OSY Old School yard olives flowers and wedding celebrant

Wedding Celebrant

Here in Aotearoa we are lucky to have very sensible laws around marriage. Getting married has been wrenched away from being a religious monopoly to being something wonderful and available to any loving couple. (over the age of eighteen) Here at the Old School Yard we would be delighted to help you to celebrate your relationship now that you have decided to be married. So, without any more blather, what do you do next?

1/ (most important) choose who you are going to marry. It's always wise to get their agreement :)

2/ Choose who is going to be your celebrant. e.g. choose me!.

Do you want a registry style wedding? Once upon a time, you could pop down to the local registry office and an official would perform a wedding ceremony right there and then! You still had to have a license and witnesses. Nothing dodgy about it at all. There are no longer registry offices. So instead, you can request a registry wedding and choose a celebrant. It must be within ten km of their place and there is a standard format and script. It takes about ten minutes.. The price is fixed by the department of internal affairs at $95-. But there are not many celebrants registered to do this. Most of us offer a "registry style ceremony". which will cost just a wee bit more.

So, for (starting at) $300- if you are not too far away, I can be at your place of choice and you can have a lovely ceremony at your favourite beach for example.

There is another solution. You can go to a place like Boutique Barn, and choose their elopement package starting at $1500-. It is a very nice rural location. You can have a nice celebrant (choose me!) and a few friends.

OR you can come here to my place. Also a nice rural location. We do not do overnight stays or sit down meals. Our package includes a welcome for you and your friends (two to six) For just $495- If the weather is good you can choose a spot under the oak tree, in the olive grove, bring some bubbles to celebrate. We can be flexible.

OR (third solution) I can come to your place. Or a place of your choosing. Near by of course. A friends place, a park, the beach etc

You will notice that even at this early stage, you are asked for the name of your proposed celebrant. You can put my name in there. John McConnell. You can change to anyone else if you wish. But for now this is so that DIA can send stuff to the celebrant. They know where to find me.

    There is an option to ask for a copy of the marriage certificate. I recommend you tick that box now. It is way easier than applying for it later.

    We need a proposed date. Try to nail it down to a specific date so your friends and I will know when to attend.

It is a really good idea to meet. You should really vet a few celebrants, rather like a job interview and choose one you are comfortable with. All celebrants here in Aotearoa NZ are vetted closely by DIA and CANZ. CANZ  celebrants have a strict code of conduct to follow. Look for the CANZ or VCANZ symbol as a sign of quality. All celebrants are listed by DIA and you can find anyone on the DIA web site. Look for the CANZ symbol and perhaps even the celebrants qualifications. My entry on that page looks like this:

    Find me at Dept of internal affairs web page

Your celebrant will organise a backup in case they get run over on their way to your wedding.

OK, let's say you have chosen me. Thank you very much. I will arrange a meeting to get some more detail of what you wish your wedding to be like. You can literally do anything you like. You could both be standing the backs of live crocodiles if you REALLY want to do that.

But you get my drift. I can talk through various options with you. Scale back your more outrageous or perhaps actually dangerous or illegal proposals and suggest some you may like to consider.

You will probably wish to write your own vows. I will need to see them and be sure that they meet the very simple requirements. Basically your are not allowed to simply say "I do" to my question and bingo you are married. You must say "I (your name) take you ( their name) to be my lawful wedded wife/husband etc." OR words to that effect.


Google/Bing etc. is wonderful. You can see loads of other peoples weddings, watch videos and read or listen to their vows. You will soon realise that the world is your oyster.

So ask for a meeting, give me a call, email or what ever. We can have a chat and you will have taken the first step. You are on your way.

But how? That old phone that sits on the kitchen bench: 09 4211753

The modern thing in my pocket: 0274 533 907 OR 0800 222 812

email: john@ccat.co.nz

    Celebrant testimonials

    Susan says:
    We attended a beautiful beach side ring exchange ceremony this year for our niece and her husband, in which John McConnell was the celebrant. They were married overseas and wanted to share this milestone with family and friends in New Zealand. John made the occasion warm, relaxed and meaningful with gentle humour and an easy, natural style. It was a truly memorable celebration and matched the couple's vision for the day.     Susan Franckin October 2025

    Alison  says:
    Johnny was just the right person to be our celebrant. He had clear communication & helpful advice throughout the process, listened and learned about us, and made it clear he truly cared about our families joining together on our wedding day. Thank you, Johnny!