can marriage celebrants perform religious ceremonies?

Hello, this is an excellenet question which highlights the role of marriage Celebrants in the communtiy. Primarily marriage celebrants who are registered by the Federal Attorney General's office are Civil Marriage Celebrants. They are registered to allow people who have little or no religious affiliation to have a person to perform a quality and meaningful ceremony for them without religious content. 

However, some couples because they still wish to acknowledge their parental traditions, choose to have some religious content in their ceremonies or base their ceremony on a traditonal religious service. It is fine for a Civil Marriage Celebrant to perform a ceremony under these circumstances. However we are not allowed to 'push' a religious philosophy at, or onto a couple who are marrying. These things must be instigated by the bride and groom if desired in their ceremony.

Yes I would be happy to include religious elements in any of my ceremonies and I do. I have sometimes a little and sometimes a lot of religion in the ceremony depending totally on the couples requirements

If you are wanting a religious ceremony, why would you approach a Civil Celebrant.  You would talk to the minister of the church you belong to.  However, you might be able to find a Celebrant who will include a religious component in the ceremony.  I did a back garden wedding a few years ago, and noticed this tall, older gentleman staring at me throughout the ceremony with his arms crossed in front of him.  After the ceremony, I went over to him and asked if he enjoyed the ceremony.  "Hm, it was ok, but I couldn't hear very well".   The B&G came over and asked me if everything was ok.  I told them what happened and they laughed.  It was the Brides (patially deaf) Uncle and he was miffed that as a Catholic Priest, he wasn't asked to marry the couple.  So with permission of the B&G, I asked the Uncle to perform a Catholic Blessing.  He was happy, they were happy and I was relieved.  

Absolutely refer to my review from Ammie and Kyle who had their perfect religious ceremony performed by me.  Remember your faith is always with you and as a Celebrant I was very moved by the Ceremony I created.  All the best and email me if you would like any further details. 

The wedding ceremony is the creation and formalising of marriage which is a legal union.  Civil ceremonies can include some religious components if you wish, such as a reading from the Bible. However a celebrant cannot lead everyone in prayer.  If you would like this included in your ceremony it is probably best to have your wedding in a church.  It does not matter whether you choose a garden, backyard or church - as long as the person leading the service is authorised by law to perform weddings you are still married! Hope this helps, Karen Hamilton 

There are religious celebrants and civil celebrants. Most civil celebrants are quite happy to accommodate couples if they would like a religious element of say a bible reading or prayer but the majority of civil celebrants invite a family member to do this whilst not actually participating themselves.

I have had ceremonies where a minister or priest is a guest reader and they have actually blessed the couple, done a bible reading, etc. One couple even took communion in the middle of one of my civil ceremonies. I personally don't have a problem with this. However if we are authorised as civil celebrants we are not to purport to be religious celebrants.

If this is what you would like in your civil ceremony, just ask the celebrants you approach if they are happy to accommodate your request.

Warmly

Ann Dally

No, no per se. This is why there is the option of civil celebrants- for those who don't want to go the church/ minster route.

I have however, incorporated a religious reading, hymn or ritual into ceremonies at the couple's request. I don't read them myself though as I'm not religious myself- I leave it to someone that the couple nominate.

Hope this helps!

Hi, the answer is No. Regilious ceremony can be performed by Minister of the church (or what ever head of different religions). Some of these Ministers have the qualification of being a celebrant, in this case, your marriage can be solominised accroding to the law of this country at the same time. But if the Minister has got no such qualification, your marraige has to be solomised by civil celebrant separately. However, some couples want to combine religious ceremony  with civil cremony so that they can have both done at the same time, this is is an option. If you need further information,

please contactme via emma@marriage-celebrant.com.au 

Thank you

Kind regards

Emma Feng

Hi I'm pleased to create a ceremony with religious traditions, prayers and conventions. In fact as a civil celebrant I have greater scope to develop a religious ceremony without limitations that some ministers of religion may have.

Both religious and civil celebrants must comply with the legal requirements set out by the federal government.

The big difference is that a religious ceremony is about being wed in the eyes of God (or whichever deity you believe in), while a civil ceremony is about being wed in the eyes of the law.

My advice is to meet with a Celebrant of your choosing to discuss what you would like.

All the very best!