Bride's Name Change

After her wedding, a bride has a choice of  surnames she can adopt , her maiden name or  her husband’s name and no action is required to put the change into place.  However, many couples choose to combine their surnames after marriage.  It symbolizes the unification and uniqueness of their love for each other.  For example, following their marriage Mary Long and Darren Newman become Mary and Darren Longnew.

Interestingly, more and more brides choose to keep their maiden name rather than taking their husband’s after marriage.  There is no special action required  but to avoid confusion with family, friends and business associates, you may wish to make a brief note when you send out thank-you cards or letters.  Some couples adopt a hyphenated or combination surname or the bride’s surname.   If this is the case, it is highly recommended that you put a legal “Name Change” into place.  This can be done online and is a relatively simple process.  However, unless you formally register your change of name, you may not be granted an Australian passport in your new name.  For more details about official name changes, visit the Births Deaths and Marriages website - www.bdm.vic.gov.au

 

If you have any queries regarding your name change after marriage, please don't hesitate to contact me. 

What goes into creating your ceremony

Ever wondered what goes into the preparation and time taken to create a bespoke wedding ceremony for you for your special day ?

As a professional and committed Celebrant, I carefully explain what personal documentation must be submitted by you, what ceremony components are necessary to ensure the validity of your ceremony,  and lastly, preparation and lodgement of all marriage certificates and legal documentation.

Your wedding ceremony is the vehicle that proclaims your new status as husband and wife and you instantly become each other’s next of kin.  Remember, marriage is a legal state and entering your matrimonial status has laws that apply, with legal consequences.  As a professional celebrant, I ensure your wedding ceremony includes all the requirements set out by the Attorney General’s Department,  and the office of Births, Deaths and Marriages.  It is also my duty to ensure that your ceremony components comply with the Marriage Act 1961 because failing to do so may render your wedding ceremony invalid.

Unfortunately, not all celebrants are compliant and I urge you to choose your celebrant very carefully. 

When you decide to engage me as your celebrant, we set up an appointment to cover all the legals, including  your preferences and  ceremony ideas, and what you envisage your ceremony to be.  A deposit is paid and you will leave our meeting with a DVD which is in effect a library of resources.  After you have had time to browse the resources, we set up another consultation which is for “Planning your Ceremony” and I gather information from you so I can draft a ceremony.   At this meeting we discuss the “choreography” of the Processional, the Recessional including attendants and participants and after completing the draft,  I email or post it to you for review and discussion.  From this discussion, I prepare the blueprint and we rehearse the ceremony a week or so before the wedding date.  Before the rehearsal, I prepare two official marriage certificates, a Section 14 Declaration and a Commemorative marriage Certificate.  If your ceremony is outdoors, a second set of documents may be required if your contingency venue is different to the planned outdoor venue, should the weather be inclement.

At the rehearsal, the ceremony  and choreography is streamlined and Marriage Certificates are reviewed and Section 14 Statutory Declarations are signed and I witness them for you.

It is no surprise to learn that my preparation time, travel and conducting your ceremony, post-wedding documentation and marriage registration for most wedding ceremonies takes approximately 15 to 20 hours.

Some couples may have special needs. Many come to Australia especially to marry, or are moving overseas and require an Apostille or require support documentation for Visa purposes.  I am able to provide advice and assistance to enable you to navigate your way through these requirements.

A Planning Tip for your Wedding

With the arrival of our fabulous digital age, many wedding guests take photographs and videos in ever increasing numbers  - especially during wedding ceremonies.  As a follow-up, the guests then download them onto social and other websites on the wedding day or shortly after without the consent of the bride and groom.  As a result, several brides have voiced their disapproval, stating that the downloaded photos were unauthorized and considered unprofessional, uncomplimentary or unflattering.  A number of brides also voiced their disappointment that their professional photographer did not even get the opportunity to showcase his/her work.

If you are getting married and wish to avoid this potentially embarrassing situation, include a request on your wedding invitations so that your guests are aware of your preferences prior to the wedding. 

If you are an invited guest, you may wish to seek the bride and groom’s permission before downloading ‘happy snaps’ for public viewing.

Happy Planning!

What's in a name ?

Three years ago I conducted Christine and Chris’s wedding ceremony in an outdoor natural bushland setting in Eltham.  They were elated when Christine’s pregnancy was confirmed in 2011 and their baby boy was born a few months ago.  His mum and dad asked me to create a Naming ceremony for him and  I had the honour of conducting his Namegiving and Life Welcoming ceremony yesterday in the presence of close family and friends.

He was named Phoenix Stavros Terrance  and it was a delight to see the joy on the faces of his grandfathers.  Christine and Chris continued a long family tradition -  the baby’s middle and third names honour his grandfathers.

A little while ago, I conducted a Namegiving ceremony for a baby girl where her first name was fresh and contemporary whilst her middle name was her mother’s  maiden name.  It’s their family custom which has been carried on through several generations and serves a multi-faceted purpose of bolsters family bonds, establishes descent and lineage, and makes a family tree that is easy to research.  Naturally, the result is that this baby girl, as well as her own sisters and some of her blood cousins carry the same middle name.  However it is a delightful tradition and added interest to the ceremony.

Chapels in Melbourne

Brides and grooms often ask me about wedding ceremony  sites and locations, especially chapels.    It reflects the need for many couples to incorporate a spiritual tone  into their marriage ceremony but interestingly,  their ceremony may be free of religious dialogue and ritual.  It also reflects the notion that couples differentiate between spirituality and religion.    As an experienced celebrant I can provide a meaningful ceremony that includes the components which are important to you, be they spiritual, secular or non-secular.    Many brides and grooms also book chapels as a contigency if they are having a garden wedding.  This means that if it is a rainy day or Melbourne is experiencing a heatwave, they can move their ceremony from the garden into a chapel. 

If this concept is of interest to you, the following links may provide inspiration.  Located in Kangaroo Ground amidst native gardens and a rustic reception facility is Inglewood Chapel .  Not far away is Ballara Receptions  which offers a “fairy-tale” venue in Eltham.  A similar venue in the outer Northeastern suburb  is Ashton Manor  located in Diamond Creek. Further north is a delightful little white chapel in South Morang, view the the Little White Chapel.

The Yarra Valley provides a stunning backdrop  to your special day with breathtaking views and if you are considering the Yarra Valley for your wedding celebration, have a look at Immerse , Fergusson Winery and Stones Winery. 

Closer to Melbourne in the Blackburn area is the beautiful Elizabethan Lodge.  The building is in tudor style – you can view their facilities at  Elizabethan Lodge.  Ragusa Restaurant is situated west of the city in Williamstown.  This charming building is steeped in history and provides a delightful wedding site.  At the foot of the Dandenong Ranges are two lovely wedding venues that cater for chapel ceremonies.  They are  Bramleigh Receptions in Croydon and Linley Estate in Kilsyth.
Should you require more inspiration, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Bambi The Ring Bearer

“Bambi” was the Ring Bearer  and member of the stunning bridal party in yesterday’s exquisite wedding in the Chapel at Immerse, on the outskirts of  Yarra Glen in the Yarra Valley.  He marched gallantly down the aisle and did a wonderful job delivering  the precious rings as a prelude to the wedding band exchange.  He was handsomely dressed in a black tuxedo and bow tie, and as well as being a ‘fetching’ bridal participant, “Bambi” is also the much loved family pet pooch of the bride and groom, and his processional down the aisle added a delightful inclusion into the ceremony.  He stole the limelight and was the star of the day.  His behaviour was impeccable with his tail wagging ferociously whilst a groomsman removed the wedding rings from Bambi’s red silk pocket to pass to the bride and groom for the wedding band exchange.    

                                                                

New Years Eve and a Fabulous Wedding

New Year’s Eve saw a double celebration for Melanie and Ali as they celebrated their wedding and the arrival  of  2012 at their home.  In the late afternoon of the 31st December,  I conducted an intimate civil wedding ceremony with close family in attendance and a short time later other guests arrived for the Persian cultural wedding ceremony which was to follow. 

I felt priviledged  in having been invited to attend the second ceremony and it was a truly wonderful experience!  Family members set up the ceremonial area with a mirror, candles, bread, nuts, apples, biscuits, wheat, pomegranates, sugar, honey, gold coins,  and other symbolic items on a Termeh on the floor.  The Termeh is a persian silk or gold embroidered heirloom cloth.   The entire display or spread is called a “Sofreh Aghd” and holds a deeply significant  and dignified place in a Persian wedding ceremony. 

 The groom’s father conducted the ceremony in the Persian language, whilst a square of cloth fabric called a “Ghand” was held over the heads of the bride and groom for the duration of the ceremony.  The women of the bride and groom’s family gathered around the “Ghand” and each in turn, simulated sewing the cloth canopy with a needle.  This light-hearted ritual symbolizes the “Closing of the mother-in-law’s lips” .

 

  

The mirror brings light and bright future, candles symbolize fire and energy, bread for prosperity, walnuts and almonds fertility, apples and pomegranates symbolize joy, apples the divine creation, sugar represents the sweetness of life, gold coins wealth and prosperity, whilst burning of wild Rue for good health and keeps away the evil eye .