Rebels' Guide

Today’s blog post is almost word for a word a copy/paste from Seth Godin ‘s blog . But he blogs about business, and I’m blogging about weddings. My edits are in italics and strikethrough: As your wedding plans get more detailed, it’s also more and more likely that they won’t work exactly as you described them. Certainly, it’s worth visualizing the wedding   thing you’re working to build. When it works, what’s it going to be like? Even more important, though, is being able to describe what you’re going to do when the wedding plan doesn’t work. Because it won’t. Not the way you expect, certainly. Things will break, be late, miss the spec. People will let you down, surprise you or change their minds. RSVPs sales won’t get made, promises will be broken, formulas will change. All part of the plan that includes the fact that plans almost never come true. We, Seth and I, aren’t saying don’t make plans...

Australia Day is a great time to reflect on what makes this nation great, so I want to bring something unique and meaningful to the Australia Day conversation this year and tell you the story of how Australia has been one of the most progressive countries in the world in regards to marriage. Let’s go back to the beginning The year is 1889 and Henry Parkes has called for the colonies to unite and create a great national government for all of Australia. Over the next decade the colonies decide what a federal government looks like and what they’ll be responsible for. Marriage at that point was something each colony (state) was responsible for. Queensland had Queensland marriages and Western Australia had West Australian marriages. As the colonies worked out what the new federation would be responsible for, marriage was placed on the list. On the 1st of January 1901 we all joined hands and no doubt grunted “oi, oi, oi” for the first time as a nation and the federation began, but it to...

I’m late to the Interstellar party, but my tardiness led me to something awesome last night: I saw it on IMAX with my friend Steve and it was stellar, crazy, immersive, moving. There’s a scene in the movie where the team have to make a decision on where to go. I’m not wanting to give away the movie so I’ll leave details out, but the making of the decision takes the team through a logical and scientific conversation that starts to factor in love. Love isn’t something that we invented. It’s observable. Powerful. It has to mean something. Maybe it means something more, something we can’t yet understand. Maybe it’s some evidence, some artefact of a higher dimension that we can’t consciously perceive. Love is the one thing that we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. I’ve got to read some of this at a wedding soon! Let me know if you loved the movie too! Email , Facebook , Twitter . COOPER If we’re going ...

Shannon and Jeff harnessed the power of lip syncing music videos to tell their friends and family that they are engaged to be married!

Exchanging wedding rings in your ceremony is a tenant of modern weddings. There’s nothing wrong with it and it’s a really beautiful moment. And for a Queensland wedding it’s often made even more beautiful by all of the humidity in the air and sweat on the fingers! But today when I met with Steph and Drew, Stephanie had read an article on Offbeat Bride about not exchanging rings, but instead, putting your own wedding rings on. What a crazy and novel idea! The bride, Hell Pollard (coolest name ever), puts it like this: So I thought that instead of exchanging rings, we could just put the ring on ourselves.  I like the idea that it would symbolize that we entered this relationship as individuals, and that rather than the other person putting a ring on to bind us to those promises, we freely bind ourselves to them. The most important thing here is that what happened in the wedding ceremony was true for them, and this needs to be true for you. But if you’d rather ...

Valentine’s Day is the best day to get married on. Let me explain why. So many people comment on Valentine’s Day being cheesy or over romantic, or a corporate scam to make boyfriends spend more on their girlfriends, but Saint Valentine’s Day carries a great message behind it. Saint Valentine was slain because he broke the law, the law forbidding men to marry. Marriage was outlawed in Valentine’s Day because the king didn’t want men distracted by love (it’s so distracting isn’t it!). Instead he wanted them on the battlefield fighting and dying for their country. Father Valentine, as he was then known, broke the rules and continued to marry people in secret. When he was found out he was sentenced to death and we celebrate Valentine’s Day now because we think that falling in love and getting married is a pretty darn good idea. We also recognise that it’s not an easy thing to do, fall in love that is, so when it happens it ought be celebrated! So out of all of the cheese romantic love...

A few weeks ago Britt and I asked our couples to start supporting Plan Australia’s campaign to eradicate child marriage. So many people have jumped on board and said yes. It’s so encouraging. Not that you guys would listen to us, that’s lovely. But because it affects real girls, who in their young life have been forced into marriage. When Britt and I got married, we both decided to. When Lamana was married, she was forced into it. She was taken out of school at the age of 15. Her husband wouldn’t let her leave the house and she was beaten into submission to sleep with him. Watch the video below to hear Lamana’s story. Read more about Lamana here . And learn more about what Plan Australia is doing to eradicate child marriage at these links: becauseiamagirl.com.au Youtube playlist When you book me as your celebrant there is a section on the booking form that allows you to make a donation to Plan, and if you make a donation, I’ll match it as well. Alread...

I’m in a unique position to be writing about social media at weddings. Firstly, I’m a social media addicted crazy man who will take a photo of anything and post it online. Secondly, I’m a wedding celebrant that takes no greater pleasure in telling everyone to put their phones away for at least the duration of the ceremony. Creating a wedding social media policy Social media, be it Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, ello, Google+, LinkedIn, or that new fang-dangled network that wasn’t even invented when this was written, is such an amazing way to share your story. After all, that’s what we’re here for, creating, telling, sharing, an awesome story. Every day is a new page and your wedding ceremony, a new chapter. But, not everything has to go on social media. Just yesterday I ate a meal and no-one except for my wife knew about it. Revolutionary. So I’m not going to try and sway you either way on whether to let it be a part of your wedding or not, that’s up to you and your friend group. Instea...

Britt and I are going to be at Love on the Lawn , Sydney , on March 1st this year! And to celebrate we’ve got $20 for you! Well $23.50 exactly but I couldn’t find a photo of $23.50. We’re pretty excited to be joining Sydney’s best wedding peeps at the Sydney Centennial Parklands, and we’ll be there to talk about me being your marriage celebrant and Britt can answer any questions you’ve got about pop-up weddings ! Tickets are $23.50 online , or you can enter below to win ticket! To win all you have to do is enter below and like and follow Love on the Lawn on Facebook , Instagram , or Twitter  and myself on the same networks: Facebook , Instagram , Twitter . [gravityform id=”8″ name=”Love on the Lawn giveaway” description=”false” ajax=”true”]

Last year (doesn’t it feel cool saying that) I sent out an email to everyone on my email list, if you’re not on it, subscribe here , and proposed a crazy idea: What if I hosted an event for all of the like-minded brides and grooms that are creating awesome weddings. So many people replied and offered ideas and help, and now I want to create something that you will want to come to. It’ll be in Brisbane, and that’s all I know so far. So I created this short survey to get some answers. If you could spare 45 seconds to fill out this survey and click submit we’ll be able to create a super sweet wedding creators event! [gravityform id=”7″ name=”Bride and groom meetup survey” title=”false” ajax=”true”]

At Lindsay Bishop and her fiance’s wedding, they invited friends to bring a wedding reading. The first reading is a powerful message from the great poet, Hugh Anthony Cregg III. The second from Method Man. Watch the video to enjoy some fresh wedding readings. And if you’re not familiar with the songs, the Youtube clips and lyrics are below. Huey Lewis and the News with The Power Of Love Love The power of love is a curious thing Make a one man weep, make another man sing Change a hawk to a little white dove More than a feeling that’s the power of love Tougher than diamonds, rich like cream Stronger and harder than a bad girl’s dream Make a bad one good make a wrong one right Power of love that keeps you home at night You don’t need money, don’t take fame Don’t need no credit card to ride this train It’s strong and it’s sudden and it’s cruel sometimes But it might just save your life That’s the power of love That’s th...

A quick survey of last year’s weddings I was at says that about 10% of wedding ceremonies had enough chairs for everyone to be seated. There’s nothing wrong with making people stand, but there’s a human brain thing that everyone is missing. Read on to understand. It’s a popular and common wedding trend to hire a handful of chairs, 32 is a nice number that leaves four rows of eight chairs, split down the middle for an aisle, and the rest of the guests will be expected to stand. Not an unreasonable expectation of most adults. 32 or so chairs is more than enough for grandma and your parents and the odd person that really wants to be seated. And here arises the problem. Everyone is too darn polite. It’s not a terrible problem, I’d rather write about polite people than rude people. But this politeness thing has to stop somewhere! 🙂 The average couple might have two parents, four grandparents, eight uncles and aunties, and maybe two elderly friends of the family, that’s sixteen chairs possi...