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 would create ceremonies that might be as culturally enriching and, if required, as formal as church weddings, i.e. that these ceremonies would not be inferior in status to religious weddings.

An "authorised celebrant" is a person who is authorised (registered) by the Australian Government to perform legal marriages according to the Marriage Act 1961. The celebrant may be a representative of a religious organisation (known as a religious marriage celebrant) or someone providing secular or non-religious weddings (known as a civil marriage celebrant). Only authorised (registered) marriage celebrants have the authority to perform marriages in Australia.

In 2015, 74.9 per cent of Australian marriages were performed by civil celebrants. However, the rate of civil marriages varied between states and territories, with a civil marriage rate of 83.7% in the Northern Territory, 79.7% in Tasmania, 79.6% in Queensland, 78.8% in Western Australia, 74.8% in South Australia, 74.4% in Victoria, 72.3% in the Australian Capital Territory and 71% in New South Wales.

Marriage by independent civil celebrant has spread in other English-speaking countries. Its early establishment in Australia was largely due to the support of the reforming Attorney-General Lionel Murphy in the 1970s.

A civil marriage celebrant is a private person authorised by the relevant government to perform legal civil marriages in a dignified and culturally acceptable manner, for those who do not choose a religious ceremony.

Civil celebrants also serve people who have religious beliefs but do not wish to be married in a church, temple or mosque. In contrast to the established ceremonies of religious or registry office authorities, in celebrant ceremonies many decisions about the content are chosen by the couple. Therefore, the civil celebrant has come to be defined as a professionally trained ceremony-provider who works in accordance with the wishes of the client couple. The task may 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.

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