I've thought about what I'd like to happen in the garden for the ceremony. A beautiful historical garden. Music, readings and vows. Chairs, flowers and a path of rose petals or a red carpet? Elegance versus rock n roll? A few questions to bear in mind:
* How many guests does the venue hold? The garden that we're looking at will hold up to 80 guests in the garden
* How long will the ceremony lasts? Less than 1 hour? With photos with family and friends, maybe up to 2.5 hours?
* Can I supply a portable PA system and /or microphone? No, so the celebrant that we decide to go with will have to supply those two items
* Ask if the celebrant will assist in organsing a wedding rehearsal? Will have to check with the celebrant we decide on
Music will be either or both: Mendelssohn's Wedding March or Pachelbel's Canon played on the violin or strings symphony or harp. We have musician friends however my friend who is a pianist will be one of my bridesmaid so she's out of the music action. I have asked another friend, a guitarist(acoustic and electric) if he could play a few solos and he said no problem. Another friend, whom I've only just met via tragic circumstances- he plays the violin so beautifully and I would like to ask him but don't know if I should or shouldn't?
Readings: Favourite romantic poems to be read by a friend or family member?
Vows: Insert personal jokes and humour? Or keep it traditional and solemn?
Legalities: At least one month and one day before the wedding, sign a Notice of Intended Marriage form, must provide birth certificates. A few days before the wedding, both need to sign a Declaration of Marriage form. After the vows are spoken, both sign a wedding certificate, record book and registry paper with two witnesses aged 18 or over
Timeline for the ceremony
TWELVE MONTHS
* Book venue and enquire about any restrictions (eg throwing confetti, camera gear and music type)
* Does your religion require you to meet with the minister for pre-marital counselling in the lead up to the wedding?
SIX MONTHS
* Organise your wedding service with the celebrant - may include order of service, speakers, poems, hymns, musicians and vows
THREE MONTHS
* At least one month and one day before your wedding, sign 'Notice of Intended Marriage' form which your celebrant should have, provide birth certificates and a Decree Absolute for those marrying the second time
ONE WEEK
* A few days prior to the wedding, sign the 'Declaration of Marriage' form
WEDDING DAY
* After vows are spoken, sign the wedding certificate, record book and registry paper with two witnesses aged 18 or over
Showing posts with label Ceremony and celebrants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ceremony and celebrants. Show all posts
Friday, 4 November 2011
Wedding ceremony celebrants
Your family minister could marry you or you can find a celebrant throught the 'Australian Federation of Civil Celebrants' site. We are planning on using our friend's celebrant. Plenty of them have already married. Most of our married friends had a church wedding and two had a garden ceremonies. The celebrant that we have contacted said that she'll visit us twice and will work with us to make our vows creative and meaningful but her charges are $625.
My SO did send an email asking her for availability and a price. He mentioned that we got referrals from our friends. The problems with mentioning that we got referrals from our friends could go three ways usually- suppliers are confident that we already like their services so they charge a higher price or they may want additional business via more referrals so give us a better price. Our friend paid around $550 for the celebrant and her exact same celebrant just quoted us $625. I'm not sure how to negotiate for discount in this situation - should we have replied back with a 'are you able to offer a more competitive price' or 'are you able to give us a discount' or 'your prices are a bit on the high side-I don't think my fiance wants to pay that much?' or 'are you able to offer us a better price?' or 'since we live local to you, are you able to offer us a more competitive pricing?' .... Really, how does one negotiate pricing with a celebrant?
If we hadn't mentioned that we got their names from our friends and instead mentioned that we just randomly pulled their details off the web- would they have given unknown couples a more competitive price? That's the problem with mentioning that you were referred. Sometimes the best strategy is to ask them and not mention the friends, and after they've given a price then to hone in and mention that since you were referred from some friends, can you get a discount? Or even offer the tantalising idea that you can refer more future business to them if they give you a discount today? ... Bargaining is usually something straightforward(you can't express too much enthusiasm at the beginning or it's already a done deal) but when it comes to haggling over wedding prices - it gets a bit tougher simply because it feels tackier?
My SO did send an email asking her for availability and a price. He mentioned that we got referrals from our friends. The problems with mentioning that we got referrals from our friends could go three ways usually- suppliers are confident that we already like their services so they charge a higher price or they may want additional business via more referrals so give us a better price. Our friend paid around $550 for the celebrant and her exact same celebrant just quoted us $625. I'm not sure how to negotiate for discount in this situation - should we have replied back with a 'are you able to offer a more competitive price' or 'are you able to give us a discount' or 'your prices are a bit on the high side-I don't think my fiance wants to pay that much?' or 'are you able to offer us a better price?' or 'since we live local to you, are you able to offer us a more competitive pricing?' .... Really, how does one negotiate pricing with a celebrant?
If we hadn't mentioned that we got their names from our friends and instead mentioned that we just randomly pulled their details off the web- would they have given unknown couples a more competitive price? That's the problem with mentioning that you were referred. Sometimes the best strategy is to ask them and not mention the friends, and after they've given a price then to hone in and mention that since you were referred from some friends, can you get a discount? Or even offer the tantalising idea that you can refer more future business to them if they give you a discount today? ... Bargaining is usually something straightforward(you can't express too much enthusiasm at the beginning or it's already a done deal) but when it comes to haggling over wedding prices - it gets a bit tougher simply because it feels tackier?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)