Melbourne wedding celebrants: finding a great one is challenging, and it’s hard to get an idea of whether their vibe is gonna fit your proverbial tribe ahead of time. The Celebrant A List is an initiative put together to help solve that, and here you can see a whole host of the very best wedding celebrants Melbourne has to offer.

I’ve been super lucky to work with these wedding celebrants, so read on and enjoy these community marvels and a little insight into the Celebrant A List, and then hire one for your elopement or wedding (check out these awesome small wedding venues too, or these amazing unique wedding dresses).

From quiet and stylish, to outlandish rockstars and everything in between, this unique list of the top wedding celebrants in Melbourne also has photos of every one of these legends taken at the Celebrant A List Baller, so you can get a great idea of how their vibe might align with your own day.

If you want to skip the gab and get to the point, here’s a run-sheet of some of the best Melbourne wedding celebrants that are featured here (in no order):

Best Marriage Celebrant Melbourne (in no order)

1. Anthony Cribbes
2. Nat Sproal
3. Charis White
4. Celebrant Ladylove
5. The Wedding Anarchist
6. Matt Finch
7. Sean Whelan
8. Zena Lythgow
9. Jac the Hitcher
10. Jessie Belle
11. Megan Thompson
12. Damon Hughes
13. Shannon Jeans
14. Megan Watson
15. Pete the Celebrant
16. Rachael Calvert
17. Sweet Wonderful You

Left: Wedding celebrant Blue Mountains: Jac the Hitcher

Lord of the dark-funk, Jac the Hitcher, has retired.

Right: Wedding Celebrant Melbourne: Matt Finch

Grandmaster suave, Matt Finch lives here and also at this beautiful Melbourne gay wedding of Sam and Paul.

Left: Marriage Celebrant – Celebrant Ladylove

Lord of all things neon and dark in the wedding celebrant world, find Annie here.

Right: Wedding Celebrant in Melbourne – Marry Me Sean

As well as being found under an excellent hat, known as one of the Best Marriage Celebrants Melbourne has on offer, you can find Sean here.

Left: Wedding Celebrant in Melbourne – Megan Thompson

As well as being found wrapped in curtains, Megan can be found here.

Right: Wedding Celebrant in Melbourne – Megan Watson

Megan is pointing over there, and to find her we’re pointing here.

Left: Wedding Celebrant – Rachael Calvert

This legendary Tasmanian wedding celebrant can be found here, and while there check out this Bruny Island wedding and this Cradle Mountain elopement.

Right: Wedding Celebrant – Pete the Celebrant

This totally debonair devil can be found here.

Left: Wedding Celebrant in Melbourne – The Wedding Anarchist

Formerly known as Marry Me Dee, and if you want colour and jazz, maybe the best marriage celebrant Melbourne has going. Find her here and here.

Right: Melbourne wedding celebrant – Damon Hughes

Not just a good looking rack for short-shorts, also maybe the best marriage celebrant Melbourne has on offer, find him here. If you’re looking to also pop a bloom in ya’ gob, head here to find an awesome Melbourne wedding florist.

Left: Wedding Celebrant – Sweet Wonderful You

With her name an homage to Fleetwood Mac, find the brilliant, empathetic and effervescent Erin here.

Right: Wedding celebrant in Melbourne – Anthony Cribbes

You’ve seen young ‘Tony a lot around these parts, and if a modern James Bond is your vibe, maybe the best marriage celebrant in Melbourne. Find him here and here.

Left: Wedding Celebrant – Shannon Jeans

This rainbow pocket rocket can be found here. Also see her in action at this Two Ton Max wedding we both worked on.

Right: Unique wedding celebrant – Nat Sproal

Lord mistress of all things hilarious, Nat lives here and here. I also worked with this brilliant mofo at this Fortyfive Downstairs wedding.

Left: Wedding Celebrant in Melbourne – Charis White

I’ve worked with this gem many a time, possibly the best marriage celebrant Melbourne has around, you can find Charis here, and we’re featured together on Suzanne Harward. Head here to find out her opinion on how to write a wedding ceremony.

Right: Unique Marriage Celebrant – Jessie Belle

This cartwheeling legend can be found here

This is a little chat with the Celebrant A-List founder, Anthony Cribbes, about why it exists and how it benefits the Melbourne wedding community.

Finding the best wedding celebrant Melbourne has: What is the Celebrant A list?

On paper it’s a directory with some hand picked celebrants. Maybe it’s also an antidote to the ‘come one come all’ sites that I find just end up causing us much confusion and anxiety for couples who are by and large going through this process for the first time.

BUT what it actually is a chance to be a little different in the market. All of the directory members are people from my own and some other close confidant’s personal networks.

These were people we already were swapping leads with. So whilst it’s not the definitive and finite list of who’s a quality melbourne wedding celebrant, I can definitely say that all members are quality people and celebrants.

How can couples getting engaged best benefit from the A list in finding a Melbourne wedding celebrant?

So the Celebrant A List is also a little community group. We all know which other members are better suited for which kind of couple just based on the initial enquiry.

So my advice would be to get on the directory, to find the kind of wedding celebrant you think fits the bill and send them an enquiry.

If they’re not available, we work as a group to find you someone that is not only free but will also fit what you are looking for.

It seems to be something of an army. Any favourite cult leaders that were referenced?

Is Brian Jones or David Koresh a funny or poor tasting joke?! Nah but in all honesty, the crew on the Wedding Celebrant A List is from the network of wedding celebrants who were already naturally jelling together.

Everyone on the list is vouched for – we avoid cult like activities, thinking and environments, we feel the market for that is already catered for!

The wedding industry is getting more and more flooded across all vendors, as barriers to entry are removed. This makes it not only more challenging for a couple in sifting through available options, but also challenging as a vendor trying to create a sustainable business. How do you see the creation of this network as fundamentally addressing both of those challenges?

Haha, what a question! If I was to say what was the mission of the Wedding Celebrant A List, it would be to address exactly this challenge.

We have moved from a world where once upon a time we had to wait until every Thursday night at 7:30PM before our favourite show would be on…now I can binge watch whatever I want, whenever I want.

This is how society works now, so the Wedding Celebrant A List is the kind of place where people can come and not only can we help them feel less overwhelmed we also support each other’s businesses.

It’s for this reason alone why we don’t have hundreds and hundreds of members as we genuinely feel like in the end that helps no one – the couples or the celebrants.

As I already mentioned, just by enquiring with one us, we’re kind of all there to help you find not only the right celebrant but also many other vendors.

We all buy based on people giving us recommendations, it’s kind of the same approach over at the Wedding Celebrant A List.

You held the Celebrant Melbourne A List ball over Christmas, which was an epic event with the best Melbourne Wedding Celebrants in town: whats next on the cards?

Well before good ol’ Rona hit the plan was to try and host an event in each major city where we have representation. But now we’re focussed on our big event next year, Hitchmas.

We plan on making this the best business workshop/networking/party kind of event ever hosted in the wedding world.

Where to find the best marriage celebrant Melbourne has on offer?

Head back up through this post and click through to any of the brilliant Melbourne wedding celebrants websites.

Find the Wedding Celebrant A-List online

Finding a Melbourne wedding celebrant can be a bit of a massive task – fortunately, the Wedding Celebrant A List has been assembled to take some of the legwork out of it. Verified legends, take a look and find your Melbourne wedding celebrant below, and then get them down for your Melbourne city elopement.

The Celebrant A List website
The Celebrant A List Instagram

Link one of these legends up with a brilliant Melbourne wedding planner, and with the brilliant minds of Firecracker Event an incredible grazing table.

All photographs on this page are by Briars Atlas, and any usage must first gain permission.

Vanity fair photo booth

Want to get photos like these? Then you should check out our new little collaborative side business, BLANC, that channels the spirit of a Vanity Fair photo booth… we think there’s nothing like it out there.

Book me to photograph your wedding alongside your favourite wedding celebrant (if you want)

Briars Atlas Wedding Photography Melbourne – Make an Enquiry

I Do Drive Thru is a worldwide wedding startup, helping couples get hitched in the middle of Covid19 while adhering to the restrictions and saving the partying for later. Since launching in Melbourne as a drive through wedding service, it’s spread nationally, and has since popped up all over the USA. Melbourne wedding celebrant Mel (who also moonlights as The Ceremony Store) runs us through why it started and how it’s helped couples all over the world.

Related article: read here to find out how to get married quickly in Australia (and book I Do Drive Thru).

Who are you and what do you do at I Do Drive Thru?

I’ve been a Marriage and Funeral Celebrant for 15 years and own the companies, The Ceremony Store, The I Do Drive Thru and The Last Time.  I am also a Celebrant Trainer with Australian Celebrations Training, Furniture Maker, Writer, Mother and Wife but I have always wanted to be an Electrician.

I am obsessed with learning as much as I can in this lifetime, I am perpetually curious. I try one new task every year until I get good at it, then I move on: I have learnt lock-picking, languages, carpentry, metal-detecting, and written a book.

When COVID 19 became a part of our world I was given medical advice to isolate which meant I could no longer do weddings. The next day I gave away/rescheduled 17 weddings and it was, to say the least; devastating, not just for me, but for my couples. Not only that, I felt horribly guilty giving my weddings to other Celebrants who could possibly get COVID.

That night I lay awake thinking about how I could keep those Celebrants safe and keep working from home during COVID.

To digress, I have always been a bit obsessed with Vegas style weddings and in my early Celebrancy career, I used to ride my red postie motorbike to weddings dressed as Elvis. It just seemed pretty natural that Vegas-vibed drive thru weddings and getting couples to stay in their cars while getting married and keeping the Celebrant distanced was the answer to all of my problems.

The next morning I texted 3 of the most awesome Celes I know, said let’s start this business, and all of them said yes without hesitation and 8 days later, we had a business name, logo, website and a press release. On our launch day we had over 32 calls from the press, 10 enquiries and booked our very first wedding.

Just by chance, my co-founders Kate, Zena and Klara were the perfect combo to get everything going, and the main driver between all of us was the passion to continue working while this crisis was going on around us. 

We all love what we do and while we all kind of felt like sitting around grieving for what we had lost, we forced ourselves to build something new to fit with the changed times. Our catch cry became ‘we will work that out later’ as the business moved so incredibly quickly.

I honestly believe that anyone can do anything they set their mind to, impossible isn’t in my vocabulary. Any skill can be learned, any work can be completed no matter what limits there are, so we worked 19-20 hours days for that first week and we pulled it off.

The most rewarding thing about starting the business was the instant gratification we got with the media interest, we knew that our idea was good and the public interest confirmed that.

I Do Drive Thru seemed to grow incredibly quickly. How has it felt seeing it take off, and at such scale?

My gorgeous co-founders put so much trust in me right from the get go. We organised everything via phone, zoom and email, we have only sat in the same space once since we started the business, which is pretty incredible. 

On launch day, seeing Klara on the 6pm news launching our business was such an achievement and then to replicate that model in each state over and over and then in the US has been amazing!

We now have 21 Celebrants working Aus wide with us and 2 in the US.  

How has I Do Drive Thru seamlessly melted into the industry as it exists currently?

Celebrants weren’t the only people affected by COVID, it’s also the photographers, venue owners, car hire companies, florists, everyone has been affected in our industry. We worked hard to create a model that could encompass as many of these suppliers in local communities as possible, so they could be involved too. 

A huge benefit to our business has been that we managed to snag some of the best photographers in Australia to work with us and these artists have provided some of the most epic photos of ceremonies. 

Having these professional images to share with potential couples so they can see that tiny weddings can be so intimate and beautiful and moving has been incredible, a professional picture really is worth a thousand words.

Bringing work to all types of wedding industry professionals, while they were feeling pretty down about losing their own work, has given us all the warm fuzzies.

Have there been any themes to the type stories and couples coming through I Do Drive Thru?

Our couples really range in age, we have had couple in their 20’s to couple’s in their 80’s. The similarity between them is that they really want to get married, but feel like they don’t fit into the white wedding dress/getting given away by Dad/first dance scenario. We have had couples that have stayed in their car for the ceremony, gotten out and married under trees, created convoys so family and friends can come and watch and couples have arrived via cars, helicopters, motorbikes and bicycles.

My fave couple so far is a couple where the Bride recently became paraplegic and she is still getting used to navigating new places and feels a little self-conscious. 

Her Fiancé just wanted to marry her, because in his words, ‘she is the most amazing woman in the world’.  When they heard about the Drive Thru and she saw that she didn’t have to get out of the car and worry about wheelchair logistics, she cried, because this was the only way she felt comfortable getting married. 

How do you see both the future of weddings and your place within it at I Do Drive Thru?

COVID is going to be here for a while. It’s not going to magically disappear, and I honestly think this will impact the wedding industry for years. 

In the short term we have the uncertainty of not knowing when we can go back to booking big celebrations and it makes planning pretty impossible.

Then when restrictions are lifted then yes, technically, we can go back to bigger celebrations, but is it a celebration if you can’t hug your Nan when you walk back down the aisle? Is it a celebration if you can’t share a shot glass or eat bread out of the same breadbasket? 

The effects of social distancing will continue to live on, especially when it comes to celebrating that way that we are used to.

A surprising side-effect to this whole COVID scenario, is that suddenly eloping isn’t taboo, eloping makes you responsible, kinda like a hero, you are protecting your community by having a small wedding and that shift in thinking has been kinda rad.

People have been eloping because there isn’t the stigma attached to it anymore, heck the government practically endorsed eloping when you were only allowed to have the marrying couple and two witnesses present.

Any key advice for couples considering getting married during or after Covid19?

My advice to couples during COVID has been to follow your heart and remember that there is a huge difference between a marriage and a wedding. (Check out Will and Jac for Melbourne wedding planning). 

If you wanna get married, get married, do it, commit to your lover, that’s so important, don’t let COVID stop you. There is literally no better time to love and be loved than right now, having companionship during a crisis is what will get you through it.

When people ask what you did during COVID how totally romantic is it to say that you married your honey and then shacked up in iso together? (Side note – like this Blue Mountains Elopement).

If your heart is set on a wedding that encompasses family and friends, then wait, but wait until COVID is dead and gone and we can hug again.  Have a huge wedding down the track, when you can handshake and dance, but you will have to be patient.  

And for those that want both, do it! Have the most romantic, sweet tiny ceremony now and make it all about each other, then have a huge wedding party later on-best of both worlds.

There’s so many polarising stances on dealing with this from a business perspective, especially when small-business in the events space is exposed to the extreme end of the risk dial. What’s your advice to businesses navigating this sustainably, while continuing to place their couples first?

Running a business during a pandemic is tough. Terms and conditions/your contract/Statement of Fees documents are everything. Mine was pretty broad but certainly never covered a killer virus!

I always say to other Celebrants be tough on paper, but soft in reality. You have to have your rules in place, but be flexible, don’t forget everyone is going through something and creating relationships, and word of mouth recommendations in this business is what it is all about. 

I always rule with my heart and not my head, so I certainly don’t set the best example for other business owners, but I find if you treat people with kindness then that’s what you will get back.

What’s been a personal joy you’ve gotten through this whirlwind?

I have always gotten more out of what I do for others, than what I do for myself, so to create a business that has helped so people feel good and have a bit of purpose during COVID has probably been one of the most rewarding things I have done for a long time.

Find I Do Drive Thru online

I Do Drive Thru website
I Do Drive Thru instagram

All photos on this page are from I Do Drive Thru weddings by Briars Atlas. Images may be re-posted with credit and a link to this site.

For more info on how to get married during Covid 19 away from a drive thru wedding, check out these small wedding venues in Melbourne, and this information piece on having a Melbourne City elopement during Covid 19. For Australias best wilderness elopements, you can’t go past Tasmania’s iconic west coast – so check out this Cradle Mountain elopement in Tasmania.

To have your small Melbourne City elopement filmed by the best wedding videographers in town, check out Bottlebrush Films as they’re doing filming for overseas guests and relatives who can’t make it.

Emily and Tony had a beautiful, stylish wedding at St Kilda’s iconic wedding venue, the Prince Hotel – the Deck at Circa. With a room full of their loved ones, floral styling by the mastermind Katie Marx florals and a ceremony run by the inimitable Gina Liano celebrant, this was an evening of colour and brilliant love.

Photographing a wedding at The Deck at Circa always means a wedding where no-one misses a beat: there’s a beautiful seamless transition from the ceremony (held either indoors our outdoors) into the reception, with the space morphing perfectly as you please between the two.

Emily had an iconic walk down a gauntlet of their family and friends, before respect was paid to loved ones passed, and a gently boisterous ceremony (in a way only Gina Liano can do) weaved their story through the room before they carried on the party into the evening.

The Deck Circa Wedding: Emily and Tony

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About The Deck at Circa

The Deck at Circa is a brilliant blank canvas, and a light filled space with an enormous deck area (as the name lets on) to host Melbourne wedding ceremonies indoors or out.

The area of St Kilda offers a tonne of beautiful wedding photo locations, from the foreshore nearby, all the way over to the beautiful heritage art-deco architecture of the area. Usually i’ll take couples out for a 15-20 minute loop, and in that time you can cover all the art-deco hotspots, spend some time on the foreshore, and also enjoy some of the gardens around where those two worlds meet.

The Prince Hotel is one of our more known rooftop wedding venues, and has seen every type of celebration under the sun. The expansive deck overlooks Fitzroy Street, and enjoys brilliant sunsets bursting through the steel cladding around the windows.

A 300 space carpark takes care of all the guests, the venue has plenty of accommodation, and the rest of the St Kilda surrounds take care of everyone for the next day.

Hire The Deck at Circa for your wedding

Get yourself a Melbourne wedding celebrant, Katie Marx (see her handiwork at the venue just up above), C2 films (Melbourne wedding videographers super experienced with The Deck at Circa), a Melbourne wedding band AND a Melbourne wedding planner and off we go.

For another beautiful Melbourne rooftop wedding venue, check out South Melbournes Luminare.

Looking abroad? Check out this Queenstown Helicopter Elopement, and otherwise check out this post for more unique Melbourne wedding venues.

Book me to photograph your wedding at The Prince Deck

Briars Atlas Wedding Photography: Enquire

Two artists and art-lovers brought their community together for their glorious Quat Quatta Wedding in Ripponlea, Melbourne. Nadisha and Tendai brought on the skills of the inimitable Yo Mafia, who came to tear up their reception dance-floor (in between doing RNB gigs in literal stadiums around the world).

A Mariachi band set the tone as guests walked into the beautiful Quat Quatta grounds, leading into their soft and brilliant ceremony.

Quat Quatta have also been featured on a list of the most unique venues in Melbourne, and is one of my most favourite venues in Melbourne to photograph a wedding at. Incredible heritage surrounds, lush greenery, and an interior and exterior that can be transformed into any direction you can imagine. Check out the incredible Quat Quatta wedding of Nadisha and Tendai to see how they celebrated there.

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Book Quat Quatta for your wedding

Quat Quatta website: https://www.quatquatta.com.au/

Quat Quatta has an enormous spread of spaces ranging from a festooned outdoor area for ceremonies, incredible heritage rooms, and every sort of texture imaginable in and around those. I usually avoid taking couples away from the grounds for their portraits – just because there are so many brilliant options on-site, which means no battling inner-city traffic, as well as getting back to your crew to knock down wines and continue the celebrations sooner rather than later. Looking for something smaller? Check out these incredible Small Wedding Venues Melbourne has to offer.

You’re getting married, you’re looking for a photographer, and you want to know the right questions to ask, and what sort of things you’re going to get. Experience is important, and i’m lucky to have plenty of it since our laws finally changed to allow same-sex weddings. I’m a same-sex wedding photographer based in Melbourne, and have been fortunate enough to photograph the weddings of beautiful couples all over the planet. On this page you’ll see some beautiful same sex wedding photography captured in Melbourne, and as far as San Francisco, as commissioned by couples looking for gay wedding photography that’s a little bit different.

Same sex wedding photographer Melbourne

On this page, i’ve put together some of my favourite images from five same sex weddings held in Melbourne and Beyond.

To see what other couples have said about me, take a look at my Melbourne wedding photographer reviews.

If you want to plan either a wedding (large or small) or Melbourne elopement, reach out to me if you’re after a photographer. For small and large wedding planning, I recommend Melbourne wedding planners Will and Jac.

Same sex wedding photography – Celeste and Sam

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Same sex wedding photographer: Matt and Andy

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Same sex wedding photographer (featured on Hello May) Anna and Anna

You can see Anna and Annas gorgeous same sex wedding, held at the unique Melbourne wedding venue Gather and Tailor, over here on Hello May.

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Yarra Valley Same Sex wedding: Daniel and Darkus

Check out Daniel and Darkus’s beautiful Yering Station wedding in full.

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Same sex wedding: David and Dat

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Same sex wedding photographer: Sam and Paul

Sam and Pauls incredible Thornbury wedding will be on my site soon, but in the meantime you can check out their brilliant celebrant, Matt Finch, over on my Melbourne wedding celebrants page. Also check out their drop-in to Kenny Lover.

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