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Sarah was a breath of fresh air, and made the OPD enjoyable.

It’s certainly a unique skill to educate us Authorised Celebrants, to get us to shut up and listen. Job well done.

Best OPD in all my years as a celebrant.

Sarah was inclusive, knowledgeable, accommodating, good-humoured, and informative. What else can you ask for?

Thank you for facilitating such an informative and fun day.

It was the best OPD I’ve been to.

You were sensational! So helpful and reassuring.

The line of celebrants waiting to thank you personally meant that I was not the only one who thought today was so engaging.

I’ve been to several OPDs and by far this one was the most engaging.

I totally loved the day and have come home full of new ideas.

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Marriage Celebrant Training

I knew I wanted to be a celebrant trainer from the time I did my own initial training (which, to be honest, was underwhelming). I have one of those sponge-like brains that soaks up information, and consequently the legalities of my marriage celebrant role come easily to me. I’ve been sharing my knowledge with my celebrant networks since conducting my first wedding (one of my networking groups calls me The Oracle), and now I have the opportunity to share it with the wider celebrant population.

Ongoing Professional Development

All Commonwealth Registered Marriage Celebrants must undertake five hours of Ongoing Professional Development (OPD) every calendar year. These hours are delivered either by distance online education, or in a single-day Marriage Celebrant Training session with a trainer like me. I am delighted to be contracted to QualTrain to teach OPD from 2018 to 2020. The OPD calendar hasn’t been released yet, but don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

Legals Refresher

While the legalities of our role come easily to me, I know that this isn’t the case for all marriage celebrants. I have developed a legals refresher course, which provides an overview of the legal aspects of our job, including completing the Notice of Intended Marriage and other marriage documentation, legal requirements for the ceremony ceremony, our responsibilities under the Code of Practice for Marriage Celebrants, tricky situations like shortenings of time and visa applications, and all the other issues we have to deal with on a daily basis.

While I firmly believe that all celebrants can benefit, this course is particularly useful for newly registered celebrants; it can be a long time between completing your Certificate IV in Celebrancy, getting registered by the Attorney General’s Department, and conducting your first wedding. It can be valuable to be reminded of the many legal aspects of our role, even simply if it’s just to validate that what you thought was correct.

Run out of my home in Glen Iris, with a maximum class size of three, I run these sessions on Sundays from 11am to 3pm. The cost is $90 inc GST per person, and I’ll even include lunch! If you’re interested in coming along next time I run a session, let me know and I’ll pop you on the waiting list. I’m also more than happy to come to a venue of your choosing if you have a group that live near each other! Contact me to discuss your thoughts!

Please note this is NOT Ongoing Professional Development, and does NOT count towards your five hours of OPD required by the Attorney General’s Department to maintain your marriage celebrant registration. This is an extra! It is also NOT for people who are looking to become celebrants.