I’m doing my taxes… sigh… is there anything more painful? OK maybe getting my teeth cleaned. But tax time is definitely up there. Top 5 for sure.
And as I collate, notate, validate and justify my income and expenses from this last year, I find myself reflecting on how much is involved in this “business” of being a Marriage Celebrant.
For many years, being a Celebrant was something that people did as a bit of hobby, often for love, rarely for payment and usually for people they knew. Even now I know of Celebrants who charge only a few hundred dollars (less than it costs to go the registry office and be married by a stranger) to do a wedding. Not terribly business-like when you think about it.
I don’t say this to be disparaging, most “modern” celebrants offer a registry-style price option for clients who don’t want all the bells and whistles.
But for a full wedding, where you’ve gone to the expense of booking a venue, you’ve got special outfits, someone is doing your makeup & hair, there are best men & women in matching colours, music, flowers, cake… it stands to reason that you would want your ceremony (the thing that makes this more than just a very expensive party) to be equally fabulous.
Price vs Budget
You can definitely find someone cheaper than me. It’s not even that hard to be honest. But I know with certainty that in the criteria by which you choose your Celebrant price should not be the driving factor.
“cheap” = “generic”
Bargain hunting for a Celebrant will short change you in the long run, your day, your ceremony will have a cookie-cutter sameness, your guests will walk away feeling like they’ve “seen it all before”.
And that’s why I stand by the heading of this blog… being a Celebrant is more than just a hobby.
We are professionals!
I count myself amongst a community of professionals, who see this role as something against which we apply professional standards.
This is our vocation, not our hobby.
We structure our work. We have policies and standards. We pay for advertising, we do our taxes (oh, that’s right, that’s where today’s blog started isn’t it?!), we utilise a combination of technology and tradition to bring our “A” game, every day. And we invest time – quite a lot of it – into getting to know you, and writing something that is as different as you are.
You are our clients, we are in a business relationship. You can expect to receive quality output, investment of time and professional delivery.
And to top it all off – you will also benefit from the commitment we have to innovation. We may work independently, but we are also a community. We are a collective of like-minded, creative, passionate Celebrants, who support, learn from and help each other. We are determined to be the standard for best practice in the industry.