Plan it

Build your ceremony

Pick what goes in, see what it runs to, and send the whole thing to Sharon when you are ready. Nothing to sign up for.

Most couples have never seen a ceremony written down. They know roughly what happens, and they have no idea how long any of it takes — which is why so many end up either eleven minutes long or stretching past forty in the sun.

This is the whole thing, laid out. Switch parts on and off, tell it roughly how many people are coming, and it works out the running time honestly. Three parts are fixed, because the Marriage Act 1961 says so and no celebrant can move them. Everything else is a choice, and none of the choices are wrong.

How many guests, roughly?

Some parts of a ceremony scale with the room. A ring warming with two hundred people takes a great deal longer than one with ten, and the walk back out is never as quick as couples expect.

60 guests
What goes in it?

Three of these are required by the Marriage Act 1961 and cannot be removed. Everything else is yours to choose.

  1. —

    Everyone seated, music on, and whoever is walking in walks in. Longer than people expect, and worth not rushing — this is the bit the photographer wants.

  2. —

    Phones away, where the toilets are, and a reminder to actually look up. Sharon does the housekeeping so nobody from your family has to.

  3. —

    An acknowledgement of the traditional custodians of the place you are standing in — Wonnarua, Awabakal or Worimi, depending where you marry.

  4. —

    How you met, who made the first move, the thing one of you still gets wrong in the telling. The part Sharon builds from the first meeting, and the part guests remember.

  5. —

    A poem, a passage, a few lines from a film. Given to someone you want to include but who does not have another job on the day.

    How many?
    1
  6. —

    Something done rather than said — handfasting, a candle, a shared cup. Optional, but it gives the ceremony a shape people feel rather than just hear.

    Hands bound with cord or your family tartan while you make your promises. The origin of “tying the knot”, and the reason this business has the name it does.

  7. —

    “I am duly authorised by law to solemnise marriage according to law…” — the words every Australian civil celebrant must say before you marry. Roughly forty-five seconds, and not negotiable.

    Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) s 46(1)

  8. —

    “Do you take…” — not legally required, but almost everyone wants it, because it is the moment the room holds its breath.

  9. —

    “I call upon the persons here present to witness that I, A.B., take you, C.D., to be my lawful wedded…” — these words, or words to that effect, are what actually marries you.

    Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) s 45(2)

  10. —

    The promises you write yourselves, on top of the legal ones. Sharon will help you draft them, and will hold a printed copy in case your hands shake.

  11. —

    Rings on, usually with a line each. Allow for the fact that one of them will not go on first go. It never does.

  12. —

    The sentence everyone came for, and then a photograph you will have on a wall for forty years.

  13. —

    Three certificates, signed by the two of you, your two witnesses and Sharon. Put music over it — this is where a ceremony goes quiet if you do not.

    Marriage Act 1961 (Cth) s 50 — two witnesses aged 18 or over, s 44

  14. —

    Announced as a married couple, back down the aisle, straight into being hugged by people you have not seen in years.

What happens next

It is a starting point, not a contract

Send it over and it becomes the first ten minutes of the first conversation — Sharon will already know whether you want a handfasting, whether your mother is doing a reading, and roughly how long you want to stand up there. Then she will tell you the two things you have not thought of, and the running sheet changes, as it should.

If you are earlier than that and only want to know whether your date works at all, the date checker will tell you in one click, and the prices are all on one page with nothing held back.

Next step

Tell me about the two of you

No obligation, no hard sell, no package deck. Just a conversation about your day and whether Sharon is the right person to stand in front of you.