Special Elements

Adding a special element or ritual to your wedding is a way of creating a special meaning for you, to make the day a little more meaningful and more than just the legal requirements of the day. Special elements or rituals, can include things like including your fur-babies, warming of the rings, handfasting, unity painting, anniversary box or wine ceremony.

An element such as warming of the rings for instance, is where the rings are passed around from person to person at the beginning of the ceremony and each guest will warm them in their hands and silently imbue the rings with good wishes and hopes and dreams for the future for the couple… Then the rings, full of these positive vibes are exchanged by the couple and have been “warmed” by all their loved ones…

An anniversary box ceremony is where each of the couple being married put together items in a box to be opened on their anniversary. These items can range from a special bottle of wine, letters to each other, or other gifts… nothing perishable as it has to last a year…

And thus the new Decade began…

With the start of 2020, a new Decade has begun. We can certainly wonder how this new decade will be remembered in the future. Will we be remembered for social media sites such as Facebook, What’s Up, Instagram, for how many Likes we have received. When I was young and this was not a thing, we had to go out to meet people, or talk on landlines, confined by the reach of the cord. Cordless phones, mobiles and the free access of information via the internet, were some of the notable advancements of last century. This decade may start to see the resurrection of extinct species, mind reading machines, mass production of self driving cars and the first manned expedition on the moon.

But just 100 years ago the world was so different. The 1920’s were known as the “roaring twenties” was the beginning of a modern age. For many Australians, this post war time was for change, for breaking away from the previous decade of it was a time for breaking out, of questioning and changing old values and behavior and enjoying the good life. There were many technological advances, with a strengthening of the economy, and a definite improvement in communications. However the most significant change was that of women during the 1920s. The 1920s was about enjoying the peace and the good things of life. The wealth of some people and the introduction of jazz music, new fashions, motion pictures, wireless and motor cars earned the decade the title of the “roaring twenties”. The great barrier of isolation began to break down with the growing popularity of the automobile and other forms of transport came of age.

But there will always be Love. While the concept of marriage may have changed from what it was last century, it is still a sign of commitment, one that can be shared with loved ones. Definitely with the changed laws, marriage is now a marriage between two persons. Two souls that have come together, recognizing each others aura as the missing link to their heart. In fact Love has been around forever and back before Christ was born, Plato defined sexual attraction and coupling of men and men, ladies and ladies and men and ladies. The concept of same sex relationships are ancient.

Here is the extract from Plato’s Symposium that can be used as a reading at weddings…. defining LOVE…

Humans have never understood the power of Love, for if they had they would surely have built noble temples and altars and offered solemn sacrifices; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done, since Love is our best friend, our helper, and the healer of the ills which prevent us from being happy.

To understand the power of Love, we must understand that our original human nature was not like it is now, but different. Human beings each had two sets of arms, two sets of legs, and two faces looking in opposite directions. There were three sexes then: one comprised of two men called the children of the Sun, one made of two women called the children of the Earth, and a third made of a man and a woman, called the children of the Moon. Due to the power and might of these original humans, the Gods began to fear that their reign might be threatened. They sought for a way to end the humans’ insolence without destroying them.

It was at this point that Zeus divided the humans in half. After the division the two parts of each desiring their other half, came together, and throwing their arms about one another, entwined in mutual embraces, longing to grow into one. So ancient is the desire of one another which is implanted in us, reuniting our original nature, making one of two, and healing the state of humankind.

Each of us when separated, having one side only, is but the indenture of a person, and we are always looking for our other half. Those whose original nature lies with the children of the Sun are men who are drawn to other men, those from the children of the Earth are women who love other women, and those from the children of the Moon are men and women drawn to one another. And when one of us meets our other half, we are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and would not be out of the other’s sight even for a moment. We pass our whole lives together, desiring that we should be melted into one, to spend our lives as one person instead of two, and so that after our death there will be one departed soul instead of two; this is the very expression of our ancient need. And the reason is that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called Love.

FESTIVITIES and ENGAGMENT!

What a wonderful time of year this is. With Christmas fast approaching, Santa is only days away from spreading joy and magic, and then the New Year Celebrations, many people will pop the big question and propose to spend forever with their loved one…. Popping the question…

What does it mean? Does it happen when you think to yourself

‘I want to wake up at 2 am and see you and realise I am right where I should be… next to you…’ or you realise that if your soulmate lived to be one hundred, then you would want to live to be one hundred minus one day, so that you wouldn’t have to spend any time without them (adapted from A.A. Milne). Love is an adventure…

Being on holidays inspires this big change… This popping of the question, that is the start to a COMMITMENT!

This also makes it an ideal time to start looking for a celebrant to help make your day magical… For legal reasons, a Notice of Intention to Marry must be given to the chosen celebrant within 18 months and no less than one month prior to the marriage of intended parties. But they have limited availability, so like a photographer, don’t leave till the last minute to find and BOOK…

A Celebrant should about helping you celebrate your day the way you want. Not confined to the walls of a Church, or the beliefs of the religion, a Celebrant can be truly magical, uplifting, Celebratory, fun and let you realize all the dreamy aspects of your day to make it truly UNIQUE experience for you…

I believe having a creative background is essential for making the ceremony a memorable experience for everyone. The art of writing, of storytelling is a skill that I love to portray, using words to tell your story…. because it is about you, your day, your partners day, your families, your friends… they are all part of your lives and part of your day…

Celebrate the MAGIC and IMAGINE your DAY!

SHAKESPEARE

Shakespeare is the BARD… he has written so much in his time about the agonies and extacy’s of life and about LOVE… from his sonnets to his plays, his characters who die for love, and although maybe some of his thoughts are a little old fashioned, he has many works that are a work of art for those in love. Here are a few for inspiration…

When Love speaks, the voice of all the Gods, Makes Heaven drowsy with the Harmony.

Shakespeare, Love’s Labours Lost

Love is a smoke and is made with the fumes of sighs.

Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged cupid painted blind.

Shakespeare, A midsummer Nights Dream

My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as Deep. The more I give to Thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.

Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

I love you more than words can weild the matter, Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty

Shakespeare, King Lear

If I could write the beauty of your eyes And in fresh numbers number all your graces, The age to come would say ‘this poet lies! Such heaven never touched earthly faces

Shakespeare

I love you with so much of my heart, that none is left to protest

Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?  Thou art more lovely and more temperate:  Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,  And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: 

Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,  And too often is his gold complexion dimm’d:  And every fair from fair sometimes declines,  By chance or natures changing course untrimm’d; 

By thy eternal summer shall not fade,  Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;  Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,  When in eternal lines to time thou growest: 

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,  So long lives this and this gives life to thee.” 

William Shakespeare, Sonnets

With mirth and laughter, let old wrinkles come.

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?

Shakespeare, As you like it

Now join hands and with your hands your hearts.

Shakespeare

About Me – The Journey

Obviously I am trying to sell myself, and my ability to help you create magic on whatever day you are having.  I love love, talking in public, taking command, assisting to make sure the day goes right and any theme out there.  Romantic, theactrical, whimsical, a little bit eccentric are all words I have had to describe me.  Married almost 30 years (yes I was very young) and having raised two very beautiful girls, I feel like I have the qualifications!

Whether it be a wedding for two souls to join together forever in a union of wedded bliss, reaffirmation of a long time-tested love, or naming the babe that has been created from the union of two people, I can be your person.  Helping people is what I am good at, it is my PASSION!

We all know that  a Marriage Celebrant has to undergo a course in order to perform the duties or responsibilities properly.  Then there is the appointment by the AG to perform these duties on a yearly basis, pending no complaints to the department.  The thing is… that is something all Civil Marriage Celebrants have to do, it doesn’t make them Unique!

What makes a Civil Marriage Celebrant right for you, is the gel, the ‘it factor’, the camaraderie and ease that they can put you at, knowing that they will handle all the stuff behind the scenes to make your day a reality and viable in the eyes of the law.  Magic doesn’t just happen, we have to make it happen…

I will admit I am newish to this particular portion of my life experience.  But that doesn’t mean that I will not put in 110%, or be worse than someone who has performed over 100 weddings.  In fact, it is an advantage, all my information is new and updated.  I am super keen.

But, apart from all that I bring many life experiences, those from nursing over 33 years, 10 years as a midwife, also oncology and then quite a few working with the men and women in uniform as a civillian in Defence Force hospitals.  But all through my life, I also wanted to be creative, and have had my own wedding photography business for many years while I lived in NSW.  While no longer a member of the AIPP, whilst I was, I was awarded 6 silver certificates and 3 bronze… No mean feat for a part timer…  My photography now centres around Couture Portraiture, where I take the story of your life and visulise as FINE ART!

So I am excited to say, I am starting this new journey from a wealth of life experience, just as you are starting your journey!

Allow me show you my passion to make your magical day as unique as you are!!!