Kylie asks:
I seem to remember in and OPD once that there was discussion on how payment must come from the couple direct to the celebrant, and not through a third party such as a venue, or a planner.The vast majority of weddings in the Whitsundays are packaged up so the venue includes the celebrant fee and we invoice said company.The OPD trainer suggested that it was in the Act that we are to receive direct from client however I couldn’t find this myself. Please help!Recently one of the local wedding planners has become insolvent. Many brides and suppliers are hurting right now. The business for a small town was huge. Obviously if this is the law for payments to come from client to us direct, this is the perfect time for me to bring this to the attention of all other packaged celebrants, that we should un-package ourselves.
I have never seen anything in the current Marriage Act that even refers to payments between couples and celebrants, let alone dictates who it should or should not go to. In my personal view, it is definitely preferable that payment is made direct from couple to celebrant, both for the reasons the Whitsundays suppliers are suffering through at the moment, and also because it cements that the relationship is between the couple and the celebrant and no one else, and that can be important for the legal stuff. But I’m 99% sure there’s nothing in the Marriage Act or Regulations to that effect; if someone knows of something I’ve missed, please let me know!
I agree with Sarah. I also prefer to deal directly with the couple, but for several years I have had a package arrangement with a local venue, I know this venue (and owners) very well, otherwise I would be hesitant to be part of a wedding package.
I rasied this issue with the AGD Marriage Celebrants Section some years ago during my time as a Celebrant in the Whitsunday’s. (23years)
The advice I was given (in writing) at that time refered me to the Code of Practice and stated, “Our relationship with our clients should always be a direct and personal one” and this should, in the writers opinion “include the payment of the Celebrant’s fee”.
I tried for many years to have the Celebrant’s fee removed from so called Resort Packages and for this I was shunned by many of the resort wedding coordinators and planners with the weddings giong to their personal list of preferred celebrant friends. On a number of occasions, couples requested my services as their celebrant only to told that I was not available and we only use our own celebrants.
A number of the island resorts were “capping”the celebrants fee, that is, they were charging the couple X amount and paying the celebrant Y amount. One resort in particulat was in fact crossing out the requested fee of my invoive and paying “the amount that they allocated.” When challenged, I was advised that that was their set fee.
Another resort was charging celebrants a fee of $500 to be listed as a preferred celebrant at their venue.
Because of my stance over the years regarding the payment of Celebrants fees which is well documented with the AGD Celebrants section and the AFCC, i suffered the consequences of my actions, being shunned by many of the mainland and island wedding planners and coordinators and I might add, by many celebrants, and is the main reasons I resigned my role as a celebrant.