Hi Noa

You are 100% correct and that was a perfect example about telling the bride what she should have ..yes I do it, most of us do it and yes, it's wrong ..it should be what the bride wants and we must not assume she has no idea so offer what suits us. Do as I say here don't do what I do!! What you are doing is much the same except your film does the selling so in essence you are saying "this is what you need" ... It's called marketing my friend and it's how we make a living ..no it's not the right way to approach a bride but we are all trying to make a living so the last thing we need to do is ask a bride "What do you want in your wedding film" ... She might say ..shoot the vows only and then the speeches and that's it!! We never want that as we make a miserable amount of money and we KNOW she will regret asking for what she wanted and blame you. Point taken ...bottom line is take her for a ride in the luxury limo and sell her that concept.

Roger? I am in the same boat as you ... the market in the last two years has honestly bottomed out ..brides have cancelled weddings as their partner has lost his high paying job on the mines ... generally not a great market .... 2 years ago we were turning away brides, a 4 bed home was renting for $600 a week (and hard to find) and now we have over 8000 vacant rental properties in the Perth area and rentals have dropped by 50% .... the mines have laid off a huge number of workers and property foreclosures have doubled .... We are now in a self made low income area with most brides looking at self catering receptions in a hall, or just opting for a registry wedding. Most celebrants, in fact, are making their own little "wedding areas" in their back yards and doing marriages for as little as $350!!

That's interesting about the backyard wedding Chris as it would be totally unrecognised in the UK. A place for weddings has to be sanctioned by law and a licence granted with all sorts of tight restrictions on how and where it is done. You can't for instance get married in an area where alcohol is served, it would have to be separated off, so down the local pub is a no no unless they have a separate room licensed and approved for weddings.

It always amuses me when I see Ausie weddings in the park. :-)

Roger

What you are doing is much the same except your film does the selling so in essence you are saying "this is what you need" ... It's called marketing my friend and it's how we make a living ..

Actually what I am only showing a bride is what she will be missing if she doesn't book me, in this way I am not trying to sell her anything she didn't need or want in the first place, something you keep referring to and which makes a difference to me.

Hi Roger

A registered civil celebrant can perform a wedding ceremony anywhere they wish ..even over the kitchen table if need be. We have a fair number of "wedding reception centres" which sport a reception area, nice gardens and then a ceremony area complete with a gazebo. The only legal requirements are that you have two witnesses and the couple can legally marry and are sober! I would say that close to 90% of our weddings here are civil ceremonies ... churches have jumped on the wedding band wagon and a Church wedding can set you back over $1000 easily for just the use of the Church and the priest. Most venues will charge only half that for a wedding ceremony so Church weddings are becoming fewer and fewer.