Celebrant (Australia) Celebrant (Australia) In Australia, celebrants are people who conduct formal ceremonies in the community, particularly weddings, which are the main ceremony of legal import conducted by celebrants. They may also conduct extra-legal ceremonies such as naming of babies, renewal of wedding vows and funerals. Officiating at a marriage requires that the celebrant be an authorised marriage celebrant under Australian law, but officiating at extra-legal ceremonies does not. Many Western nations permit celebrants who are not clergy to carry out basic, legal, marriage ceremonies. However Australia was the first nation whose government appointed non-clergy celebrants with the specific intention that they
Celebrant (Australia) be like an architect who is charged with designing a dream home for a couple who need expert help. In this sense the celebrant is not just the one who performs the ceremony according to law, but its facilitator, the couple's adviser, the resource person, the co-creator of the ceremony, and the rehearsal-director. Therefore, the celebrant does not come from the standpoint of belief or unbelief. Trained celebrants usually operate professionally on the principle that their own beliefs and values are irrelevant. Commentators have suggested the following reasons why civil celebrancy was introduced, and why it succeeded so quickly: Civil