Oh Britney! If only you’d married in Australia…. For one thing that whole ‘Jason Alexander married for 55 hours thing’ would never have happened. This ain’t Vegas Baby! Australians wanting to get married have some time to sober up and consider their decision before they wed.
You can’t go out, meet the love of your life, buy a marriage license and get hitched in the same night. Australian Law requires couples to give Notice of their Intended Marriage at least one calendar month in advance of the wedding date. This form is valid for 18 months and must be lodged with your Celebrant, Registry Office or Minister.
Getting married to the love of your life can be great fun but there is a serious side. Marriage is a legal commitment. It is a big decision. It is a union voluntarily entered into for life. It’s costly and time consuming if you change your mind after the event. Yep, get it wrong and it’s the D word!
If you’ve found ‘The One’, by all means lodge your Notice of Intended Marriage Form with your Celebrant. Don’t rush it… waiting the minimum of one calendar month could be the difference that saves you from saying “Oops I did it again!”
Would you prefer the chicken or the beef?… I think if you asked a Vows Now couple they’d say Pizza! Like our style of wedding, pizza is easy, fuss-free, you can order it ahead of time and no one cares if you don’t use a knife and fork. Pizza, like a Vows Now Wedding Ceremony can have just a few toppings or we can make you one with the lot!
As a Celebrant, I officiate the marriage and leave the happy couple to celebrate however they want, with whom ever they choose. If the bride and groom have one, I don’t go to the reception. On Saturday I officiated a simple, fuss-free wedding in an Italian Restaurant in Norton St Leichhardt. My husband and an Italian waitress witnessed. The Bride & Groom left to celebrate together in private, so we stayed and had pizza.
Sunday was “date arvo” so my husband and I combined it with a location scout of my next wedding on the NSW Central Coast at Norah Head. You’ll never guess what we ate? Yes pizza! I’d say don’t tell my Personal Trainers, but I married them too! My style of wedding celebration keeps Daran and Trin in business!
Gourmet? Home delivery? Jalepenos? Take-away? Extra Anchovies? If you’re a pizza lover, you might just like a Vows Now wedding too? You need to give a minimum of one month + one day’s Notice of Intended Marriage, so give Johanna a call on 0429 2 ELOPE (0429 235673) and place your order.
Call it a celebrant hunch, but I don’t think the wedding ceremony I officiated for Chris and Nat will be what they’re remembering in 50 years time when they talk about their “wedding day”. Guess what?… I really don’t mind! Everyone wants their wedding day to be memorable right? Chris and Nat preferred to make it legal with me and have the “memorable day” by themselves.
They came to my office, where I helped them have a very brief, legal wedding ceremony. Their Mums were there and they left married. Look at them. They certainly look like they are happily married don’t they? Their nuptials were followed by a counter meal and a game of pool at the pub. My kind of wedding reception!
The day that will be remembered in the hearts and minds of Nat and Chris will be their Marriage Blessing Ceremony held a week later in Thailand. It’s important to note that by law you can only get married once (even if it is to the same person). The ceremony they had in Thailand was merely a blessing of the legal marriage that took place in Australia.
The sentimental softie inside me cried when I saw photos of their blessing. Right from the time Nat contacted me after seeing my wheel hub advertisement, they knew exactly what they wanted in a wedding and I’m proud to say Vows Now helped combine their fantasy and reality. You could say they were avid ‘followers’ from way back!
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. C. Thank you for sharing photos of your special day and thank you for your kind words of testimonial (below).
Click on the images to enlarge
TESTIMONIAL:
“You are an easy going, humorous and well presented woman who does a great job. Many thanks!
We recommend that you don’t bring the in-laws ;-)”
(Mrs and Mrs C.)
If you would like to Save the Date for a Vows Now Wedding you can call on 0429 2 ELOPE (0429 2 35673) or fill out our booking enquiry form. Take a look at our Availability Calendar and see if your future wedding date is available.
OK, so you’ve decided that you want to spend the rest of your lives together, but do you really want to spend the first few years of marriage paying back a debt from your wedding day? Some do…and that’s fine. Me and possibly you, would rather spend money on other things. With some careful planning it is possible to walk down the aisle and leave debt free. As someone who’s father joked (in not such a joking way) that if I got married I have a Bridal Register at Clint’s Crazy Bargains, I know a few things about weddings on a budget.
Here’s a few ideas…
Ask your Marriage Celebrant or Minister if they would consider a payment plan for their fee? Making small payments like a layby can make it easier to budget. What would you rather pay? $300 to $1200 in a lump or $5.75 to $23 per week for a year?
Elope! We did and the whole day cost under $500. We wore casual clothes, paid a photographer for a brief shoot (and to be a witness), paid the Celebrant who kindly offered his wife as our 2nd witness AND had gourmet hamburgers and calamari together afterwards while sitting by the water. Better still my in-laws gave us a monetary gift after we told them we’d married so we came out square.
Old, new, borrowed, blue? An old tradition that can have a modern twist…
Marry someone old (er),
Wear something old – why buy something when you have a perfectly good outfit that you (and your partner) loves?
New-ly Wed? New shoes? New year as husband and wife? Yep that covers new without breaking the bank!
Borrow my fabulous pen to sign the Marriage Register
Blue? Wear your jeans? You may as well be comfy on your wedding day. I can wear mine too if you like?
Do it Yourself (DIY) If you’re not marrying him for his money, perhaps it’s his skill with a sewing machine? See if he can whip you up a wedding dress like this one we found by Threadbanger Projects for $10. Yep! You read it right! TEN DOLLARS!
Vows Now offer Simple, Legal and Affordable Marriage ceremonies for those who want to Get Just Married®
Let me start this Birthday tribute letter by acknowledging the poor choice I made having my hair permed weeks prior to your birth in 1989. For this I say “sorry”.
Fourteen hours of labour marked the start of the surreal journey we have been on since July 27th 1989 at 3.42pm. I phoned the family to announce the birth of “Brian” (onya Uncle Steven!) on a dial up phone with a long extension cord stretched from the nurses desk to the delivery room. The newspaper cost 40c , the Number 1. song on the radio was Roxette singing “She’s got the look“. I’ll bet that crazy Swedish duo thought my hair looked tasty as a raindrop? (This is a test to see who opened the link… or who is now going to open the link).
I was 20 years old when you were born weighing 3.250kg in Westmead Hospital. Your Dad (age 24) and I weren’t married (gasp!) but that was fixed up by the time you were 7 months old. (It was broken again before you were 3, but I digress…). Did you know that Canberra was getting it’s first Casino in July 1989, and you came home from hospital on the Horse’s Birthday (1st August)? My little pumpkin, the irony is not lost on me that you first laughed out loud on 31st October 1989 – Halloween!
You were a pretty good baby. Sleeping wasn’t your strong suit. With so many Aunties and Uncles, plus Grandma, Grandpa, Nanna & Pardy, there was always someone around to give you some attention. You loved books and would snuggle for hours if read to. Farmer John, by Dick Bruna was your favourite story. Grandma read the first book to you as soon as you came home from hospital.
Your passion for Rugby League started at an early age. On Sunday 10th September 1989 you had your first “real” day out at the Grand Finals of the Carlton Premiership Central Coast Division Footy. It was The Entrance Tigers v Wyong Roo’s and I’m pleased to remind you that The Entrance won! You slept through most of the game, as did I (albiet with my eyes open). It’s lovely to think that you went to the same venue 2 days ago to watch Manly v West Tigers with your Dad.
You said “Dad” and “Bub”, sat up and started crawling when you were six months old. You first said “Mum-Mum” on our first Mother’s Day together. On May 6th 1990 you took your first step unaided in your size 4EE Brown Clark Lace Up shoes. For those shoes, I say sorry.
Life for you as a child was great. “Naked to the t-bone” Play Doh, centre of attention, master of the universe, never wrong…
A huge fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, you used to impersonate the train’s voices. When you were 2, you invented your cute “Gordon Face”. This was captured during our Santa Photo Session at The Entrance. What you can’t see in the picture was festy Santa feeling Mummy up during our photo session. I suppose you have to accept these things when you pay $1 for a Santa Photo. Good times…
You were always a clever student. So smart in fact, that in First Grade in 1995, you didn’t need me to write notes to the teacher. You did that yourself too. I reckon you almost would have gotten away with it had I not discovered this note to Miss Smith in your school bag.
We sure have had some fun together over the years. It was hard being a shift working Mum, but I tried my best to have plenty of good times with you. To quote Roxette again… ”When everything I’ll ever do I’ll do for you. And I go la la la la la“ You played soccer, loved fishing, cricket, playing in Kev*at Boat Harbour. There was that time you were allowed to boogie board in the gutters during the storm. You even had that fleeting phase at about 10 years old when you enjoyed listening to your Savage Garden CD and buying decorator items (your words) for your bedroom. You sure did scare your Dad with that phase! (*Kev was the name invented by the neighbours to describe the mud in the shallow waters of Boat Harbour at Summerland Point). I think that sums up the ages 5 through to 14.
Age 15 onwards I often wanted to stick my fingers in my ears and go “la la la la“. My talented son, in Year 4 of Primary School you were assessed as being smart, gifted even. You attended the Opportunity Class at Wyong Public school, then went on to Gosford Selective High School where I often assessed you myself as being a smart arse! You managed to keep up your grades, despite travelling to school on the train from Parramatta to Gosford. Oh sure, this wasn’t without incident. Who can forget the time that I received the phone call from the Deputy Principal telling me you had punched a boy whilst travelling on the train? To this day I believe your explanation that his head kept repeatedly hitting your clenched fist. My son wouldn’t be a bully! (Just as your Deputy Principal couldn’t have been an ugly, 50 something high-pant wearer, who looked like Humphrey B Bear, given his phone voice was SO sexy!)
There were the love interests, both of them. My Darling son, you were always the faithful boyfriend. The two great loves of your life (so far) could never quite replace Mummy. I’d go so far as to say if you ever had to pick… nowadays you’d pick me! (Tapping side of nose to indicate a private joke between Mother & son).
School finished. I was extremely proud of you. That extra 4 points for being a local student accepted to Newcastle University has allowed me to change history. I prefer to tell people that your UAI was 99.9 It’s a nicer number than 95.9. You’ve been self supporting since you were 18, working very hard and occassionally attending University. I think you have turned out pretty well.
This may seem as though it’s a fleeting summary of your life. In a way it is. It’s hard to single out specific moments in the past 21 years to let you know just how proud I am of you. I love you very much and I hope today, the traditional start to adulthood, is good to you.
I couldn’t finish this tribute to you without including one final photo. Ryan, my blue eyed boy who started out with brown eyes, I have been saving this all your life. Finally technology has caught up so I could scan the photo for the world to see.
Happy 21st Birthday!
My final word is again from Roxette…
“What in the world can make a brown-eyed boy turn blue. And I go la la la la la
na na na na na na na na na na na na na he’s got the look
na na na na na na na na na na na na na hes got the look
na na na na na na na na na na na na na hes got the look
na na na na na na na na na na na na na hes got the look “
Destination weddings are great, but sometimes the international paperwork hurdles are too high to jump over in a wedding dress. Marrying before you leave the country is an easy way to avoid hassle and holding a blessing ceremony overseas allows you to have your wedding cake and eat it too! It’s important to ensure that only one of the weddings can be legally recognised… one must be a blessing/renewal ceremony (without legal paperwork).
We’ve just married a couple, who as I type, are honeymooning in Thailand where they held a Thai Blessing Ceremony. Soon we are marrying a couple who are blessing their marriage in Italy. Another couple are heading to the USA to splurge on family fun. All chose Vows Now to provide a simple, legal, marriage ceremony to formalise their union. Their ceremony is like going to an accountant at tax time. Not everyone’s idea of fun, but the paperwork gets done efficiently, and a good accountant (or Marriage Celebrant like Johanna at Vows Now) ensures there’s some money leftover to splurge on a lavish overseas honeymoon.
It’s nice to try and link the Ceremony in Australia to the overseas destination of the Bride and Groom. Just for fun, we are holding the ceremony for our Italian Extravaganza couple at a Café in “Little Italy”, Norton Street, Leichhardt. Our resident artist at Vows Now has depicted what both ceremonies may look like below…
Vows Now’s marriage ceremonies are designed to be brief to ensure that you are legally married, without the fuss of traditional weddings. Whether you choose to marry in Australia or overseas, it’s hard to spot the difference after the legalities are performed.
If simplifying the paperwork by marrying in Australia beforehand makes your destination ceremony less stressful, give Vows Now a call on 0429 2 ELOPE (0429 2 35673) or fill out our booking enquiry form. Take a look at our Availability Calendar and see if your future wedding date is available.
Today Paul and I celebrate 4 years of marriage to each other. It was the BEST decision I ever made! None of that time has been what I anticipated it would be. Most of it has been better than expected. Our wedding ceremony was quick and intimate and possibly more memorable as we can remember exactly what we said to each other. We were the only ones we knew at our wedding!
The traditional gift to commemorate 4 years of marriage is fruit. I have pounded the produce aisles of supermarkets; looked in the exotic fruits, the frozen fruit, the fruit snacks. Alas no fruit truly expresses our relationship. So in lieu of a fruity present, as a special gift to Paul, to say thank you for 4 fabulous years as my husband, I’ve compiled a list of 4 things I love about him.
1.) Every night, just before we go to sleep, he makes a joke that makes me laugh really hard and smile as I fall asleep.
2.) Paul always has a glass half full approach to life. He’s optimistic, honest, real and he’s got his “shit together”.
3.) He is unwavering in his support of me, my personality traits (good & bad), my work and my incessant need to talk.
4.) I love hanging around with him, being with him, sleeping on half the queen sized bed with him because we’re cuddling and I love that his love makes me feel loved.
Thanks Darling! May the Fouth be with you!
Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary. I love you Paul ♥
If you’ve found that special someone who makes you want to write public love notes, perhaps you’d be interested in marrying them? I can help you to Get Just Married® – Give Johanna at Vows Now a call on 0429 2 ELOPE (0429 2 35673)
By the way Paul… now do you see why I made you take photos with me???
“We were thrilled to have you as our celebrant. We had spoken to a few celebrants before we met you and all of them made us feel bad for not wanting a long theatrical ceremony – like we were ripping our guests off! You encouraged us to do things our own way and made us feel as comfortable and relaxed as possible.”
Dale and Ronnie had put off getting married for 14 years. Like many people, life and kids came along and marriage wasn’t a priority. They decided to bite the bullet and get married. They wanted a simple, fuss free ceremony as soon as possible – only hiccup was that I’d be in Melbourne when that was possible. I wanted to help Dale and Ronnie to Get Just Married®, so they suggested meeting me in Melbourne. Too easy! They bought the kids away for a weekend holiday, had a brief legal ceremony at Brighton Bathing Boxes and I managed to get the St Kilda Football Team to turn up in Speedos at their nuptials! (That’s how I recall it)
“Absolutely fantastic, everything we wanted, the footballers were a nice added bonus… Dale said if he knew it could be this easy he would have done it years ago!… Johanna, we couldn’t have asked for more. We will never enjoy another wedding the same, in our opinion this is the way to go. Everyone was so happy for us and we never upset anyone and it was exactly how we wanted it. Thanks to you, Paul, Natalie and Graeme.”
And a big Vows Now Congratulations to you too Dale & Ronnie!
If you’d like to Get Just Married® give Johanna at Vows Now a call on 0429 2 ELOPE (0429 2 35673).
In June I’ll be marrying a couple who decided they’ve put off marriage for too long. After circling around the idea, sending me numerous free sms, filling out the Vows Now Booking Enquiry Form, the future bride and groom contacted me to save their wedding date. All sounded great until they said “we want to get married as soon as possible“. To be legally married in Australia you need to give a minimum one month and one day’s Notice of Intended Marriage. No problem! There was enough time to complete paperwork. The hiccup was with my availability. I had plans & flights booked to be in Melbourne slap bang on the date they wanted.
Here’s where you get an insight into the no fuss style of Bride & Groom we cater to with Vows Now…
“Can we meet you in Melbourne so you can marry us?”
“Sure you can!”
What a great idea? [Bride's name] and [Groom's name] are combining a small holiday/honeymoon with a no fuss, secret, Destination Wedding. They get the Celebrant, some witnesses, and the style of ceremony that they want, plus a cool story to tell their friends when they reveal their surprise.
If you’re going to be around Brighton Beach Bathing Boxes in June, you might just witness them as they Get Just Married®.
I’d tell you what time, but that might spoil the surprise!
I love my job! Ssshhhh
With Vows Now you can Get Just Married® when you want, where you want and be off to enjoy married life in as little as a few minutes...
Call Johanna on 0429 2 ELOPE the Civil Marriage Celebrant for your fuss free wedding.
If you would like to Save the Date for a Vows Now Wedding you can call on 0429 2 ELOPE (0429 2 35673) or fill out our 
Here’s a few ideas…
Themis and Beth – Married at Terrigal NSW
