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.
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Latest articles published
Value your interaction
A recent Seth Godin post has had me thinking about celebrancy all weekend. Interaction is a privilege. But it doesn’t often scale. The fact that people get to interact with you, taking time away from your partner, family, friends, garden, book, TV show, bed, haircut,...
Do not murder
It's our first episode for 2020, and in this one we chat about: the Celebrant Institute's new partnership with Pod Legal the pros and cons of leveraging the bushfire crisis (or any other charitable cause) for business purposes what happens when a party changes their...
Minimum requirements for accepting a NOIM
What is the minimum required information needed to accept a NOIM, and can you accept a NOIM without yet seeing proof of identity and date and place of birth?
When you’ve got an odd name pronunciation
I married a couple recently and the bride had one of those names where there was a few different ways it could possibly be pronounced. In that situation, when we first meet, I introduce myself with my name, and expect the same in return, I’ll then note how they pronounce their own name. But she didn’t!
I feel the same way about business.
A modern day version of the busy cafe getting busier
If you’re not already familiar with the reason why, when faced with two cafes next to each other most of us will choose the busier cafe, the reason is social proof.
Receiving ID documentation securely
Sophie asks a very important and pertinent question (which I’ve slightly edited for brevity): A question regarding the safety of couples sending digital copies of their ID via email or within a system like Dubsado. A groom works in IT and raised concern when I asked him to send through copies of their ID to draft their NOIM. I replied saying that I thought uploading their docs via a form in Dubsado would be safe. He replied ’In regards to the Dubsado application or other applications with securing sensitive documents\data, I’m in IT and been involved in data breach incidents. All applications and back end data need to follow ISO 27001 standards, so hopefully Dubsado are complying. Part of the standard is that, these documents provided are extremely sensitive and should not be emailed and secured within the application. Data travelling via networks (internet) need to be encrypted, and not all email accounts or tools do this. Hence why I shared the documents\data via a shared drive for you to sight the files only, then I delete. I informally recommend, not to save these documents\data within the application, unless they are fully encrypted, or deleted 6-12 months after the ceremony. Especially not to save this data on your desktop or email account, and NEVER click on an email or link your don’t know the recipient.’ Wondering what you guys know and think of this? I should probably contact Dubsado directly too, but at times have had couples email and even text me through pics of their ID – is it way too risky and should I use Skype/FaceTime aka ‘real time’ to never run into the issue? Obviously receiving a pic is a lot more convenient most of the time!
Partnering with charities? Watch out for the ACCC
Eyewear brand Oscar Wylee is in trouble with the ACCC for its charitable donations. In an era of such transformative social change, more and more businesses are choosing to align themselves with charitable organisations or causes. Whether that be through donations or the facilitation of programs, businesses of all kinds are stepping up to give back.
Record keeping in an online environment
I read the latest Marriage Celebrant Matters Newsletter and it states that “Hard copies of the Notice, DNLI or any supporting documents (divorce orders, parental consents etc) do not need to be kept once lodged electronically with the registry of births, deaths and marriages (BDM). Celebrants may wish to retain these documents until the marriage is registered”
Does this include all the previous hard copies we kept and lodged electronically? Because previously we were suppose to keep the hard copies for X years from what I remember. I think it was 5 years from memory.
Children of previous marriages on the NOIM
It's here again, the most dreaded question on the NOIM. We do know it's being removed from the next iteration of the forms, but given they've been on their way for 5 years, don't hold your breath. Liane asks: Do you include the years of birth of children on a NOIM...
40 Questions To Ask Yourself Each New Year
To bring in the new year, [Stephen Ango asks himself 40 questions]. I liked his list but thought I’d alter it for Celebrant Institute followers so we could reflect on where we’ve been and look at where we’re going. Identify trends, strengths, weaknesses, and things we should simply be proud of as individuals and as a community. Stephen’s is a personal list, and my amendments are focused on your celebrant business. Maybe you want to do both, or just one, it’s all up to you.