When I mention that I am a civil marriage celebrant, people tend to think weddings right away. Of course, that is the majority of what I do as a Celebrant, however I also can perform renewal of vows. Not sure on what that is? Here is the lowdown on what you need to know and whether you and your partner feel that this is right for you. Firstly, you should know that renewal of vows is not legally binding! You would have already done that part when you got married the first time. Renewal oof vows is traditionally looked upon as a way to reaffirm and celebrate the promises, you made to the one you love. To be more specific, a renewal of vows is a celebratory ceremony for a married couple to reaffirm their commitment to each other. They are especially popular on milestone anniversaries. However, you can have this ceremony on any year. It is not a time to re-do a whole wedding, it is a time to reflect and celebrate in a way that is unique to you and your significant other by re-committing yourself to each other whole heartedly. Renewal of vows happen for many reasons. Perhaps you had an elopement or small wedding and wish to have a big celebration with more guests. It could also be that you loved your wedding the previous year that you want to do it again! (How romantic!!). Or perhaps you have gone through some rough times whether it be illness or even marital issues and feel that this is a time to re-commit and reaffirm your vows. What ever the reason may be, a renewal of vows can be quite cathartic. If you think this is something that may be of interest to you, I’ll be happy to help. Wishing you all the best and thank you for reading.

It’s nearing to the time where everyone starts to let their hair down as they head towards the dance floor. Before the dance floor gets heated it’s important to spend some time with your partner thanking people for their help and contributions towards your wedding no matter how small they may be. Here are some tips to help you along the way to a smashing wedding speech! Is a wedding speech easy to write? Traditionally, wedding speeches were most commonly done by the Father of the bride and groom, the best man and sometimes even the groom! Today, couples are spicing things up in the speech department. There is no hard and fast rule on who should and shouldn’t do a speech. Most interestingly, more couples are now doing their own wedding speeches either separately or together in tandem. Creating a wedding speech then speaking it out to a large crowd can be a daunting task! But I say kudos to you for taking the leap to stand in front of a crowd! Below are some tips to help you write out that speech which will be talked about for many years to come. Leaving your guests wanting more is the key. So much emotion and rawness goes into these speeches so it’s best to do the speech before you are too tipsy (a nod to those who like to have a bit of a sippy sippy at their celebration!) So who does what? It’s important to work out how you are both going to go about doing the speech. Will you be doing seperate speeches and if so, who goes first? Or do you prefer doing one speech together. When in the night will you do the speech? How long will the speech be? What tone do you want to set for your speech. The first part of your speech needs to start with your personal thanks. People to include here would be your family for their helping and welcoming you into their families, friends, people coming from the country or city (depending where you have your wedding), people from interstate and overseas. Next you need to thank your bridal party. Try to make this a bit more personal when thanking them, this can be achieved by saying a line or two on what they did to help you create the wedding of your dreams. Next is to thank the venue staff, any wedding coordinators and your DJ or band if you have one. Lastly and perhaps one of the most important thank you is to your partner for all their help in creating the wedding that you both wanted. Special mentions to those that could not be at your wedding When you send out your wedding invitations to all your guests expect that at least 10% may not be able to make it for many different reasons and also allow for very last minute cancellations. Try not to be too disheartened by this as they most likely have a very good and genuine reason for not attending. If this is the case, make sure you make special mention to those who may not be able to attend your wedding. It’s also a good time here to mention people who have passed away if this was not already mentioned during your wedding ceremony. Mention your other half! This was very briefly touched on above but it’s super important to mention your partner. Start very briefly on how you met, when you knew he or she was the one or a funny tidbit about the wedding planning process. Try not to retell the same story over and over throughout the night.try to keep it consistent, short and sweet. This is also the time to mention how much your husband or wife mean to you, how happy you are to be married to them and how much today has meant to you or anything that wasn’t mentioned in your vows, you can say it here. So you have ideas on what you want to say for your wedding speech. But how do you execute it without making mistakes or getting flustered when the spotlight is on you. Here in Adelaide there is a great company called Toastmasters, which is also internationally recognised. Toastmasters helps with your public speaking nerves and gives you sources and support needed to combat those first speech nerves! Here is a link to the Adelaide Toastmasters should this be of interest to you: https://adelaide.toastmastersclubs.org

So, it’s time to start your wedding dress shopping! Daunting as this may be, searching for a dress that makes you feel beautiful can be a lot of fun! If it’s your very first time looking for “the” dress it’s best to surround yourself with people who will support you and encourage you to try on different styles. You will be amazed with what you can find, especially if it’s a style of dress that you have never seen yourself wearing or a style that you have not heard of. It might even be worthwhile going to a dress maker who specialises in creating wedding dresses as they can educate you on different styles and even tell by looking at you what style would suit you. Even if you decide not to go with a dress maker and prefer a store bought dress you will at least know what style suits you and look out for those styles when shopping around. There are so many different types of wedding dress styles below are the most common ones you will most likely come across when dress shopping: A-Line: Slightly more flowy than a ball gown, A-lines have fitted bodices through the waist and cascade out towards the ground, resembling the outline of an uppercase "A” Trumpet: Literally "fit-and-flare:" fitted through the body and flairs out mid-thigh. This cut is between a modified a-line and a mermaid cut. Mermaid: Sleek and sexy. Fitted on the body from the chest to the knee, then flares out close to the knee. Tea Length: Tea-length wedding dresses most often feature a full skirt, nipped waist, and feminine detailing like lace, embroidery, or bows. There are also impeccably-cut versions with an ultra-minimal look to them. Column: A narrow shape that flows straight down from the neckline to the hem. Ball gown: The true “princess” dress. The ball gown has a fitted bodice and a full skirt. Whatever wedding dress you decide on, it’s important to feel comfortable in your choice of dress and not to be concerned on what others may think!