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  1. Home
  2. Student Hub
  3. Industry Insider
  4. The Booming Industry of Celebrancy – An Inside Look
In this post
  • Nat’s Career Change Story
  • How to be a Successful Celebrant
  • About the Job
  • Tasks of the Job
  • Prior to the Wedding
  • Day of the Wedding
  • Education Background
Published on October 28, 2019

The Booming Industry of Celebrancy – An Inside Look

Claudia Reiners Claudia Reiners
The Booming Industry of Celebrancy – An Inside Look
In this post Show
  • Nat’s Career Change Story
  • How to be a Successful Celebrant
  • About the Job
  • Tasks of the Job
  • Prior to the Wedding
  • Day of the Wedding
  • Education Background

Celebrancy has quickly become one of the most popular industries and one of the most popular courses undertaken within the past 5 years. With the passing of the same-sex marriage bill and an increase in non-religious weddings, over 75% of weddings now use civil celebrants.

For Nat Sproal, becoming a marriage celebrant was the perfect alternative to a long and stressful 18-year career in nursing. Realising that nursing was no longer the career for her, Nat went online and applied for a 6-month course in celebrancy.

Marriage Celebrant

Nat’s Career Change Story

After nearly 20 years as a nurse in the neuro and emergency departments, Nat Sproal found nursing to no longer be emotionally sustainable. With a new bub in her life and a desire to make a career change, celebrancy was the breath of fresh air she’d been seeking.

Photo Source: Bright Lights Weddings

 

Allowing herself to be in a positive space, manage her own life and not be reliant on others are just a few of the things that drew her to marriage celebrancy.

Though Nat was terrified about changing careers, she believed if she didn’t try then nothing would be gained, it was now or never. Two and a half years on, Nat is now running her business, Nat Sproal Celebrant, full-time.

“Something that drew me to the position was being around people on the best day of their life, rather than the worst.”

Celebrancy courses increased by

1600%

in the wake of the same-sex marriage vote.

across the country, There are now over

9000

registered civil marriage celebrants.


How to be a Successful Celebrant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to Nat and as evidenced by her successful business, these are a few of the steps you should take in order to become an excellent celebrant:

  • Knowing your market and what type of couple you generally provide your service for.
  • Understanding that it takes time to build up a clientele and make good money.
  • Write yourself a strong business plan of where you see your career going in the future.
  • Understanding how to run a small business such as marriage celebrancy.
  • Networking with other civil celebrants that are similar to you who can recommend you for weddings.
    Go along to weddings with other marriage celebrants to learn from their styles and processes.

About the Job

In her marriage celebrancy practice, there are a number of skills that Nat has acquired during her professional development. These are some of the skills Nat incorporates into her business operations in order to provide a quality service. These include:

 

Customer Service

Constant emailing and face to face meetings are the main part of the job, therefore you must have good customer service skills.

 

Preparing Legal Documents

At the end of the day, you are also responsible for all of the legalities involved with marriage. Having the knowledge and expertise to prepare Australian legal documents is one of the most important aspects of the job.

 

Writing

Nat chooses to write her ceremonies from scratch so having competent writing skills is important in a marriage celebrancy role.

 

Social Media

Nat mainly uses the platform of social media to advertise her business and finds that Instagram is what helps her gain the most clients. Having a good understanding of social media is important for the advertising of any business.

 

Research

Researching the couples and their interests in order to provide a service tailored to them.

 

Public Speaking

You must have the ability to speak in front of a large group of people in this role. Confidence is key and without that, you won’t be able to do the ceremony justice.

“A good celebrant is performing for a crowd and engaging with people.”


Tasks of the Job


Prior to the Wedding

1

Interview clients and run through what a marriage ceremony looks like. Relaying to them the options they can have to personalise their service.

2

Once booked, arranging a second meeting to organise legal paperwork and planning of the ceremony. Nat will also learn about the couple over a glass of wine and a questionnaire.

3

Nat will then go home and write up the marriage ceremony from scratch.

4

Meets with the couple again a week before the wedding to finalise any paperwork and run a rehearsal.


Day of the Wedding

1

Arrives an hour early to liaise with the other providers (such as the band or photographer) to ensure they’re on the same page and that the wedding runs seamlessly.

2

Perform the ceremony based on the requests of the couple and run through her legal responsibilities as a marriage celebrant. Will often start off with a few kind words or stories about the couple before getting into the legalities.

3

Get the legal documents signed by the couple, lodge them and send them a link at a later date so they can access their certificate.


Education Background

 

Education

  • Certificate IV in Celebrancy

Nat undertook a 6-month, cert IV course in celebrancy that was mostly online with a registered training organisation. The course taught her the ins and outs of marriage, Australian immigration laws, specific legislative responsibilities of marriage celebrants, how to plan marriage ceremonies and of course how to perform a ceremony.

After that, you can head to the Australian attorney-general’s department to become a commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant. If you’re also looking to venture into the exciting career of Marriage Celebrancy, check out our celebrancy courses here.

For Nat Sproal, her first same-sex wedding was the biggest highlight of her career.

After the Australian government brought in the same-sex marriage bill, the wording has now changed from a ‘man and a woman’ to the ‘union of two people’.

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Claudia Reiners
Claudia Reiners
Claudia Reiners

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