 Opinion Piece by Nancy Batenburg
Civil Marriage Celebrant Darwin NT
Conflict of interest for civil marriage celebrants is such a subjective and complex topic.
There are celebrants who 'value add' to their celebrancy practices. In asking other celebrants what they offer as part of their services to clients, as part of their normal fees, I have found celebrants who offer 'free use' of:
- the celebrant's beautifully designed garden, complete with resident arch and seasonal flowers, for smaller weddings;
- a reduced rate / payment schedule for future naming ceremonies of any children born of the marriage and/or any future ceremonies;
- the celebrant's sound system for the ceremony, but there is a non-refundable booking fee if the sound system, or any of the other more elaborate equipment, is needed for the reception afterwards;
- a ring cushion, garter and flower girl baskets;
- husband's limousine (which was part of his business, but part of her optional extras package);
- a small collection of free photos of the wedding (husband is a commercial photographer, and he is a qualified photographer with his own business - obviouisly reprints of any of the photos is through him, and his business);
- a free slideshow presentation of the couple playing as guests arrive at the ceremony, complete with their choice of music (set up on a large screen by the husband, courtesy of his IT business, which has a brief flash of his advertising every ten slides);
- a floral gift, offered to the bride when she books the celebrant (again, courtesy of the partner's florist shop);
- a gift of a printed order of service on beautiful and fashionable paper up to 50 copies, printed on the celebrant's colour laser printer;
- a gift basket of 'goodies', given at the rehearsal, courtesy of the winery where one celebrant lives; and
- Bed and Breakfast accommodation as part of the ceremony planning exercise and/or a present at the first anniversary.
Technically, none of these celebrants are charging separate fees for the things they offer clients, and they are not part of a business enterprise by that celebrant - and these are optional services to their standard fees for a marriage ceremony. No one is forcing couples to access these things (but no one gets a reduction in ceremony fees if they don't take up the offer).
Clients are made aware that these things are available with those celebrants only (as part of their unique marketing), and come within their fee structure. So, bottom line, no additional or separate fees are charged for free use of those things, and therefore as a 'value added service' or a 'gift' to clients, apparently there is no conflict of interest.
And yes, most of the celebrants offering these things have a letter from MCS advising that there is no conflict of interest if they are giving things to couples as part of their value added services.
- Is conflict of interest a semantic exercise?
- Is conflict of interest just an exercise in getting around the guidelines?
- Are the guidelines sufficient to ensure that true conflicts of interest are avoided?
All of the celebrants listed above are honest, dedicated and committed celebrants - they are operating within the guidelines in that no money is being charged specifically for these additional services. In all instances, they are not signatories to a business offering those potential marriage-related services.
However, in speaking to other celebrants, there appears to be an uneasy truce, a very fine line, between generosity and conflict of interest...
Your opinion?
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