Author: Lynette Maguire

While the world mourned some great musicians, actors, writers and minds, the year of Lynette Maguire was an absolute cracker!

I’m a pretty positive person naturally, and yeah stuff happened, but by and large 2016 for me, was the bomb!

2016 was my biggest year of weddings to date.  I met loads of loved up couples who absolutely loved their ceremonies.  One of things I love about what I do is that each wedding is different, because each couple is different – so no two weddings are ever the same!  Also, a lot of what I do is ad lib (hey you can plan these things down to the micro-second, but sometimes life throws curve balls at you) and I love the spontaneity, joy and laughter at these times!

Weddings are inherently emotional, because, well, they’re weddings – but it doesn’t mean they need to be boring.  Being all loved up can be fun too!  And I’ve had loads of fun this year – I can honestly say there’s not a couple that I didn’t connect with, or who didn’t adore their ceremony!  It’s the connection that really matters, you see.  Here's a few pics:

So, what happened this year, besides a bucket of awesome weddings?  Well, I conducted 4 funerals and 5 same sex commitments. Lynette Maguire Marriage Celebrant was interviewed by media a couple of times about trends in weddings, same sex marriage and ceremony venues on the Sunshine Coast.

MY OTHER LOVES

And aside from that, I taught in Semester 1 at USC.

I was asked to be keynote speaker at five (5) events this year – talking about my Doctoral research into the influencers of teen behaviour (social networking, narcissism, violence, cyberbulling, suicide) through my consultancy business Now Generation

My doctoral research was published!  Whoot!

My discussion cards are selling well.  They’re designed to start conversations with teens about stuff that matters.

My next book, Selfies, sexting, savagery and suicide: Welcome to the era of narcissism which is written for the parents and caregivers of teens, is out next year – this is what it’ll look like:

MY BABY, MY WEDDING WISH LTD

My baby, My Wedding Wish Ltd is now registered as a national charity with DGR status (that means we can give tax deductible receipts)  yay!!  For those who don’t know, My Wedding Wish has been running since 2013 and we gift weddings to the terminally ill.  To date we’ve gifted over $250,000.00 worth of weddings, renewal of vow ceremonies and same sex commitments.  If you know anyone who fits the criteria (terminal) and they want to be married but can’t because of all reasons when you’re terminal, send them to me!  J

A story in the local Profile magazine made the finalist’s list of the ‘Most Inspiring Story of 2016’ – we didn’t win, but we always love the love!

The gorgeous folk at the RACV Resort in Noosa (highly recommend for weddings) held a Melbourne Cup lunch for My Wedding Wish, and raised $2,000 for us!  Thank you RACV  xx

The other fabulous folk from Mercure at Kawana (another great wedding venue), held a Christmas Party for all the wedding suppliers of the Sunshine Coast, and proceeds were donated to MWW also.  Thank you lovely people!

Our Steering Committee have been hard at work and we’re almost rolled out around Australia.  It’s been a long journey but we’re now gifting weddings other than in SE Queensland!

To top it all off, My Wedding Wish has been nominated in the Sunshine Coast’s 2017 Australia Day Awards!  Whooot!

AND WELL, I THINK THAT’S ENOUGH!

I’m jumping out of my skin for an amazing 2017!  I had computer issues where for 2 months my website contact form was down so I missed SO MANY enquiries!   But we’re back into the swing of things now!

I hope your 2017 is brilliant.  xxx

How to write great vows

Without a doubt, 'how do I write great vows?' is one of the first questions my couples ask me when we catch up to design their ceremonies. Basically, you’re being expected to do something really important, that you’ve either never done before, or only done once (or twice!) before. Vow writing comes easy to old hands like celebrants because we see them every day. It’s a bit different for our couples though.

Firstly, there’s two things to think about:

1.  what will you be comfortable writing?

2.  what will you be comfortable saying?

These two questions will give you an idea of how long your vows should be. Public speaking terrifies most people (I’ll blog about ways to help with this later – I teach public speaking at uni, so I have some handy hints).

So, because I figure you're not 'old hands' at writing vows, I always suggest to start with the Cheat’s Version - which is this:

Continue reading >

OMG! Celebrants are like rabbits - we're everywhere

How, oh how will you find the most awesome celebrant?  Well, don't get too stressed about it because I'm going to give you the key.

These are exciting times. You’re getting married – the dress needs to be perfect and suit your body type, your hair and makeup need to suit the dress. Your shoes need to match and be comfortable. You choose these things according to personal style and it should be the same with choosing your celebrant. But how should you start?

Step One

Firstly, as a couple, spend some time talking about what you want or don’t want in your ceremony.  For example, are you a formal or informal couple? Will you break down into peals of laughter if the Celebrant mentions the “twin flames” stuff? Would you like religion to play a part in your ceremony? Don’t think you have to – Civil Celebrants marry people according to law not religion.  Do you want to be married in a church, on a beach or a park?  Is your wedding small or does it include your top 400 friends?  What's your budget? Write it all down - you've just started creating the template for your wedding.

Step Two

Once you’ve decided on the overall vibe of your ceremony, it will be much easier to choose a Celebrant to match. There are so many options out there and the process can be time-consuming. But a great place to start is by gender – do either of you have a preference for either a male or female celebrant? That’s a personal choice but it’s one of the first things you can use to filter out what you want versus what you don’t want.  Next, do you like the idea of an older, fatherly figure - or - do you want someone young and funky?

Now look at the celebrant’s advertising – if it's serious and traditional, they’re more likely comfortable with that style of ceremony. As a generalisation, their advertising should reflect the preferred ceremony style of the celebrant. If you want light-hearted and fun, their advertising should reflect that. Hint: if they have doves or linked rings in their advertising they're likely on the older side age wise.

You'll notice a lot of celebrants advertise in a 'run of the mill' fashion - they're middle of the road.  Ten years ago, I decided I'd be true to myself and  I started my advertising "Making Weddings Fun".  Interestingly, I've noticed that in the last few years, every celebrant and their dog reckons they're 'fun'.   haha  prove it I say!  Look at their advertising, check their reviews and if you're getting a good vibe then a meeting will sort that out.

Step three

How much are you willing to spend on the perfect celebrant? In 2023, pricing for a big white wedding (not an elopement or weekday wedding) goes something like this (again a generalisation and this is south east Queensland I'm talking about here):

Awesome, professional and usually the most popular celebrants charge $950+

Middle of the road celebrants charge $500 - $950

Newbie celebrants or the less popular celebrants charge up to $500

Now I want to make it clear that I'm not being disparaging here - I firmly believe in a free market and I don't have a problem with celebrants charging whatever they want - just because you find someone that charges $250, doesn't mean they're a dud! There's a few that charge over $1500 and that doesn't mean they're fabulous. If they're the perfect fit for you, they won't be a dud! 

Oh, and some celebrants drop their price for a weekday ceremony - I do, and I don't see anything wrong with that - I'd rather earn something than nothing.  Some celebrant friends of mine don't - its up to the individual and you'll need to ask.

What I'm wanting to do here is to educate you and advise not to go by price alone. There's a saying: A person who buys on price alone, is that man's lawful prey. I'm not kidding here!  Don't do it! 

Check out personality, background and style. Read their reviews the 5 star ones and the 1 star ones and look for patterns in the feedback. Do they have a strong network of celebrants to rely on if something happens to them and they can't do your wedding?  Do they have a PA system?  Is their car reliable?  Do they have a contract?  Are they part of a Celebrant's Association?  Do they have insurance? Are they registered? Do they have an ABN? Is their email @gmail or is it professional @lynettemaguire.com.au ? How far will they have to travel to get to your wedding?  What are their public speaking skills like?

So many questions, but it's important to do your research to find your perfect celebrant.

Step four

By now, you've shortlisted three celebrants who you might like to interview.

I think that there is only one essential criteria in choosing your celebrant and  it’s pretty simple - you must ‘click’ with your Celebrant. If you don’t get on with them – don’t hire them. It may take a while but keep looking - the right Celebrant is out there.  Use your gut instinct - that's what it's there for.  In fact, use it to pick all your suppliers and to just live your life by - I swear it works. I use my gut instinct in the same way when they interview me - and I've instantly loved them, or gotten a bad vibe from them - so have knocked them back.

So, pick up the phone (or keyboard) and contact those three celebrants who fit your criteria –The first contact should allow you to get an initial sense of your compatibility. Ask questions like:

• What’s your style (formal, informal, spiritual, religious)?
• What’s your fee and what do you include for that? Is travel included?
• Is it okay if I write my own vows? And can you help me with them?
• Do you have some literature, (e.g brochure, fact sheet etc) you can send me?
• Do you have any referrals (past couples) that I could speak to?
(It should be noted that Privacy Laws preclude the Celebrant from giving out client information unless those clients have given their prior approval. However, with your approval, the Celebrant can give your information to the referral couple and they can contact you).

Also, ask how long they've been a celebrant - AND - more importantly, how many weddings they've conducted.  Some celebrants only do a few every year, so you might be impressed when they say they've been registered for 5 years, but they may have only done 15 weddings.  Don't get me wrong, we all have to start somewhere - but you pay for the experience.  You want professional - you more than likely will have to pay for it.

Your celebrant is not a clairvoyant!  Tell them what you want, especially if it's important to you!  For example, a lot of people say they are spiritual and ask for a ceremony which will reflect that spirituality – what is important here is their understanding of the word “spiritual”. I always ask the couple to clarify what they mean – some say religious, others are more the “angels and hand-fasting” ceremonies, whilst others have been more Pagan and I’ve conducted Wicca ceremonies – all under the tag ‘spiritual’. So try to have a clear idea of what you want and make sure that the celebrant has a clear understanding of your vision.

Be clear in what you want

Think “outside the square”, capture your personalities and use your hobbies and your humour to add a little bit of you into your ceremony. A great ceremony will reflect you both individually and as a couple and as long as the legal requirements are met during your ceremony, and your Celebrant is willing to be creative with you, you can have almost anything you want. Yes, anything.

Use your imagination! Have fun and if you’re stuck, ask your Celebrant for some ideas to get you going.

Good luck!  xx

Use this handy table as a guide of what to expect from one of my ceremonies. This may help you decide what type of ceremony you want. Then contact me for my current pricing.

CEREMONY	LEGAL PAPERWORK ENSURED	TIME ALLOWED	WHEN AND WHERE	HELP WITH VOWS	UNITY CEREMONY	GUESTS ALLOWED
Big white wedding 💒	Yes	20-30 minute ceremony – allow up to 45 minutes	Any day, time or location	Yes	Yes	No limit
Small wedding	Yes	15 minute ceremony – allow up to 30 minutes	Any day, time or location	Yes	Yes	Up to 20 guests
Elopement	Yes	10 minute ceremony – allow up to 15 minutes	Monday – Thursday – Tamborine Mountain only	Yes	Yes	Up to 10 guests
Coffee table (legals only wedding)	Yes	3 minute ceremony – allow 5 minutes	Monday – Thursday – Tamborine Mountain only	Yes	No	2 x witnesses
Renewal of Vows	No legal paperwork	10 minute ceremony – allow 20 minutes	Monday – Thursday – Bribie Island, Sunshine Coast only	Yes	Yes	No limit
Commitment Ceremony	No legal paperwork	20 minute ceremony – allow up to 45 minutes	Any day, time or location	Yes	Yes	No limit

Some notes

I arrive 30 minutes prior to your ceremony (with the exception of the coffee table wedding and the renewal of vows where I arrive 20 minutes prior). The other times mentioned are the times that you’d expect me to be leaving, and you’ll be organising your group photo or ordering your lunch. So, it’s just an idea of the maximum ‘time required’ guide for a stress free laid back time.

These details are a guide only – if you’re not sure shoot me an email or a text – I’m one of the lowest maintenance celebrants (people) you could meet, so I’m super flexible.

Do I do more than one wedding a day? Yes, I sure do if there’s a nice spacing between them. There seems to be a ‘thing’ about this and some celebrants say they conduct only one wedding a day so they can ‘focus solely on you’ – I think this is ridiculous and probably shows a lack of admin skills. On my Weddings in a Box days, I marry up to 10 couples per day – What can I say, I’m organised. If you want me to ‘focus solely on you’ ALL day, it will probably set off my ‘bridezilla’ alarm and I’ll say no anyway lol.

Do I travel – yes … but … there’s a cost associated. Fly me somewhere – I’m cool with that.

Hope this helps!

I’ve had a spate of weddings lately that have just made me smile! I love my goth weddings, my Star Wars weddings and anything a bit out of the ordinary.

I’m talking a Harry Potter wedding complete with Luna the owl delivering the rings; a Transformers’ wedding complete with awesome photoshopping; and a few super hero weddings (hmm me in lycra might be a problem – is there a middle aged size 12 super hero?)

RSVP - No, I'm not coming to your wedding

So, I was a bit saddened by a recent comment on a bridal Facebook page, something along the lines of ‘some of my guests aren’t coming because they don’t like my theme’ (goth/purple/black).

WTF? You’re kidding right?

Cookie cutter weddings are everywhere – anyone can have one of those – but to step outside the norm and embrace your personalities is the bombdiggity. If people don’t come to your wedding because of it, you don’t want them there in the first place! It’s a real field leveller. Celebrate our wedding our way or bugger off!

Simples!

Because, it’s actually not about the theme or the colour or what dress you wear – it’s about celebrating the bride and groom’s relationship in a way that is important to them. Yes, I know a lot of mothers sometimes interfere and bulldoze their way through the wedding planning but seriously, don’t let them. They’ve had their day, you should have yours.

Here's ideas - these come from my real weddings

Think about what you both like to do – what defines you in your life and figure out a way to incorporate that into your wedding. If you’re not game enough to do a totally themed wedding - here’s some cool ideas from some of my weddings that might get your creative juices flowing:

Bride dogs
Bride horses
Bride snake (complete with a black tie)
Bride bearded dragon
Bridesmen and Groomsladies
Origami invitations
Bash a Piñata to get the rings (OMG! Funniest thing you’ve ever seen!) (ps don't do this near water lol)
Have the rings delivered in a remote control car, an eagle or an owl
Have a GoPro wedding (hint: I'm the GoPro queen of weddings)

Or, Suspend your rings in jelly (yes, really!) or mud (yes, really, really!)
Have shots instead of the traditional champagne toast and start an anniversary tradition
Have your wedding in a theatre or at a football field or a zoo
Have a wedding where everyone sits in a circle – including the B&G and celebrant
Surprise weddings are awesome (surprise for the guests, not the couple, lol that's illegal)
Spin the bottle to decide on witnesses
Hand out raffle tickets and draw two winners (witnesses)
Beach wedding – the bride wore a white bikini and veil, the groom wore white boardies and a top hat

So, if you have a niggling idea, give me a call or shoot me a message and we can chat through the pros and cons and work out the best way to make it happen. You'd be surprised at the sort of stuff and weird ideas I've made happen.

Lynette Maguire, Tamborine Mountain Marriage Celebrant can help make your crazy ideas come to life.