Cameron Houston - Celebrant

One year is a good rule of thumb. It might be a little further ahead in peak wedding season (Autumn and Spring) and a little shorter if you're planning a wedding in the depths of winter, but a year is there or thereabouts. I also have fewer Sunday-Thursday weddings booked than I do Fridays or Saturdays as a rule, so that makes mid-week more available.

That said, I occassionally get postponements that result in random dates becoming available at shorter notice, so you never know, if you think we'd be a good team, let's talk and your date just might be available.

There's very little that you have to do or say at your wedding.

I am required by the Attorney General's Department to say what's called The Monitum, which outlines that your wedding is a serious legal undertaking. You will both have to say your legal vows. These are only about 20 words long, and I'll guide you through them as a "call and response" to help you get them right.

The rest is up to you. You can write vows and say vows, or not. You can exchange rings, with you or me saying something as you do, or not. You can have readings or rituals or ask for the blessing of family or friends, or not. That's the benefit of working with a Civil Celebrant; it's your big day and my role is to help you create something that feels personal and reflective of you as individuals and as a couple.

Absolutely!  I'm completely agnostic in terms of including rituals or elements of faith, culture or philosophy in your ceremony.

This is your wedding day and it will be way more meaningful if it reflects who you are and the communities you are part of. I can step in and out of the spotlight as required to allow others to lead the rituals or if you brief me, and they don't require any particular authorisation, I can lead you through them.  We'll talk through all of that in the planning process.

My home turf is Melbourne, the Dandenongs, Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and the Macedon Ranges. Travel in this region is included in my standard fees. But you know what, if you have somewhere special in mind outside these areas, let's talk about it. There will be an extra fee for travel if it's further afield from Melbourne and obviously if it's somewhere completely exotic, you'll need to cover travel and accomodation costs, but every idea is worth a conversation.

Not everyone loves speaking in front of others or is accustomed to projecting their voice, but your guests have joined you on your wedding day so they can bear witness to your love and commitment, and that means they'll be disappointed if they can't hear a word anyone is saying.

Don't worry though, because part of our planning will be to assess the acoustics of your venue, the number of guests expected and who has speaking parts, then equip ourselves accordingly. If we need them, I have two Bose S1 Pro speakers and a range of Rode and Seneiser handheld, boom mounted, lapel and headset microphones for me, you and anyone who needs to be heard. I have the lapel mics in both black and white, so we can discretely wire you for sound. Everything can run off batteries, so there's no problem if you're outdoors or somewhere power isn't readily available.

They're going to love every word!