If you’re looking to change your last name after your wedding, but don’t know where to start, you’re not alone.
In my experience as a marriage celebrant, up to 90% of newly-married brides (and a few pioneering grooms and spouses) choose to change their last or family name after marriage and are super confused about how to go about it.
It’s a real process that can take around 8 hours over several days or weeks to complete. This is because every company or institution has their own unique process and is not legally permitted to share your details with anyone else.
The good news is, I can help save you a lot of time and even some money too.
Let’s get started!
Alana and Peter's wedding plans (like so many engaged couples worldwide) were thrown into disarray in 2020.
Between the NSW border closures due to COVID-19 and their original venue in Byron Bay burning down (true story!) Peter and Alana tried for a 3rd and final time to have a super low-key, no stress day just for them and their immediate family.
Something simple, but beautiful, elegant, but without any pretence.
Sam and Emily make time to see their families, to share special moments together, and they love talk on the phone often. They wanted to bring this warmth and appreciation, that had always been shown towards them, into their wedding ceremony too.
With COVID border closures, the tyranny of distance and for those who'd passed away, some of their family were not able to be with us in person, so we incorporated them and their interests as much as we could through readings, a memorial and with a big smoochy kiss right down Alex's lens. 😅
I’m not one for fluffy and OTT poetry and I think it’s fair to say that the majority of my couples aren’t massive fans either.
But I do recognise how the power of a well chosen wedding reading in a ceremony can be instrumental in bringing about a feeling of gratefulness, humanity, and hope.
And a great reader who takes the time to deliver a quote, reading or poem with poise and intention can really lift a modern wedding ceremony above and beyond the ordinary.
But first, you need a great wedding reading.
Hopefully this post, along with 5 Wedding Readings That Aren’t Too Soppy and More Unique & Beautiful Wedding Readings For Your Ceremony, will help you to narrow down the search.
What are your options if you want to include a reading in your wedding ceremony, but aren't a fan of Shakespeare and don't want to have 1 Corinthians 13?
The great thing about civil ceremonies in Australia is, apart from 3 sentences that I have to say from The Marriage Act 1961 and 1 legal sentence you have to say in your vows, the rest is completely up to you. The sky's the limit.
And you can make your ceremony even more meaningful by finding a reading (or two) that you LOVE - rather than something you think is 'just okay'. Readings can come from anywhere; lyrics from songs, quotes from movies or the words from your team's victory song (God help us all..)
Here are five of my favourites..
Some of the most visually stunning and relaxed wedding ceremonies that I have had the pleasure of officiating have been held in South Australia’s world-class winery venues.
South Australia boasts seven spectacular wine regions and hundreds of wineries, many of which include restaurants and function facilities purpose-built to cater for both intimate elopements and grand-scale, luxury wedding celebrations.
By the time my couples get around to hiring me to officiate their wedding ceremony, there have already been dozens of decisions made, promises sealed with handshakes, expectations set and dollars shelled out. Generally, couples will set a date, book a venue, and start pulling together a guest list long before we talk about their ceremony. And THAT part is okay – everyone’s priorities are different. The part that mystifies me is when brides and grooms sit in my meeting room and bemoan their own decisions…as if they weren’t their own. Their wedding is already not what they wanted.
Because, very early on, they felt the weight of (family/friends/social) expectation and caved into it before they listened to their own instincts.
But what if we turned the wedding planning thing on it’s head?
When I met with Kim and Will in 2014 about their 2015 wedding, the aim for their wedding day was already pretty clear; they wanted to keep it real, relevant, light-hearted and fun. They had several friends travelling from overseas to celebrate with them and didn't want to subject them to a long, monotonous ceremony; they had a reception to get to!
I first met Brian and Amber in 2009, when they were participants in the (then) RSB Young Business Leaders' program. At this point, I feel like I should mention that Brian won the program that year - his major fundraising event simply blew the judges away.
When I saw some of their proposal photos show up on Facebook (and as kindly shared in this blog post by Vintage Bliss Photography), I just had to know the story behind it.
This is Amber and Brian's special night, in Brian's own words..
In my job I hear both the glowing and the snide comments whispered by wedding guests. And although you don’t want your wedding day to be an anxious rollercoaster-ride-of-people-pleasing-pain, if you didn’t care about your family and friends, you would have had your ceremony at the registry office, yes?
There are 3 pesky details, the same annoying issues, that come up for my winery wedding couples time and time again. If you can plan ahead and follow the golden rules, it is much more likely that your guests will remember your wedding for all the right reasons.
Maria Athanasopoulos from Zink: The Element of Hair, Plympton gives Brides the low-down on how to make sure that your hairstyle is one you'll love - not just on your wedding day, but years down the track as well.
Justine and Michael are a gorgeous couple inside and out. They are understated and generous and their love for their little son, Mitchell is just beautiful to witness. It was a pleasure to work with them on their winter wedding at TEN22 Boutique Venue; a welcome addition to the list of indoor wedding options in Adelaide. Located a few minutes south of the city, it's a veritable blank canvas for those who want to create a unique space that expresses their personality.
And that's just what Michael and Justine achieved on their wedding day - a gorgeous, understated and generous celebration of love. Enjoy!
2015 has been a massive year for me and my business.
On top of all of the incredible weddings, renewal of vows, commitment and naming ceremonies that I have been a part of and all of the beautiful people that I have met along the way, I have also achieved some big business and personal goals too.
I was absolutely thrilled to have my first article: 'No Ugly Crying' published in the Huffington Post earlier this month. A little surprised and very grateful to receive the 2015 ABIA Marriage Celebrant Award in October. And then on Thursday I was told that I had been chosen as a finalist in the Flying Solo Business Awards for customer service.
Australia's big wedding website, Easy Weddings, released the results of their 2015 annual survey of around 2200 brides and grooms last week. And I'm not going to lie to you, there are some pretty scary figures in there. But if you look close, behind the stats, there is also some useful insider information that you could use to your advantage to get the very best result possible from your months (and months!) of wedding planning and your hard earned dollar.
Here are my top-line takeaways from this year's survey.
"Darcy proposed to Emily at the picturesque Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens, equipped not only with a ring, but also with French champagne, Haigh's chocolates, and the key to Emily's heart, Mexican food. Needless to say, her answer was a resounding ‘yes’."
When we were planning Emily and Darcy's ceremony, they made it clear that they wanted their wedding to be a fun and relaxed celebration. Not being ones to take themselves too seriously, they also wanted to include a generous dose of humour as well, which meant Darcy promising to feed Emily when she is hungry (Mexican, of course) and Emily promising to treat Darcy with patience and understanding, even when he does things that are gross.
