Exciting news regarding remote witnessing of NOIMs...
Posted by Sarah Aird | Nov 16, 2023 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 0 |
How to get featured in the media
Posted by Josh Withers | Oct 6, 2023 | CI | 0 |
Collecting email addresses at a wedding fair with ...
Posted by Josh Withers | Sep 18, 2023 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
Why the World Looks to Australia for Wedding Indus...
Posted by Josh Withers | Jul 15, 2023 | Community News | 0 |
Start playing with generative AI
Posted by Josh Withers | Jun 2, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
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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...
When the celebrant gets sick mid-ceremon...

Marketing: if I was starting today

Wedding rehearsals – a video

Where I stand during the ceremony. Sarah...

I’ve gone to court for cancelled c...
How and why you should position your spe...

Which iPad and which apps do you recomme...

Ceremony script writing – Sarah...
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LatestMarriage statistics 2022
by Sarah Aird | Dec 1, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 1 |
It’s marriage statistics release day, which as many of you know is my favourite nerdy day of...
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Exciting news regarding remote witnessing of NOIMs!
by Sarah Aird | Nov 16, 2023 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 0 |
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Portable PA speaker system purchasing advice for celebrants in 2024
by Josh Withers | Nov 16, 2023 | The Art of Ceremony | 42 |
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Embracing DMARC: A Must-Do for Celebrants
by Josh Withers | Nov 11, 2023 | CI | 1 |
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Digital drivers licenses as ID, a guide for celebrants
by Josh Withers | Oct 31, 2023 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 0 |
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How to get featured in the media
by Josh Withers | Oct 6, 2023 | CI | 0 |
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Top RatedGetting your start in funerals
by Sarah Aird | Aug 10, 2018 | The Art of Funerals | 11 |
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...
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Scheduling multiple ceremonies in a day
by Josh Withers | Oct 28, 2018 | The Art of Ceremony | 2 |
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How to become a travelling celebrant
by Josh Withers | Jun 5, 2020 | Marketing and Social Media | 1 |
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Legalities for parties who are vision impaired
by Sarah Aird | Jul 12, 2021 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 3 |
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Starting a business
by Sarah Aird | Dec 1, 2018 | The Business of Celebrancy | 3 |
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US citizens marrying in Australia
by Sarah Aird | Oct 23, 2019 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 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
Six 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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16 Growth ideas for wedding celebrants
by Josh Withers | Mar 21, 2023 | Marketing and Social Media | 3 |
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Being found is the new advertising
by Josh Withers | Nov 3, 2022 | Marketing and Social Media | 1 |
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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 |
Authenticity and honesty as a celebrant
by Sarah Aird | Aug 2, 2023 | The Art of Celebrancy | 1 |
Be yourself as a celebrant, authentic, honest, and open, and you'll attract clients who are just like you, making your life a whole lot easier!
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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 | 2 |
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How to become a celebrant
by Josh Withers | Apr 1, 2023 | The Art of Celebrancy | 0 |
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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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Creating a marriage ceremony versus re-creating a marriage ceremony
by Josh Withers | Feb 12, 2023 | The Art of Ceremony | 4 |
When I talk about being unscripted in a ceremony, people often misread that as the oral version of just shooting from the hip, seeing where the bullets lie. The truth is, I'm more likely to be more prepared, more nervous, more excited, and more rehearsed than the average celebrant.
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Can AI write an original marriage ceremony?
by Josh Withers | Dec 7, 2022 | The Art of Ceremony | 3 |
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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 | 2 |
How to use ChatGPT to sent instant replies to wedding enquiries
by Josh Withers | Jul 14, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
If you’ve seen people using AI in their business and you’re wondering how you could...
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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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I didn’t have a backup! Happy World Backup Day
by Josh Withers | Mar 31, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 1 |
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Chat and AI is going to change your entire business
by Josh Withers | Mar 29, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
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Five phrases you should use in your sales pitch
by Josh Withers | Mar 5, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
Marry From Home – is it legal for Australian couples?
by Sarah Aird | Apr 11, 2023 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 1 |
Stephanie celebrant asks: I think many of us have seen and have been contacted by “Marry...
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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 |
It’s time to update and modernise the Marriage Act of 1961
by Josh Withers | Apr 4, 2023 | Community News | 2 |
Over sixty years ago the Australian people were gifted one of the most progressive and liberating...
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Cyberattack on AGD’s MarCel portal
by Sarah Aird | Nov 10, 2022 | Community News | 2 |
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Marriage statistics 2021
by Sarah Aird | Nov 10, 2022 | Community News | 0 |
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Not-as-ongoing professional development
by Josh Withers | Dec 21, 2021 | Community News | 0 |
I got scammed, and it’ll happen to you!
by Josh Withers | Mar 3, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 0 |
It was about 4pm in the afternoon here in Mexico and I had just emptied my inbox, a noble task in 2023, and the email came in. The email that scares me the most: my main domain name’s renewal had failed due a credit card issue. The last thing I want is for our business’s website and email to fail because the domain name renewal failed.
Read MoreChange your passwords
by Josh Withers | Feb 2, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
Depending on who you talk to, International Change Your Password Day is January 20 or February 1. Either way, in Australia we’ve missed both those dates, and because I’m writing this in Mexico I just saw the tweet from Fastmail reminding me.
Regardless of the “national date” consider this your reminder to change all of the important passwords in your world. In my humble opinion, all of the important passwords in your life should be changed annually.
Read MoreI’m challenging you to learn Markdown
by Josh Withers | Dec 11, 2022 | The Business of Celebrancy | 2 |
Everyone has their little “thing” where they think if everyone else on the planet just...
Read MoreAre meetings at cafes a business expense?
by Josh Withers | Nov 10, 2022 | The Business of Celebrancy | 3 |
A member asks, “Can you claim a tax deduction for the cost of holding a couple meeting at a cafe? Paying for their coffee? I hear different answers to this.”
Read MoreCelebrant legal obligations online
by Sarah Aird | Nov 8, 2022 | Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 5 |
Hopefully everyone has caught up on this major change to the way we do our work, but I know from my OPD classes that some people missed it. So here’s a super basic update.
Read MoreTips for completing the compulsory OPD
by Sarah Aird | Sep 12, 2022 | CI, Our Guidelines to Australian Marriage Law | 2 |
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 MoreA lesson from Kobe Bryant for celebrants
by Josh Withers | Jul 4, 2022 | The Art of Celebrancy | 0 |
Starting from zero is hard. I’ve found that creating from scratch, staring at a blank Word document, or an empty notepad, is the hardest work, like pushing a boulder uphill it requires you to muster everything inside of you. It’s a question new celebrants pose to us here at the Celebrant Institute every week: how to get started.
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 MoreHow did I do 27 weddings in one month?
by Josh Withers | May 12, 2022 | The Art of Celebrancy | 0 |
A few responses to my May 2022 email about having done 27 marriage ceremonies this month before prompted questions from celebrants across our Australian membership base and even internationally. Donna asked “how do you juggle that many” and others asked how I got that many bookings and other questions around the zone. How did I get 27 weddings in one month? Well, first of all, two of them were last-minute additions because a Celebrant Institute member got the spicy cough, and only two were fresh bookings or “new money” if you like. The rest were layovers from the two years of Covid – many couples on their third or fifth date — plus there were a handful of flood postponements as well. In the end, I’ve committed to just getting them done. That said, I’ve always operated at a high level of work in my business, and I’ve always had these words from Kevin Kelly in my mind when getting there:
Read MoreThe law of social proof and celebrancy
by Josh Withers | Apr 11, 2022 | Marketing and Social Media | 0 |
When unsure how to act, people copy others, outsourcing their own decisions to others. Not only is this true when choosing a shop, or a cafe, but in weddings as well.
Read MoreDo I need more than one domain name for my website?
by Josh Withers | Mar 29, 2022 | Marketing and Social Media | 5 |
Elaine asks: When I obtained my Domain Name of domainname.com.au from Melbourne IT when I first...
Read MoreA ceremony as a series of ‘riffs’, that’s how I’m unscripted
by Josh Withers | Mar 29, 2022 | The Art of Ceremony | 4 |
When you mention my name to another celebrant, apparently the most common thing people talk about...
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
by Sarah Aird | Dec 23, 2021 | COVID-19 | 2 |
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 Sarah Aird | 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 MoreWhy I hate wedding awards: “I am in competition with no-one”
by Josh Withers | Oct 22, 2021 | The Art of Celebrancy | 1 |
For over five years now I’ve crusaded against wedding industry awards. I don’t like them, I don’t enter them, and I try to convince my friends and colleagues to avoid them as well.
I understand how nice it feels to be awarded number one. If you sent me an email right now that said “Josh, you are my number one celebrant” I’d probably print it out and put it on the fridge next to one of Luna’s paintings, but the truth is, I believe that wedding industry awards are unhealthy and unhelpful for the wedding industry.
And this letter from Nick Cave …
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
by Sarah Aird | Sep 22, 2021 | COVID-19 | 1 |
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 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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Marriage statistics 2022Dec 1, 2023 | The Business of Celebrancy
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Embracing DMARC: A Must-Do for CelebrantsNov 11, 2023 | CI
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