Looking for the best marriage celebrant Melbourne has to offer to complete the biggest day of your life? You’ve come to the right place.
Without a marriage celebrant, your wedding day will just be a party – they are the one person at your wedding who can make things official between you and your special someone, not just before your family and friends, but also in the eyes of the law. You also want a good celebrant who will make your wedding ceremony memorable and engaging.
But, with over 8,500 civil celebrants registered to conduct marriages in Australia, how do you go about choosing the one who will conduct the perfect ceremony for you?
Picking the right celebrant is much like choosing your photographer; it’s really important that you find someone who reflects your vibe, personality and someone who you really relate to. As a couple, you will be sharing the intimate details of how you met, your proposal story and personalising your vows with them, so they should be someone who makes you feel at ease with this.
Here’s a list of some of best Melbourne Wedding Celebrants in the local wedding industry for some inspiration of who could make your day the best day ever:
Julia’s Celebrant Agency | Weddings By Jess | Marry me Dee | Sarah Aird | Marry me Sean | Damon Hughes celebrant | Stand-up celebrant | Shannon Jeans | Anthony Cribbes
1. Julia’s Celebrant Agency
Julia has been a civil celebrant for over 10 years and has completed over 800 ceremonies. She does a great job of capturing people’s attention while providing the necessary services to make your ceremony official. Often referred to as ‘that happy celebrant lady’, this doughnut loving celebrant will bring the biggest amount of energy and enthusiasm to your marriage ceremony. If that wasn’t fun enough, Julia even has a board game that you and your spouse can play with her to help you to design a great ceremony!
Price: Julia currently has two pricing options, with further information on what is involved in each being listed on her website:
‘Elope with Julia’ $555
‘So many choices’ $1055
Website: www.easyweddings.com.au/MarriageCelebrant/Melbourne/JuliasCelebrantAgency/
Instagram: @juliascelebrantagency_
2. Weddings By Jess
With a catchy tagline of ‘You’ve said yes, now contact Jess’, what’s not to love about this bombshell of a celebrant?! With an Instagram following of 12.8K and wedding porn for days, Jess is your go-to for a warm and heartfelt celebrant. She’ll make the whole process stress free and ensure the best wedding possible. She is also the creator of ‘MyWeddly’, a wedding planner which is due to launch in mid-2019.
Price: Enquire with Jess
Website: weddingsbyjess.com.au
Instagram: @weddingsbyjess
3. Marry me Dee
Dee is the best wedding celebrant for you if you want someone who will create a unique ceremony with a touch of wit and quirkiness. Apart from having one of the most unique personalities amongst celebrants, she also has a lot of experience in officiating marriages. Having previously been involved in a local theatre company, she is at home on the stage to make you and your spouse the lead of the show. She is also the co-owner of The Altar Electric with fellow celebrant Anthony Cribbes– a Vegas-style wedding chapel located in Collingwood.
Price: Dee has several wedding packages available:
Standard wedding: $1500
Registry style wedding: $700
Other ceremony types: from $800
Website: marrymedee.com.au
Instagram: @marrymedee
4. Sarah Aird
Sarah is bubbly, charismatic and incredibly organised, right down to the last detail. She’s the Melbourne marriage celebrant for you if you don’t want to worry about a thing – she’ll have all of your details sorted, from meetups to rehearsals to even printing your vows for you. The authorised marriage celebrant also has a podcast with Queensland based celebrant Josh Withers, where you can hear them talk about all things celebrant related.
Price: Sarah has 3 packages available, with details of what’s included listed on her website:
Legals only wedding: $350
Short and sweet wedding: $580
Premium wedding: $960
Website: sarahaird.com.au
Instagram: @sarahairdcivilcelebrant
5. Marry me Sean
Sean is not only an experienced celebrant but also a DJ and a poet! He entertained the idea of becoming a marriage celebrant for 10 years before actually signing up for the course, and finally made the leap when his friends purchased him an enrolment as a birthday gift.
Price: Enquire with Sean
Website: marrymesean.com
Instagram: @marrymesean_celebrant
6. Damon Hughes celebrant
Three words: celebrant, storyteller, party starter (well, that was four, but you know what I mean). This easy going, dimpled & stylish celebrant will bring a perfect balance of emotion to an incredible ceremony you will remember.
Price: Enquire with Damon
Website: marriedbydamon.com
Instagram: @damonhughescelebrant
7. Stand-up celebrant
Paul Bonadio is a stand-up comedian and civil marriage celebrant. Guaranteed to bring a good time to your wedding guests & special occasion, Paul has a section on his website where you can select your ‘love to lols ratio’ – you get to choose from 10 options of the balance of love and laughs from 1 being ‘straight-up luuuurve town’ and 10 beings ‘LOL city. Pure, crisp, 100% laughs’. He also gives the opportunity to ‘pimp my celebrant’ and select his outfit for your day!
Price: Enquire with Paul
Website: paulbonadio.com
Instagram: @standupcelebrant
8. Shannon Jeans
Shannon is a laid back, enthusiastic, friendly, outgoing celebrant who has been in the biz for over 9 years. This pocket rocket will give you a fresh and engaging ceremony every step of the way.
Price: Enquire with Shannon
Website: shannonjeans.com.au
Instagram: @shannonjeanscelebrant
9. Anthony Cribbes
With a trademark of #noboringweddings, Anthony is your guy for a celebration that is uniquely yours and truly unforgettable. The other half of The Altar Electric (remember Marry Me Dee from before?) Anthony is now only all about this vegas style biz.
Price: Enquire with Anthony via the Altar Electric
Website: anthonycribbes.com.au
Instagram: @anthonycribbes_celebrant OR @thealtarelectric
These celebrants will also happily travel to parts of Victoria including Yarra Valley, Geelong, Mornington Peninsula & the Dandenong Ranges if you’re looking to complete your love story with loved ones further afield than Melbourne.
Now you’ve seen a glimpse of some of the best of the best, let’s dive into the process and what you get:
There are usually 2 – 3 types of ceremonies that a celebrant will offer:
A brief ceremony that offers the legal part only. This is for people who want a registry style wedding without going to the registry office. Legally, there are 124 words that need to be said to officially marry you, and this ceremony should last 10-15 minutes at most
A mid-range ceremony. This is for those who want small amounts of personalisation, but don’t want to go into detail about their story. You might choose this if you want to have something quick, but involve more people than just your witnesses
A premium ceremony. This offers the full story of you as a couple; this might include how you met, your engagement story and other personalised readings. (as a side note: premium doesn’t have to be synonymous with long, with the focus being personalisation instead).
It’s important to note that whilst the above might be the options that some celebrants provide, other celebrants will have packages where 1&2 are blended or 2&3 are blended, or some might only offer one flat rate for all ceremony types.
But I want my friend to be my celebrant!
A lot of couples can think of someone who would be perfect to officiate their special day (a friend who is an aspiring actor, perhaps? Or the person who introduced you on a blind date?). BUT, keep in mind, to become a marriage celebrant requires completion of a Certificate IV in Celebrancy which is at least a 12-month undertaking, of either face to face, online or blended delivery learning including multiple assignments (estimated to take up to 500-600 hours to complete in total, cost an average of around $2000 + registration, and requires an element of annual ongoing professional development to upkeep registration). If your friend is willing to complete this – awesome! But, if they’re not – some celebrants will also offer an option where a friend of the happy couple can deliver the ceremony and the celebrant just completes the minimum legal requirements. WIN-WIN!
How do I go about locking someone in?
Use the above to determine what kind of ceremony you’d like, then get contact! Most celebrants will provide an obligation-free meet up to see if you’re a good fit. I’d recommend starting with a maximum of 3 celebrants, and seeing if you like them. Don’t engage everyone under the sun, be specific about what you want and start with people who match up with this-this avoids wasting both their, and your, time.
Once you’ve decided on who is your best fit, the celebrant will usually require between a 20-50% deposit to lock in the date and time of your ceremony. The cost can vary vastly depending on the type of wedding that you want, where it is, when, and extras such as costumes or other specifics.
What do I get from my celebrant?
What you get from the celebrant depends on what package you sign up for and what they offer in their version of that package– be sure to check this out in detail with them in your meet up!
But usually, before your big day, you will get suggestions on your ceremony from your celebrant including options for readings and personalisation, a pre-wedding meeting, completion of required paperwork, and you may also get a rehearsal. Then, on the big day, not only will you get used to your celebrant’s PA system, but they will calm your nerves if you’re the one waiting for your special someone to walk down the aisle, they will help the ceremony run smoothly and change a seemingly boring tradition into something memorable and fun.
If you’re looking for more celebrant inspiration, you can check out: The Celebrant Society (thecelebrantsociety.com) or the Australian Federation of Civil Celebrants (afcc.com.au) both have ‘find a marriage celebrant’ sections on their websites
Have you got any other celebrants who deserve a shout out? Let us know in the comments below!
If you’re in the midst of planning that special day of your dreams, you might also want to check out our guides on wedding venue options for your reception, wedding photography and wedding cakes in Melbourne & Victoria.
(Note: Pricing correct at time of writing – always refer directly to celebrants’ websites for up to date costs)
