Can you almost hear the song being sung? This past week there has been a rush on phone calls and people suddenly deciding this week was the right time to plan their ceremony. I can’t say it often enough though – from the time a Notice of Intended Marriage is filled in and lodged with proof of birth / death / annulment,  with the celebrant of your choice, one month and one day must pass before a couple can legally marry. There were two disappointed brides this week who wanted to marry in the first week of June, as relatives are suddenly coming up for a visit to Darwin – and they have missed the cut off point.

However, one couple this week wanted to fill in their Notice for November of 2011… for 11 am, on 11th November, 2011. Now THAT is forward planning! As a notice is ‘good’ for 18 months, they are a super organised couple who have already booked celebrant, flowers, ceremony and reception venues and even her manicurist, apparently.

Either way, love is in the air… and isn’t it exciting!

On a completely different note, one couple asked how they know if their celebrant is qualified and registered. Anyone can access the Federal Attorney General’s website and find an entire list of every registered celebrant in the country. So every registered marriage celebrant in the NT is listed…  While regulations have now changed with regards to becoming a celebrant (specific elements of the Certificate IV in Celebrancy must be completed prior to registration), all registered celebrants must complete 5 hours of ongoing professional development (OPD) in any given year – and you can be assured that all four NT Celebrants have completed their OPD, and are fully qualified and registered.

It amazes me though when I hear that someone has sent out their wedding invitations but has not yet lined up a celebrant! I had a frantic call last weekend from someone wanting to marry in the height of the Dry season (July) who was only now realising that she did not have the celebrant to marry her! It also appeared that every celebrant that she had rung, was busy on ‘her’ day. While we alwasy try to find a solution to timing issues, in this case, all I could do was refer her on to other good celebrants in Darwin.

On the other hand, there are those well organised folk who are now booking for 2011 – I am in awe of their organisation and planning but how much less stressful to organise the celebrant first, and then commit to the myriad of other arrangements.

I am also in awe of some of the creative solutions to where people will be getting married. I had my first request to marry people above the crocodile pits at Crocodylus Park (Darwin) - I am hopeful that it is not a windy day as I am NOT jumping into the pit with two huge crocs to retrieve any wedding paperwork!!

Either way, the 2010 wedding season has started, and so far it is promising to be a fantastic one. At NT Celebrants, we LOVE weddings. We love being a part of the excitement, the joy and the magic of helping two people to join together in spirit and love. Call us ’softies’ if you want – but THAT is why we love being celebrants.

The four of us above, NT Celebrants, met during our initial training as celebrants some years back now, and have remained good friends ever since. We have formed a ‘collective’ of professional women, ones very supportive of each other, while still running our own separate celebrancy businesses. We meet regularly – to develop new resources for our clients, to back each other up where necessary, with resources such as a sound system, and to critique each other’s performance as well. In order to maintain a quality level of performance, sometimes you will see one of us standing at the back of a ceremony, just quietly watching each other, and making helpful comments after the ceremony. THAT is how seriously we take our professionalism.

But in the meantime, this post is about friends – and how valuable good friends are. We see it every day in the cermonies that we assist people with – the good friends and family who join together to create memorable, brilliant occasions. Where would we be without friends.

Whatever you have in hand, here’s a toast to good friends and friendships!

I have used Skype regularly for a couple of years not just to touch base with both potential clients, but also clients particularly from overseas, planning a holiday and their wedding in Darwin.

During this past wedding season however, I have been fortunate enough to hold four ceremonies where the bride and groom ‘skyped’ in overseas guests who could not attend their wedding. In one instance, the bride and groom has their parents present, but the bride’s sister was in the UK. There was a party going on over there, and everyone had dressed up for the wedding (despite the early hour, considering the time differences between the UK and Australia). What a delight though to have an international audience, and to have the sister so involved in the big day.

We certainly live in an interesting world where we can use the technology for ceremonies in that way…

As with all occasions however, Bronnie, River and their family and friends were racing around prior to the ceremony, so there was a touch of stress ensuring that everything was ready. Hunter would not settle, and just as he was dressed in his beautiful Naming clothes, not only did he send his last feed out in a spectacular fashion, but poor little boy…. well…. He filled his pants in an also spectacular fashion, to the point that there was…. well… ‘leakage’ on the new clothes.

He obviously felt much better after that, but there was now consternation that the beautiful new clothes were no longer suitable for his Naming Ceremony. In the end, Hunter was named officially in a Thomas the Tank Engine T-shirt, a pair of baby jeans and his lovely new baby shoes. He obviously also found the whole experience to be hilarious. As he was officially named, he burst out laughing and got a quizzical look on his face, as if to ask ‘Are you joking? Are you seriously naming me Hunter?’.

But what a wonderful ceremony! Family and friends stayed on to celebrate Hunter’s joyous arrival into the lives of his doting parents, and to enjoy a ceremony that has its roots in traditions going back through time. Thank you to Bronnie and River for allowing me to share Hunter’s big day.

We are a group of four celebrants who met during our training to become civil marriage celebrants, and after a week of uproarious laughter, serious discussion and opportunities to find common ground, a friendship developed between Bilawara Lee, Marika McKenzie, Yvonne Falckh and Nancy Batenburg. We operate as part of a collective, meaning that collectively we develop our own resources (including the new, improved and stunning website), but also additional resources such as publications and flyers. However, we each operate our own separate businesses, so if you wish to contact us, either check out each celebrant’s web pages, or send an email with ‘attention to’ the celebrant of your choice.

We are professional women, but more to the point, we LOVE being civil celebrants. Whether it is a marriage ceremony, or a Naming of a Baby, or the more unknown ceremonies such as Croning or Saging ceremonies, we love being involved in people’s lives, and making the ceremony just exactly what clients want.

So welcome to this new, improved, absolutely gorgeous website and this blog. We hope you keep touching base with us, and if we can help you with a ceremony, please let us know.