V11 Weddings (from across the Pacific...)

Barbara Densmore is a Canadian Marriage Celebrant who has been an international member of the ACCN since late last year. Barbara writes:

I have to admit that I've been a lurker on the ACCN forum for almost a year now, and am, I suspect, the token North American. I found this group after I graduated from the Celebrant Foundation and Institute in the USA, looking for some sense of community. As a Canadian, Celebrancy is just beginning here...you are miles ahead of us. And many Canadian practices and regulations are very different than in the USA...they are my neighbour, but you are like an Aunt or a cousin...:)

Perhaps the biggest difference is around designation. In the USA, while each city/county has its own legal wedding ceremony process (i.e. courthouse, City Hall), it was the religious part that was a true eye opener for me. In my Weddings course at the Institute, all my American classmates signed up to become Ministers over the Internet. There are a few programs that do that at little or no cost. That allowed them to "hang out their shingle" immediately...legally, they must register with the local authorities as a service provider and then complete the requisite process of filing the wedding forms.

Here's one phenomenon that is coming from the on-line Ministerial designation...anyone can register.

So that means that Sally and Bob can ask Uncle George to marry them. Now, Uncle George may be a helluva nice guy, but there's a good chance that he knows little or nothing about ceremony design or delivery. A few of my celebrant buddies in the USA have been approached by acquaintances who agreed to lead a wedding ceremony for someone only to discover that they were "in over their heads." Trouble in paradise.

In Canada, we are perhaps where you were 30 years ago. There are only two types of wedding officiants: legal and religious. The legal path varies within the provinces: in eastern Canada, designated lawyers usually provide the service (hopefully, they are not divorce lawyers...:( Here on the West Coast, mostly retired government officials called Marriage Commissioners provide a standard short and sweet ceremony with legal statements for a flat $75 CDN. They are limited in numbers, and on a summer Saturday, can spend the day rushing from one ceremony to the next.

For me, the only way I could function as a Wedding Celebrant was to pursue the religious stream, and it took much digging to find a way to become credentialed. Interestingly, most of the people who are contacting me want a non-religious ceremony. It shows that there is a definite need here for Celebrancy, but our government doesn't recognize it yet.

After all the agony of getting credentialed, I have to admit, after reading the forum, that we certainly get off easy when it comes to paperwork. The couple gets the license, often at a local insurance agency of some other service business, they bring it to the wedding, we all sign it, and then I pop it in the mail on the way home. I have a registry book to record the ceremonies I do, and that's it.

So I have no idea what a NOIM is, although it seems to cause many headaches!

Even though I spend most of my time lurking in the background, I really do enjoy being, in my own small way, a part of this group. It helps me, one of only 2 practicing celebrants in British Columbia and perhaps 10 in all of Canada, feel like I am part of a community of practice.

Barbara Densmore
Professional Celebrant & Wedding Officiant

Custom Ceremonies and Celebrations
Traditional Rites of Passage ♦ Personal Celebrations ♦ Business and Community Milestones

Call me at: 1.877.290.5065 (toll-free)
Email me at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Vsit my site: www.barbaradensmore.ca
Life. Love. Beginnings. Ends. Mark Them Remarkably.

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