Module 3

Marriage Celebrancy in Practice

Christopher Brennan

Learning Aims
When you have finished this Module you should:

1. be able to organise a wedding and officiate it in such a way that you, and all other ceremony participants, are "heard, understood and appreciated".
   be able to ensure the freedom of choice of the client couple and whoever else they choose to involve in the decision making.
   
   
2. appreciate the celebrant's obligations to the community and the law.
   be familiar with the poetry, prose, choreography, music symbols and structured continuity which give power and meaning to ceremonies.
   know about Relationship Support Courses and Counselling Services, and have a technique to make couples aware of these services.
   
   
3. Know the main legal and organisational procedures essential to marriage preparation, including a basic knowledge of active listening skills, client communication, wedding etiquette, procedures at receptions, and services such as musicians and other artists; venues and sources of appropriate artistic,materials.

Mainly for Australian Students

The law is not a light
For you or any man to see by;
The law is not an instrument of any kind.
(to the FOREMAN)
The law is a causeway
Upon which
So long as he keeps to it
A citizen may walk safely.

Robert Bolt in A Man for All Seasons
From the trial scene
Part spoken by Sir Thomas More

In this unit, you will study the following issues:

• The whole scope on how the law operates in your country and the celebrants part in it.
  
  the place of law in society - how it regulates and influences but should not dominate a culture.
  
  those parts of the law which affect the celebrant's normal professional work, as well as the possibilities for changing the law for the better.
  
  the accepted conventions for the interpretation of the law; ways in which ignorance of the law and of its sensible interpretation have caused an enormous amount of inconvenience, heartache and tragedy for clients and celebrants themselves.
  
  ways that an informed celebrant can assist people to make decisions and resolve disputes. (What is the legal situation when different people claim the right to organise a funeral, sometimes contrary to the wishes of the deceased?)
  
  the scope and limits of the celebrant's powers. (Can a celebrant sign as a witness to a death in the place on the forms usually designated Signature of Officiating Clergyman?)
  
  access to the Acts of Parliament or local by-laws which govern these matters.the procedures of registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and how the celebrant can ensure the correct detail for proper and traceable genealogical records.
  

ways in which the profession of celebrant is regulated from without and, to an extent, from within; the roles of a professional association.

Assessment
is by the following methods:-

Learning Journal

Search questions on selected written material (provided) including legal forms

a structured analysis of three different wedding ceremonies

a structured interview with a celebrant

A special assignment on Relationship Education


Workload/Due Dates

• The time envisaged for working on each unit is equivalent to 10 weeks at 8 hours per week .
  The College has not set dates for submission of individual items. However, unless special permission to extend is granted, should be completed within 6 months.
  
• Temporary suspensions of enrolment are negotiable; however, fees for courses which have not been completed are not refundable.

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WARNING TO CONSUMERS

Celebrancy courses vary widely in quality, substance, and depth. Consumers are advised to proceed with care.