I was at a Bridal Expo on the weekend and the mother of the bride told me that she hoped I was the "real deal" as she had her wedding and thought it was all above board (why wouldn't you?!) only to go to get divorced a few years later and be told she wasn't legally married! The celebrant who "married" her was not a real celebrant.
Unlike our friends in the USA, celebrants in Australia cannot just go online and have a qualification 5 minutes later. We have to complete a Certificate 4 in Celebrancy (and only through a government approved company) and this takes 12 months. We then need to apply to the Australian Government- the Attorney General to be approved. This takes three months, as they need to do background and police checks, check out references etc. And once we are registered, we need to pay the yearly registration fee and complete Compulsory Professional Development.
Remember your celebrant isn't just writing and conducting your ceremony (the fun stuff!), they are also needing to complete all the legal paperwork and submit this.
To check if your celebrant is legit (or to find a celebrant!), you just need to search for them through the Attorney General's Webpage.
The following link is the database of all Commonwealth Registered Celebrants
You can search Toowoomba and you will see me there- Angella Johnson (note the two lls- blame my dad, he couldn't spell!)
AngieJ
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