The Feminist Celebrant

12/12/2024

Some weddings really take a hold of my heart and refuse to let go. Kate + Mel’s will always mean so much to me - what a privilege to witness the depth of their love, and their commitment to providing their family with a safe and loving home.

The Wise + Visser families were joined in name that day, but we were celebrating the fact that they had been a
family long before then.

(Some couples don’t escape from me post-wedding, I force them into being friends with me, sucked in .cheriewv + 😘)

Venue:
Photographer:

17/05/2024

Your wedding should be an accurate representation of you both, and your plans for your life together.

Are you pretty sure you don’t want kids? Building your family in a non-conventional way? Want to avoid a million questions about your plans for babies? It is absolutely AOK to include these things in your ceremony!

In fact, I encourage it!

The following is an excerpt from Jenn + Sam’s ceremony:

“Jenn + Sam’s future family together will most likely involve just the two of them + their fur babies.

Their life together will be lived in their own way, on their own timeline, and at this stage - that timeline absolutely does not see children in its future.

They want to make it clear that they absolutely DO want to share in the joy of your own pregnancies and babies!

Jenn + Sam have so much love and adoration for the children in their life already, and those to come via their beautiful friends and family.

They love you, they love babies, and they love sharing your joy!

We ask you, their beloved community of family + friends, to support them in their decision, and to respect that what is right for them is right for them!

Thank you all for respecting their wishes!”

You can be clear without being rude - I’ve got you. This is your day, your way: always.

Photos by
Biggest smiles ever by +

28/02/2024

Always trying not to cry! Every couple, every time.

My dirty secret is that I always thought marriage was patriarchal bu****it created to further oppress + own women (I mean - I’m not wrong), and now…I can’t get enough of people loving the s**t out of each other. One of my favourite things to say in my ceremonies is “We all know that you are both strong, wonderful, independent people who could live this life perfectly happily + successfully on your own, but we are so happy for you that you found someone to share it with, every single day, for all the days you have left on this beautiful earth.”

Some traditions can get fu**ed. Marriage in Australia is no longer about ownership - it is about committing to trying your very best to be the best partner you can be, and loving the pants off your life partner enough to commit your life to each other (or as I like to say: “As long as this marriage serves + fulfils you both!”)

🤍

Photo by the delightful
Venue

08/02/2024

08/02/2024

08/02/2024

I always ask my couples: How do you want to remember your ceremony? And I get excellent answers like:

“We want to remember marrying each other rather than worrying about if everything is going according to schedule. We want to remember it as a day of sharing this milestone with our closest family + friends.”

YES! Legends!

Don’t forget what this whole wedding palaver is about - it’s about the two of you + how you love the s**t out of each other! Be true + authentic to yourselves + your relationship. Enjoy getting caught up in the whirlwind of your wedding, it’s an enormous life event and it will be a bloody fun day, but remember to check back in with yourselves + each other - this day is about why you fell in love, and why you’re getting married in the first place! You probably won’t remember which table settings you used, but you WILL remember how you felt.

10/01/2024

Wearing white on your wedding day: yay or nay? ‘Cause tbh we all assume you’re not a virgin...

Would you believe virginity* has nothing to do with it?!

“There are some weird wedding traditions that aren’t even that old - people mistakenly think white was traditionally worn as a symbol of virginity, and while it may have morphed into that, it was in fact a trend started by Queen Victoria. She wore handmade Honiton lace on her wedding day to boost the industry in England and white was the best colour to showcase the lace.”
excerpt taken from Bridie Jabour’s Trivial Grievances

So the real question is: what do you WANT to wear on your wedding day? ‘Cause your opinion is the only one that matters!

✔️ White: great!
✔️ Anything but white: also great!

Wear whatever you want,
wherever you want,
whenever you want!

*virginity is a social construct, informed by religion + misogyny, that I wholeheartedly reject - but let me make my point...