Mitchell Coulthard - Celebrant - Adelaide

28/05/2022

Another delightful wedding officiated. Thank you Anthony and Eli.

05/05/2022

It's funny how I've never been big on social media, yet today it is such a powerful tool. More especially since I've been working as a celebrant. I love what I do. Writing, kite flying, beach walking, and working as a celebrant. These things bring joy to my life as do so many things shared with my wife. All I can say is that I would love the opportunity to chat about your needs in a celebration of life, whether a wedding ceremony, a memorial, baby naming, or any other landmark in your life you wish to share with friends. Thank you to all the folks that have let me share in their celebrations as their celebrant.

31/12/2020

I just wanted to take a moment to thank Caroline and Stephen for letting me preside over their wedding. Such a delightful couple with a wonderful story... and such a lovely 'thank you' from them:

"Hi Mitch
Thank you thank you thank you soooo much for a beautiful ceremony!!! It was more beautiful then I could have imagined. With the covid restrictions I didn’t put much thought into the ceremony and I have to say thanks to you it became so much more special and memorable than what I first imagined which was just the formality of singing the marriage certificate. Everything unfolded and evolved beautifully. Thank you for making our special moment more meaningful. I had a hard time holding back the tears when you did the soulmate reading.

Lots of love"

A beautiful couple creating a wonderful family. Congratulations again.

03/12/2020

And the rules just keep on changing! Some to the better... others we can look at and just shake our heads in wonder. But, it seems to be working. Right now Australia, most especially South Australia has one of the best records for knocking down the Covid-19 virus. Keep up the good work, Australia. We will be clear of this eventually!

Oh... and don't forget to call the Covid Hotline for any and all updates with everything changing almost daily.

PLEASE check with covid-19.sa.gov.au for updates and definitive answers. If you have further questions, call them - they are available 7 days a week from 9AM to 5PM.

28/10/2020

Whew!! What a rush! With the Covid-19 rules changing almost daily, how do we keep up? Social distancing? Size of the venue? At the moment I posted this, the rules were pretty straight forward.

You must have a Covid Plan in place - Most often taken care of by the venue folks.

Number of participants - no more than 150 people, including children. It's a head count thing - pets are not counted.

Must take reasonable steps to maintain 1.5 meter spacing.

Contact Tracing Required.

Can now stand and consume food and beverages indoors or out.

No communal food or beverage areas.

No shared food utensils.

A Covid Marshal is required.

From Saturday 24 October can now permit dancing.

If you have New Zealand relatives, they can come in without quarantine restrictions, but MUST still fill out the Cross Border Form (Visa and other travel requirements as usual)

PLEASE check with covid-19.sa.gov.au for updates and definitive answers. If you have further questions, call them - they are available 7 days a week from 9AM to 5PM.

06/10/2020

Well, moving forward. Bigger venues, more people, dancing, 'vertical drinking', and other changes that are helping the whole situation back to 'normalcy'. I place that in single quotes because we still do not know when or where this will end... what will 'normalcy' actually end up being?

One wedding down as we come out of such restrictive times... several more on the books. The Christmas season is coming - with more restrictions - but it's coming. Hopefully the light at the end of the 2020 Tunnel is not 2021 bearing down on us like a train.

Truly, though, I am excited to be moving forward.

11/08/2020

In way of answering a question put forth, please understand that we are in a very dynamic environment at this time. The big 'thing' with the government trying to do things to prevent additional spread of Covid-19 is largely based on risk assessment. How much risk is there in each activity? For example, you may have a huge property... hundred of acres. The risk of a gathering there is that there is little doubt in the minds of the folks that are trying to keep this balancing act on the ball is that you will undoubtedly have alcohol. If it is a celebration, there will be minimal social distancing, if at all. Not a good mix. So, no matter the size of your property, it is still considered a residence and is treated as such. If you are in a public space, there is no alcohol allowed OR there will be a management plan in place if it is a controlled public space. Big difference.

Please contact SAFECOM - the SA Police Safe Covid Information folks at 1800 253 787 for clarification. They operate from 9 to 5 every day.... even weekends.

11/08/2020

It's very interesting how quickly things change... and how if you are careful in how you select your venue... you may be way ahead of the game. As of this moment on the 12th of August, yes... we are limited to ten people per household for a wedding. Venues are at 100 IF they have the space and a plan in place. However, if you go to a park or a beach as public space, you can have completely different numbers based on proper social distancing and such. PLEASE check this link often for verification of these activities as they can change at any time. https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/254883/COVID-19-Public-Activity-Requirements-Table-7-August.pdf

26/07/2020

How quickly things change under Covid-19 guidelines.... Where once we were allowed only 5 people to a wedding, it worked it's way up to 100. Then, with changes, it dropped to 50. But how long will that hold? Best guess? I have no idea. What I do know is that we need to continue to be careful, but we can celebrate the small wins against this insane virus. If we are to have weddings return to normalcy, we MUST adhere to the rules. Today, (no telling what tomorrow will bring) we need to have venues where guidelines can be followed properly. Social distancing rules abound. But we can make it work. To do so, it is important to contact both the venue and your celebrant to make certain everyone is up to date on the rules. Even then, before the wedding, we need to keep close tabs on the changing rules. SAPOL has a service we need to check frequently as we go along. Though they are considered 'the authority', you can bet things can still change quickly enough to be frustrating so followup any review of the website with a call directly to them. They are local to the CBD so they are in the heart of SA. https://www.safecom.sa.gov.au/site/home.jsp

SAFECOM home page

27/03/2020

So many things change during a pandemic... I wonder where this will leave us when it is over. The following is a petition that was forwarded from Easy Weddings. Interesting read. Sign it if you support it.

http://chng.it/Vgbt4gYpkY

Help the Australian wedding industry survive these tough times

16/02/2020

Recently I was asked how long a wedding ceremony should last. The obvious answer that hit my thoughts and made me smile a silly smile was, "Holy cow! How many special things can you add?" Sand Ceremonies? Candle and Water Ceremonies? Ethnic and family traditions? Is it an Indian wedding? Greek wedding? Is there a religious component?
So many options!

Then it occurred to me they could mean 'how short' can the ceremony be? Well, avoiding the seriously traditional seven days of an Indian wedding, the opposite, the shortest, would be an Elopement Ceremony.

Though I've not yet practiced an elopement ceremony to time it, I am guessing the legalities can be kept to less than ten minutes easily... and that's if I'm being long winded, I think. Looking at the timing on some of the videos I've done, we may be talking about an average of about thirty minutes for a short average wedding that might include a little music, a poem, maybe a little story, too.

The longest unofficial wedding I've done was a practice wedding -- a blended ethnicity wedding. Had we not cut the music, the vocals, and the poetry segments, it could easily have lasted upwards of an hour and a half... maybe more.

I love telling stories.

I love that everyone has a unique story in their lives. How they met, where they met, how they may have missed meeting each other for many years... everyone has a unique story. I love the idea of getting together and discovering how we may surprise so many of your guests with some special, touching moment in your lives that finally led you to standing together in from of a Celebrant.

So, to answer a question asked only once so far, anywhere from ten minutes to well over an hour... your choice.

And my final comment... this is YOUR day... long or short ceremony, let's make it special for YOU.

10/02/2020

Moving Forward. I have my preliminary website active at WIX for now.... https://mlcoulthard.wixsite.com/website Still working on it. The PA system is great... portable and a bit fancy... but I think it's going to be perfect. Building my list of favorites and more. Thanks to all my friends and family for their support and encouragement.

14/09/2019

I feel like I have a little experience in this ‘Love, Love Lost, Love Found’ sort of thing. Been there… Done that. Through it all, I noticed that my heart cried out at certain times both in pain and in love. And each time I found release in poetry. Sometimes reading… sometimes writing.

Through it all, I have made a discovery that I think every couple should think about from time to time…

Your Life Is A Poem.

Take the time to put words to your feelings. If you are feeling joy, say so. If you are feeling sorrow or loss… even anger, say so. There is no more beautiful way to express yourself than to remember, you are writing a lifelong poem… together… a story lived in little moments… a life lived from breath to breath… heart beat to heart beat.

Don’t take those moments for granted. Communicate, whether on paper, a computer screen, or in words whispered softly to each other as you drift off to sleep.

Share your heart.

I know… I know… I’ve been called a hopeless romantic for most of my life. Me? I prefer ‘hopeful’.

09/09/2019

May some part of every day be touched with love. Some days, more than one part.

03/08/2019

Thoughts of Love:

"I crave you in the most innocent form. I crave to say goodnight and give you forehead kisses and to say that I adore you when you feel at your worst. I crave you in ways where I just want to be next to you and nothing more or less."

11/07/2019

I would wish that everyone could feel a love like this...

“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.”
― Pablo Neruda

07/07/2019

I'm still getting the hang of this FB stuff, so if this pops up somewhere it's not supposed to, please let me know and I will do my best to figure it out and straighten it out.

Basically, I love 'love quotes'. I even have a few of my own. There have been so many wonderful writers, so many beautiful words written, spoken, and used in wedding ceremonies. This is just one of my many, many favorites.