Celebrant (Australia)

Celebrant
Celebrants generally practise the traditional Western legal requirement of recording the wedding in a register. Celebrant clients choose their own ceremony but many still opt for the traditional white wedding, wherein the bride wears a white wedding dress and veil. Painting by Edmund Leighton (1853–1922)
Occupation
NamesCelebrant, officiant, ceremony provider
SynonymsOfficiant, master of ceremonies
Occupation type
Profession / vocation
Activity sectors
Non-church society
Description
CompetenciesCreative writing, ceremonial public speaking, listening skills, ceremony structure, knowledge of poetry, music, mythology, story telling, law
Education required
Steeped in the humanities
Related jobs
For religious persons – clergy

In Australia, celebrants or civil celebrants are people who conduct formal ceremonies in the community, particularly weddings – which represent the main ceremony of legal import conducted by celebrants –, and for this reason are often referred to as marriage celebrants. They may also conduct extra-legal ceremonies such as naming of babies, renewal of wedding vows, funerals, divorces, becoming a teenager, changing name, significant birthdays, retirements, and other life milestones. Officiating at a marriage requires that the celebrant be an authorised marriage celebrant under Australian law, or the law where the marriage takes place, but officiating at non-legal ceremonies does not.[1]: iv 

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference ceremonies was invoked but never defined (see the help page).