Sorry for being blunt, I used to be homeless and now I'm just human

Started in Malta airport and finished in Napoli airport, this is your monthly Celebrant Institute email, and although it’s an all new email I’m re-hashing five things every celebrant in Australia needs to know about this month.

I've just spent a few days on the island nation of Malta with a close and old friend and he's reminded me, as good friends wont, a significant flaw in me is that I can be too direct, too blunt, and lack empathy in those situations I deem to be trivial. It's a side effect of my homeless years as a young man. I had no time for being polite or proper, only for survival. But my past is no excuse, I need to be better.

Old habits die hard.

So my hope today is that you can join me today in trying to be a better person whilst also just getting to the point.

See, we're all growing better already!

1. Run the numbers and tell yourself how much you're making and how much you're worth

It's a new financial year and we're all about to start work on our taxes and I feel like it's a fairly easy assumption to say that you and I, and all of us, are worth more.

I still feel sick from the last time I heard Dally Messenger say that a celebrant can't make a good living. We can, we just have to decide.

A really nice hotel just offered for me to be in one of their elopement packages and I was shocked to see they were budgeting $660 for a celebrant! We set our prices, not the wedding blogs, not the venues, and not the couples. We get to decide to be worth more.

Here are practical, relatable examples of how prices in Australia have increased over the last five years:

The average price for a flat white in Australia in 2019 was $3.50, today it's $6. Median rent in Sydney in 2019 was $530 a week, today it's $800. Milk was $1.20/L, now it's over $2. Eggs were $3 a dozen and well over $6, or if you like your eggs to come from a good home, $12!

Petrol used to be $1.40/L, more like $2.10–$2.30/L now.

Charge more.

2. The survey about changing/updating the marriage legislation

There's a new survey for all marriage celebrants to complete about the changes to the marriage laws that we're advocating for.

The survey is six yes/no questions with an explainer if you don't know, it should take less than a minute. The survey ultimately requires yes or no answers otherwise the submit button doesn't appear.

Join the 2025 Marriage Law Change Survey

3. Do your OPD

Complete your ongoing professional development commitment at the AGD portal. Come on, just do it.

Here's the link: marriage.ag.gov.au/mcportal.

4. About the Qantas hack

Joining Optus and Medibank, Qantas is the latest major Australian company to be hacked and for customer data to get loose.

The intruders gained access to over 6 million

customers' names,
email addresses,
phone numbers,
birth dates and
frequent flyer numbers.

What if you got hacked?

both full legal names of both people who got married
their birth date and place
the date and location of their wedding
both of their parent details
their ID numbers and details
plus their whole intimate story of how they met, probably where they went to school, had their first date, street they grew up on, mother's maiden name, favourite colours, etc.

Qantas getting hacked is bad but not that bad. If you or I get hacked: very very bad.

If a hacker got that information about clients of ours, they could do so much financial and digital damage to someone's life. We owe our clients better.

And if you don't know what to do, that's why Sarah and I are here. Our $12 a month membership is permission for you to ask us anything in private.

5. You're being watched

I asked Sarah if she had anything for the email and she gave me this cryptic story and wouldn't tell me who it happened to!

A reminder to always consider who might be in the audience at a wedding; another vendor or a guest might also be a celebrant, and if they're pissed they didn't get the gig, they'll be watching closely to see if you do anything not perfectly legal. Always make sure you get the legal words correct and always make sure you're following the rules for things like commitment ceremonies.

6. People are confused about what the Celebrant Institute is and who Sarah and I (Josh) are

We get a non-zero number of weird emails every month.

Often they're along the lines of whether or not we provide insurance, or how we differ from "other" associations, and sometimes people tell us they can't join the Celebrant Institute because they're already a member of another organisation.

A few pointers to help everyone out:

The Celebrant Institute is actually Celebrant Institute Pty Ltd, a privately owned company owned 50/50 by Sarah Aird and myself, Josh Withers. We are not an association or a not-for-profit. We are a for-profit business.
Because we're a for-profit business we have to hold a good reputation for providing a good service, and our hundreds of members are testament to the good advice, support, mentoring, help, podcasts, email, blogs, and content we provide.
What we provide, no-one else does.
We don't do what the associations or the other networks do. We're all different.
We don't believe that community should be a business, that's why we don't have a Facebook group or charge you to join a club. We just do our thing and encourage you to make friends the old-fashioned way.
This monthly email is free, our podcast is free, our website is mostly free to read, our professional development short courses (not compulsory OPD) are paid (because they're literally Certificate IV grade courses), and asking questions to seek help or guidance requires the $12 a month membership.
Finally, the Celebrant Institute RTO Pty Ltd is a separate company that Sarah owns and runs and she provides the best damn Certificate IV in Celebrancy Australia could get. If I ran an RTO I'd be dead inside by nightfall. Be glad that I do not run an RTO but Sarah does.

Hopefully that clears things up ... we'd love to have you as a member, if only because you're the kind of person that reads to the bottom of an email.

July 3, 2025, 10:45 p.m.

Sorry for being blunt, I used to be homeless and now I'm just human

1. Run the numbers and tell yourself how much you're making and how much you're worth

2. The survey about changing/updating the marriage legislation

3. Do your OPD

4. About the Qantas hack

5. You're being watched

6. People are confused about what the Celebrant Institute is and who Sarah and I (Josh) are

Other posts from the website this last month

July 3, 2025, 10:45 p.m.

Sorry for being blunt, I used to be homeless and now I'm just human

The Celebrant Institute Monthly

1. Run the numbers and tell yourself how much you're making and how much you're worth

2. The survey about changing/updating the marriage legislation

3. Do your OPD

4. About the Qantas hack

5. You're being watched

6. People are confused about what the Celebrant Institute is and who Sarah and I (Josh) are

Other posts from the website this last month