Media | 2 |
If you’ve been wanting a way to spy on what other people in the wedding industry are doing with their Facebook Ads, here’s a very easy, open, and regulated way to do so.
Read MoreRounded prices are better than unrounded for weddings
by Josh Withers | Feb 14, 2022 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
When it comes to pricing, and pricing yourself, there are so many contributing factors. The first is that you need to cover costs, the second that you need to make a profit – a wage, and the third that you make a surplus so you have buffer for the future, savings, and the ability to invest in your business.
Read MoreA story for celebrants finding their tribe like Yeti coolers did
by Josh Withers | Feb 11, 2022 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
Before Yeti created a $5 million cooler and adventure brand, the icebox/cooler market (aka the “esky” market, despite Esky being a brand) was a a low-cost and cheap product market. Chris Hladczuk documents their story in a recent release of his email newsletter which I recommend subscribing to.
Read MoreOther avenues for networking and referrals
by Josh Withers | Feb 10, 2022 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
I wonder how many avenues for networking, referrals, and help, us celebrants are leaving on the table?
Read MorePreparing for the inevitable re COVID
How Sarah is preparing for the inevitable COVID exposure and isolation…
Read MoreCelebrants can witness NOIMs over the internet!
by Josh Withers | Dec 21, 2021 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 3 |
Breaking marriage law news – for the second time since 1961: Celebrants can witness NOIMs over the internet! From 22 December 2021 you can witness the Notice of Intended Marriage over a video call. You can send a couple their NOIM as a PDF…
Read MoreMarriage statistics 2020
by sarahaird | Nov 24, 2021 | COVID-19, The Business of Celebrancy | 1 |
The marriage statistics for 2020 are out, and I’ve got your summary sorted!
Read MoreMy secret to business success: email
by Josh Withers | Oct 21, 2021 | The Business of Celebrancy | 4 |
Any successful endeavour requires a number of ingredients. An award winning cake recipe will have more than one ingredient, and an Olympic gold medal swimmer didn’t just swim their first lap that race.
There’s a process, there’s time, goal setting, and multiple resources being in the right place at the right time.
In the wedding industry there is so much focus on advertising and marketing, getting the enquiry, but less focus on winning that enquiry over, and worse, delivering an exemplary customer experience from woah to go.
Here at the Celebrant Institute we’ve written numerous articles about the value of creating and delivering a customer journey but today I wanted to hone in on one single aspect that apparently is really lacking in the wedding business: email.
Read MoreHow to start taking better photos at your weddings
by Josh Withers | Sep 27, 2021 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
An element of my social media content strategy I’m quite proud of is that I’ve really worked hard at making better photos, photos that I have made – and therefore own – so that I have photos and video for my own social media channels and blog. If you’re interested in pursuing that art as well, Josh Rose has written a really good guide that I think would help you. It’s aimed at taking better holiday photos, but the advice translates directly to weddings as well.
Read MoreVaccine mandates and weddings
Sorry, we don’t have the answers!
Read MoreHow to record the location of a marriage ceremony on the water or in the air
by Josh Withers | Sep 19, 2021 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 1 |
Lizzie asks: “My couple is getting married on a boat in The Pittwater located on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. Please advise how I best record the “at” on the docs for a wedding adrift.” The Guidelines to the Marriage Act, in relation to the place a wedding would occur, gives this poor advice: “The marriage must be registered in the state or territory where the marriage was solemnised. To meet this requirement, and possible requirements of other countries for recognition of the marriage, marriages in aircraft and ships at sea should be avoided.” I’m not going to say they’re wrong, but they’re not right. Australian authorised marriage celebrants have the authority and the ability to marry couples anywhere and at any time on any day within Australia and its territories.
Read MoreThe secret to having people share your social media posts
by Josh Withers | Sep 8, 2021 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
When you hear of social media posts going viral, it simply means people are sharing it....
Read MoreHow to get your couples to reply to your emails
by Josh Withers | Sep 2, 2021 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
If you’ve ever played the iconic Australian schoolyard game of handball, you’ll remember that the aim of the game is to intercept the ball on your quadrant/half, then to get it back out as soon as possible. Think about your customer journey and email like a game of handball.
Read MoreBuild my own website or pay a pro? Build a business brand or a personal brand?
by Josh Withers | Aug 30, 2021 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
Suzanne asks: “Looking for advice on professional web design v. self design. Objective to attract biz, be good return on investment and not rubber-stamp like. Also some good advice on logo vs personal service brand.” Two important questions here and they’re both worth addressing.
Read MoreWriting prompts for social media and blogging
by Josh Withers | Aug 29, 2021 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
The Copywriting Course’s subject line generator might be just the gold mine you need to start writring that next blog posts, social media post, or recording that vlog or podcast.
Read MoreQuestions to ask your couples for your review or testimony
by Josh Withers | Aug 26, 2021 | The Art of Celebrancy | 0 |
Jason Fried has posted a list of questions he asks referees he calls for new employees. I read through the list and thought that it would be equally impressive to see our clients answer some or all of these questions in their reviews. Shape the questions so they serve you, but instead of asking for a plain old review, try asking your couples a question and ask them to share it as a Google, Facebook, or other form of review.
Read MoreBe vulnerable about your growth intentions to actually grow
by Josh Withers | Aug 24, 2021 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
A study has found that adding copy to a new app’s website around the lines of “we...
Read MoreSay, do you remember? Dancing (with new forms) in September?
by Josh Withers | Aug 18, 2021 | CI | 0 |
September 2021 is bringing us new marriage forms, and to be sure that we don’t confuse things, let me quote from the Attorney-General office email sent today. If you haven’t received it, check your spam folder and then tell your email client it isn’t spam, it’s the boss.
Read MoreShould we charge more or differently for public holidays?
by Josh Withers | Aug 6, 2021 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
Continuing a long running series on this website starting with how your price is part of your...
Read MoreJPs witnessing the NOIM via audio visual link – NOT ALLOWED
by sarahaird | Aug 2, 2021 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 2 |
As you all know, the Marriage Act 1961 requires that the Notice of Intended Marriage is signed in...
Read MoreWhat does your profile photo say about you?
by Josh Withers | Jul 30, 2021 | CI, The Business of Celebrancy | 1 |
If you’ve taken our branding advice before, you’re using the same headshot profile photo for your social media accounts and your website, and anywhere else you can upload an identifying photo, avatar, logo. But do you know how it’s performing for your brand and marketing?
Read MoreThree practical ways to increase your price
by Josh Withers | Jul 27, 2021 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
I’m not backwards in coming forwards about celebrants raising their price. I’ve given a number of good reasons in the past, but as lockdowns and travel bans continue to fuel the bonfire that is the state of the wedding industry today I was inspired by the idea that we, the wedding industry need not bare the burden that is wedding postponements, we are not wedding insurers, we are professional creatives. We are not wedding insurance. That’s not to diminish your want and desire to be generous and kind to your clients, be that, and more, but you are not their wedding insurance. Their wedding being postponed should not bankrupt you. So assuming you’re already ready to raise your price, if not read this, here’s three practical ways you can increase your price today.
Read More7 Insurances celebrants should have
by Josh Withers | Jul 9, 2021 | The Business of Celebrancy | 1 |
A member has asked about whether the Celebrant Institute membership includes insurance. It doesn’t, and we’ll be honest with you, that’s because we reached out to a bunch of insurance brokers and insuring you lot in such a general way turned out to be so expensive and hard, that it wouldn’t be worth it for you, or for us, to offer such a broad stroke of insurance, when each of your businesses are so unique and personal.
So here’s the seven insurances I think every wedding celebrant should at least consider, and of course you need to do your own research and consider your own circumstances.
Please note that this is general information only and should not replace financial or professional insurance advice. Talk to a licensed insurance broker, business advisor or insurer for detailed advice.
None of this information has been influenced by an outside business and we have received no payments or discounts for offering this information.
Read MoreWise words about reviews, for Billy Joel and wedding celebrants
by Josh Withers | Jul 2, 2021 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
I’ve got a confession to make: I can recall every single bad review I’ve had, and I...
Read More
Celebrant Talk Show
- Open up the old internet and just toss some stuff in there. People love it.
- Email is the worst
- Maybe it will inspire some of us to rest
- Happy Podcast New Year!
- We're not going to charge you more money, it's ok
- Advanced OPD topic on how to skin a rabbit
- Be the CEO your wedding celebrant business needs you to be
- Was the tinsel an acknowlegement?
- Tasmania (BDM) gets the internet
- The one in a hotel room with a lawyer
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Start playing with generative AIJun 2, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy
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