Hi and welcome. My name is David Schneider and I am a professional male marriage celebrant. I have called my business, “Professional Ceremonies” because that is exactly what I do. I help you to ensure that your wedding ceremony is stress free, as formal or as casual and relaxed as you wish, and free of headaches or glitches that could leave bad memories in your guest’s minds.
Have you been to a wedding and what you mainly remember is something going wrong, or you not being able to hear properly? I make sure your ceremony does not have those bad memories. Many brides have commented on my attention to detail, so that nothing slips through the cracks. I read a great quote which I feel describes me well...“The difference between something good and something great is attention to detail.”
To watch a short video from a wonderful couple, Claire & Ryan, of their wedding, please click here.
It is such a great time in your life when you start the planning of a wedding. Often I am asked by couples, “where do I start?”. To help you with what I do and the service I offer, I can email you a small sample of what I provide to help you with your wedding ceremony. Whether it is a casual or a formal ceremony, I write it based around your ideas and desires for the style you want. You don’t want a ceremony that the celebrant has given to 100 other couples; there is nothing personal about that, you want it to be yours and yours alone.
I like to say that the ceremony sets the scene for the reception. When you have a great ceremony the guests are in a great mood and talking about it. Guests at my weddings don’t look at their watch and wonder when the drinks are being served, they are enjoying themselves and really listening as we have fun with the ceremony. I don't tell jokes, I tell great stories about you both.
I supply a large amount of information to help you in making your ceremony as personal as you would like. I have developed what I call my Ceremony Guidebook. It contains around 100 pages and is broken down into the different components of the ceremony, for example, the welcome and introduction, the presentation of the bride, the asking, the vows, the exchanging of the rings and music ideas. You then highlight everything you like and give me any other ideas you have and I then write a first draft of the ceremony, which I then come over to read to you or you come to my office. My sample of the guidebook, has one page from each section of the folder, remember the guidebook is 100 pages long. So much great information in it for you. Fill in your details on the contact form and I can send it to you.
When we meet for the initial meeting I will show you the guidebook and everything that is available for you. There is no charge for this meeting of course, it’s just so you can meet me, we throw around ideas etc and that will help you decide if I am the right celebrant for you.
A question some couples ask is how I would describe my celebrant style. I always like to say that both a ceremony and my style is casual and relaxed but with a sense of occasion. I am a great storyteller and I love telling your friends and family great stories about the two of you, especially when we can get a laugh out of them. I don’t like a ceremony that makes you think you are at the comedy festival, it is still a wedding but there should be some fun in it. Every ceremony I do is built around what you are looking for, that is why I write them all individually, I do not take a ceremony off the shelf and just drop your names into it.
If you inform me of the suburb you live in I can let you know some dates and times I can come over to meet you both and I see clients all over Melbourne, from Pakenham to Werribee and Craigieburn, in the evenings and weekends or days if you are available, I always try and work around your schedules. I do see couples Monday-Wednesday till 9pm and on weekends after weddings.
Remember this is a no-obligation meeting. Alternatively, I have my own office and you can have your meetings and the rehearsal there if you wanted to come there.
