When you are looking around celebrants, you will find some for a few hundred right through to a few thousand. So what gives?
Why are some so much more expensive than others?
Straight off the bat, I’ll let you know that my prices are not the lowest, but they definitely aren’t the highest either. I aim to give good value for the investment made by my couples. A fair price. (Just message me and I’ll send you my current pricelist).
So, guests come to the wedding and they see what the wedding celebrant does. They might find out how much they charged and think to themselves “Well that’s easy money!”. They turn up, say some words, sign some paperwork and go home. Looks easy right?
Well, behind the scenes there is a lot more work involved. In fact, the ceremony itself is only about 10% of the work done for a wedding. What people see is just the tip of the iceberg.
So … what work does a celebrant have to do?
First, we have to meet the potential clients to see if we are the right match for them.
Then, if the couple get back and decide to book, we then need to get all the details from them to fill in the Notice of Intent to Marry form. We then need to meet the couple again to get them to sign this form.
We then start the process of learning more about the couple. Asking a ton of questions about how they met, why they want to get married, about their friends and family, about what interests or hobbies they have. The more we get to know the couple the better for the next step which is …
Crafting the ceremony. Celebrants then take all the information they have from the couple and come up with a tailored ceremony that reflects the couple and shares their uniqueness in the ceremony. (Note: Not all celebrants do this, some just run a generic “one size fits all” script).
After crafting the ceremony, we then give the couple a draft copy to check they are happy with it and then go back and forth until it is perfected.
Sometimes, couple will request a rehearsal, which we attend.
Finally comes the wedding day itself.
After the wedding, we then have to submit all the paperwork and documents to the department of Births, Deaths and Marriage. Ensuring all paperwork is correctly filled in.
So, as you can see, there is more to marrying a couple than just turning up on the day and saying a few words and signing some paperwork.
Add to this the cost of the training, along with over 100 hours of study to become an authorised celebrant. In Australia, it’s not easy to become authorised to solemnise marriages, unlike the United States where you can get authorised in as little as 5 minutes! Trust me, it’s true because I have done that!
Annually we also have to complete an exam to keep our licence. We also have the cost of insurance as well as our equipment and licensing of music used during the ceremony.
So, when you wonder why some wedding celebrants charge so much, it’s because they realise the amount of work that goes into each and every wedding.
As I mentioned earlier, I try and keep my prices a fair balance to feel I am paid enough to make it worth my time as well as good value for my couples.
I welcome you to reach out to me for my price list and any questions you might have.
Warmly,
Nik Reeds CMC
www.nikreeds.com.au
