CelebrateLife!
CelebrateLife!

Merrilyn Williams

            

  Watch this compelling story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4Y1qTSqmgI

  

Gay and Lesbian Celebrations

 

 

 

Come ON Australia!

 

Sadly, same-sex marriages are not yet legally recognised in Australia but progress towards equality is slowly being made! Until that great day, perhaps the next best thing is to celebrate your love for one another in a Commitment Ceremony in which you publicly declare and celebrate your love for one another.

A Commitment Ceremony celebrates the physical, emotional and spiritual joining of two people who love one another and who wish to live together as Partners in Life, sharing all that the future may bring. It is a powerful, public declaration and celebration of love not just between two people, but also those who share their happiness.

Join with family and friends and share stories about your life together; read love poetry to each other;  or invite special people in your life to read for you; write your own vows; and pledge yourselves to one another as Life Partners in a ceremony which reflects your personal, cultural and spiritual values. Celebrate your union and your dreams for your future!

Because the process for creating your unique wedding ceremony is the same as for a straight marriage ceremony - but without the legalities - you might like to visit these pages when planning your ceremony.

Creating Your Marriage Ceremony

Choosing Your Celebrant

Read these messages of thanks from same-sex couples who’ve celebrated their love for one another in their unique ceremony.

And read about Marriage Equality       

First I'll just add some pics because they say it all really .... sometimes words are superfluous!

Holley and Alana   

photos courtesy Mandi Whitten

 

Dear Merrilyn
Thank you for everything you did for us for our wedding day, we really appreciated all of your time and effort. Thanks to all of your hard work, our ceremony truly reflected who we are and we are still being complimented on it! It couldn't have been more perfect! All the best for the future, Kristie and Jessica photos by Brett Hartwig

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kristie and Jessica shared their views on marriage equality

in this article written by freelance journalist - Sky Harrison  

 

 

Hi Merrilyn
All of our friends raved about you! Lots of our friends play in the orchestra - and do wedding gigs in their spare time - thought you were so wonderful. They loved the fact that the ceremony perfectly reflected both Tammy and myself, and it wasn’t ‘stuffy’ or super-formal. We are not like that so our friends were rapt that the ceremony was just like us! Thanks again for making our day so perfect, and supporting us throughout the ceremony! Love, Karen 

 

  

 

                            photo courtesy Mandi Whitten

Thank you for officiating at our ceremony. Your input and guidance helped shape our day into a truly memorable event. We have received so many positive comments from family and friends, who were impressed with the way you made our ceremony a personal celebration of our commitment and love. Thank you for keeping us on track with our preparations, and for being professional and patient ...with love and thanks, D and H 

Thank you for your attention to detail. Thank you for your kindness and consideration. Thank you for your helping hands on the day.  Your words and your heart made our day! Thank you for making the both of us even happier. Love, J & LJ

Thank you so much for the great job you did on Saturday. Firstly calming us down and secondly conducting our ceremony, and you looked lovely. The feedback we've had regarding your self has been wonderful. You were instantly liked by everyone that spoke to you. Everyone loved our words and the whole thing. God how much did everyone cry! My friend Polly cried through the whole thing because she was just so happy for us.

A lot of people were humbled to the fact that we invited them to our special day. We were told it was a gutsie move and that we reached more people than we realise. I guess if you have never been exposed to an event like that it would make you think beyond the square. Not that that was our intention at all. We were two people who love each other and wanted to share our joy with everyone…It was a pleasure meeting you and sharing our most important day of our life with you…thank you once again Merrilyn. Love, R and S’

When we decided to have a ceremony, we had no idea where to start!

We found Merrilyn on the internet.

She gave us ideas and suggestions, she also understood how special our commitment was and how nervous we both were.

On the day she made all our family feel welcome.

We are proud that we went ahead.

Thanks again Merrilyn!

Ryan and Barry

 

  

We can't thank you enough for helping us to make our day special.  D & S

Thank you very much for helping make this day come true. A & H

It was a perfect ceremony for a perfect day...Merrilyn, you are a beautiful person - we are grateful that you conducted our ceremony in a most inspiring way. Many guests felt they were included in the ceremony and has sparked ideas for their own commitment ceremonies / weddings.
DM & T

 
 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for your direction of the ceremony and for presenting us to the people special to us in such a powerful and moving ceremony. You have played a special part in the beginning of the rest of our lives together. Lots of love,
A & C

Thanks so much for putting together such a beautiful ceremony for us. We loved everything about it and will have no hesitation in recommending you to our friends...everyone commented on the lovely job you did on the ceremony, from you professionalism to your warmth and sincerity… thank you once again. We hope you'll be available to renew our vows at a later date. Best wishes.
C & J

Thank you so much for all of your work and the effort that you put into our ceremony, we had many great comments from our guests all of whom enjoyed it immensely ... it is a great credit to you the presentation of the certificate - it will give us something to treasure along with our memories of the day for many years to come! Thank You! Kind regards,
G & R

Thank you for being part of our ceremony and for helping to make our day special ...we still have people looking through the photos as well as reliving such a wonderful day...thanks again Merrilyn we hope you are able to perform many more ceremonies like ours to bring many happy memories to other couples.
SB & TH


On behalf of P and myself we want to extend our sincerest and warmest thanks for an amazing ceremony. All tears aside we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and hope you did too. We have received so much positive feedback and thought it only appropriate we should share this with you, the "Master of Ceremonies". Well Done, well Done, Well Done!!!
P & P

Hi Merrilyn,
It was great to see you! We have been to a few weddings since ours and I have to say, each time we have been reminded about how lucky we were to have you for our ceremony! Wow, some people can do a really bad job! Karen and I both talked about how seeing you at Kingsley and Gayle’s just made it seem like our ceremony was yesterday and brought back really lovely memories. (I still stand by the fact that our wedding was the best ever and I wouldn’t change a thing about it!!!)  You are a truly gifted celebrant! I am not sure if Kingsley told you but he told Karen that he was inspired by our wedding to pop the question to Gayle, which is a really lovely circle to be a part of!
Karen and Tammy

For more inspiration, please visit the other pages on this website.

 

photo courtesy Mandi Whitten

To Australian Marriage Equality