I wasn’t always going to be a Celebrant. In fact, when I was growing up and I used to
sneak around the house when my father was preparing his Sunday sermon, it couldn’t have been further from my
thoughts that I would one day be officiating at similar ceremonies myself. I spent the first forty odd years of my career being a nurse, still am a nurse!
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| Anna Richards, CMC with Julie & Joe |
Funnily enough, one day I went to watch a marriage
ceremony because my daughter was one of the bridesmaids and I came to see her
looking beautiful. That ceremony
changed my life. I kept thinking of
myself being the Celebrant and how I would have conducted the ceremony. The thought wouldn’t leave me and even though
my husband thought I was nuts and definitely didn’t think I was serious I went
ahead and did the course. It was one of
those short crash courses and, as I didn’t even know how to use a computer then, it was the most difficult week of my life.
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| Anna Richards, CMC with Helen & Pasquale |
I spent weeks
pre-reading and preparing for the course.
Most of the others just went home and Googled what they needed to
know! I plodded on regardless and got
through (teacher was very happy). The
problem was the Government decided we had far too many celebrants at this time
and I had to wait two years before I was registered even though I was
qualified. Finally registration came
through! Now for a booking! Being a
rather shy person I didn’t mention to anyone that I was a celebrant so needless to say, I didn’t get many
bookings.
That was 10 years ago and I haven’t looked back. I love
my work and only nurse two days a week so I can spend time expanding my
Celebrancy business. In 2012 I updated
my qualification to Certificate IV in Celebrancy at The Gordon Institute of TAFE in Geelong to be able to provide my couples with even
more resources and to give them the best ceremony possible and something they will always
remember because it was just as they imagined it.
I like to think of myself as the friendly
Celebrant with a professional image who
really cares about and listens to what my couples want. It is their day and it should be all about
them. I give them a 20 page
comprehensive Celebrant resource booklet which covers everything from the
legalities to examples of vows, readings, music, writing your own vows and how
to apply for an official marriage certificate.
I have learnt how to use the computer by the way, and my
computer guru son is quite impressed how I now manage my own blog, website and
various other forms of social media.
I love performing marriages for couples from overseas
and have helped many couples obtain their prospective spouse visas.
My
most memorable ceremony was in a suburban backyard where the groom decided, after having first said the legal vows, to
sing his own vows to his bride. I was a
little apprehensive but she loved it and it was amazing how he kept it all
together. We were all in stitches!
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| Anna Richards, CMC with Annie & Ben |
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