Including your Culture in your Wedding

Sun, 2 Feb 2014

Australia is a multi-cultural nation and many couples come from varied and diverse backgrounds. When they marry, they want to be able to include part of their culture into their wedding. This can be done by dress, ritual or custom.

I recently married Sam and Dia and Dia chose to acknowledge her Fijian background by having her bridal party wear the traditional dress of her country, the Tapa. Sam and Dia also included a blessing from their pastor. The personalisation of their ceremony made it a very special time for all present.

I have often been asked to perform a marriage ceremony conjointly with a pastor or leader of a particular faith or denomination. This person is not authorised in Australia to perform marriage ceremonies, but they are closely connected to the wedding party.  There is no problem with including this cultural diversity in the ceremony. As long as a registered marriage celebrant says the Monitum and administers the vows and ring part of the ceremony, another person can assist in the ceremony thus including the cultural component of the bride and groom.

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