You Had Me at I Do

20 +

OVERVIEW

Lesley will add a touch of sunshine and joy to your wedding day, ensuring you feel your most confident and comfortable. She brings several impressive skills to the table, including excellent attention to detail, comprehensive legal knowledge, and vow writing assistance. Whether you're after something short and sweet or large and out-of-the-box, Lesley can accommodate. This day is all about you, so she strives to facilitate for whatever style you desire. 

 

What you'll love about working with You Had Me At I Do for your Wollongong, South Coast wedding:

  • Calming, sincere personality. Lesley boasts a beautiful warm, positive disposition that will undoubtedly put you at ease from the get-go. She knows how to keep an audience engaged, ensuring everyone has a memorable experience. 
  • Lovingly-designed packages. Lesley is happy to tailor-design a package to suit your individual needs. She does, however, offer a lovingly-crafted package, including the preparation and lodgement of legal documentation, ceremony script writing assistance, supplier liaising, a rehearsal, quality PA equipment, and more! 

 

Highlights of working with You Had Me At I Do Wollongong, South Coast: 

  • Positive, sincere marriage celebrant 
  • Calming, supportive presence 
  • Heartfelt, authentic ceremonies 
  • Vow writing assistance 
  • Quality PA equipment 
  • Lovingly-crafted packages — bespoke options available 
  • Ex-lawyer and social worker experience 

About

I am a civil marriage celebrant who recently left my full-time work as a social worker to focus on my celebrancy work. I have been married for 30 years and believe the key to inspire happiness, joy and enduring love in a relationship requires mutual respect, commitment, emotional availability and hopefully.......a sense of humour. I love helping couples to design their ceremony to be a unique reflection of them, both as individuals and also as a married couple.

Lesley Wilson

Business Owner


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Packages

Exclusive Offer
"You Complete Me" Package

The "You Complete Me" package is a complete "premium" service including:

  • Preparation and lodging of legal documentation.
  • Crafting a uniquely personal ceremony script.
  • Assisting the bride and groom in writing your personal wedding vows.
  • Liaising with wedding venue and/or wedding planner.
  • Rehearsal of ceremony
  • Performance of civil marriage ceremony
  • Provision of PA System, stationery and if required, signing table & chairs.
  • "Commemorative" official marriage certificate from Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (required if bride or groom planning on legally changing surname).
Exclusive Offer
"Help me Help You" package

The "Help Me Help You" package is a classic service including:

  • Preparation and lodging of legal documentation.
  • Advising couple on what to include in their ceremony script and personal marriage vows.
  • Rehearsal of ceremony
  • Performance of civil marriage ceremony
  • Provision of PA system, stationery and if required, signing table and chairs.
  • "Standard" official marriage certificate from Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (required if bride or groom planning on legally changing surname).
Exclusive Offer
"You Had Me At I Do" package

The "You Had Me At I Do" package is for couples who are having a small wedding and/or want a quick and simple ceremony with no bells or whistles, fuss or fanfare.  This services includes:

  • Preparation and lodging of legal documentation.
  • Performance of civil marriage ceremony (Monitum and Minimum Mandatory Vows only).
  • Provision of PA system (if needed) together with stationery.

Location

Service Area Wollongong / South Coast

Wollongong / South Coast
Wollongong / South Coast

FAQ

The short answer is "No".  Under Commonwealth law, a marriage cannot be solemnised unless the civil celebrant or minister has received a Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) signed by at least one of the parties to the intended marriage, no less than one calendar month prior to the date proposed for the marriage (and not more than 18 months in advance).  

Marriage of a person under 18 years of age requires an order of a judge or magistrate in order to be valid.  However, the law of the Commonwealth of Australia also provides that under no circumstance can two persons who are both under the age of 18 years marry each other.  

It is always adviseable to check with the local municipal council and/or management body (Eg: NSW Parks and Wildlife) to find out whether permission needs to be sought to hold wedding ceremonies at outdoor venues such as parks or reserves.  Some councils will require a fee to be paid to cover costs of liability insurance in the unlikely event of an accident.  There are certain parks and reserves that are able to be used free of charge.  There are some parks and reserves in multiple locations that are "free of charge" for weddings and elopements.  Google "free elopment locations in [the area you wish to get married in]".

Your Official Certificate of Marriage and Commemorative Marraige Certificate which is signed after the ceremony, must be signed by the Bride and Groom and each of their signatures witnessed by a person of their choice, provided they are over the age of 18.  The celebrant must also sign these documents.

The Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) which is completed, signed and submitted to the celebrant no less than one calendar month da prior to the ceremony can be witnessed by an Authorised Marriage Celebrant or other authorised person as specified on NOIM.

Your Declaration of No Legal Impediment which is to be signed just prior to the ceremony, is to be signed by the bride, groom and your celebrant.

I have a Mipro Wireless PA system which is battery powered and bluetooth capability.  Whilst I can play music through my PA system, for the sake of a seamless transition between operating music for arrival, signing etc and the celebrant orating, I strongly suggest that the bride and groom allocate the job of music for the ceremony to a trusted guest and provide their own bluetooth speaker.   I can provide a bluetooth Sonos speaker for this purpose if required but it is preferable to use a bluetooth speaker that is already paired to the device providing the music.

Yes, I have my own portable signing table and chairs for the bride and groom to use when signing marriage documents.

Yes, I can provide MC services.  The cost would be additional and determined by size of wedding, location and timing.


10 reviews 5.0 Write a Review

March 2023

I recently had the pleasure of working with an amazing marriage celebrant for my wedding, and I cannot recommend Lesley highly enough. From start to finish, Lesley went above and beyond to ensure that our ceremony was exactly what we wanted. Firstly, she took the time to get to know us as a couple, and really understood what was important to us in our ceremony. Lesley was patient and attentive, and made sure that all of our questions and concerns were addressed before the big day. On the day of the wedding, Lesley was an absolute rockstar. She was calm, professional, and had a wonderful presence that put us both at ease. She delivered our ceremony flawlessly, and made it truly memorable with her warm and engaging style. One of the things that really stood out to us was how personalised the ceremony felt.

Zoe B.

You Had Me at I Do

Thank you Zoe for such a lovely review. I was thrilled to be chosen as your marriage celebrant. It was obvious to me upon meeting you and Ed, how much you both loved and supported each other. You were both so relaxed, open and welcoming, which made my job so much easier. xx

March 2023

Lesley was a fantastic celebrant. In the lead up she met up with us and went through all the formalities early. She answered all our questions and gave us some ideas for our own vows and format of the ceremony. She was flexible and accommodating and allowed us to make our ceremony personal and unique. On the day, she was a calm, smiley presence who made everything flow so smoothly. Thank you Lesley for making our wedding so special! The ceremony ended up being our favourite part of the day!

Rosie R.

You Had Me at I Do

Thanks Rosie for your lovely words. It was such a pleasure and a privilege to be able to marry you and Brae. You are two very special people who deserved a beautiful wedding ceremony and I was glad to be able to play a part in making that happen!!!

March 2023

Lesley is a very considerate and empathetic marriage celebrant, she has an ability to read what is needed and deliver with minimal fuss, whilst being extremely thorough in her planning. We met a few times before the wedding so my daughter could work out exactly what she wanted, Lesley was patient and gave really valuable input to al out discussions. On the day, she was calm, extremely well presented, punctual, clearly spoken, had all the kit that was needed and just quietly got on with it all with minimal fuss. She then floated away with no fanfare while we seat with the guests. A real treasure. Thank you Lesley.

Liz J.

You Had Me at I Do

Thank you for your kind words, Liz. I felt so honoured to be officiating the marriage of your beautiful daughter, Rosie with the man of her dreams, Brae.

July 2024

Lesley was perfect celebrant for our wedding - her "not about me" approach was exactly what we were looking for. She allowed us to have the moment and facilitated the ceremony proceedings professionally. She offered us many options (even some specifically tailored to our own story that she learnt about from a 1 hour pre-wedding "get to know us" session) of ceremony scripts, which were then able to choose. She walked us carefully through the formalities and necessary paperwork and took care of submitting this on our behalf. Would recommend Lesley to friends and family.

James S.

July 2024

Lesley conducted our Australian wedding to perfection she was personal and professional throughout the whole process! Our day would not have been as special without her! I would not hesitate to recommend her as a celebrant!

Ben C.


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