Celebrate Your Same Sex Marriage in Tauranga

Congratulations on your decision to marry, taking this next wonderful and significant step in your relationship.

I have been privileged to be a civil union celebrant since 2006. My firm belief then was that love can be neither boxed in… nor out. That core belief has never changed. I believe that everyone has the right to make not only a deep and personal commitment to the person they are walking life’s journey with – but that that commitment should be a legally recognised marriage as well.

And, after much national discussion (let’s not go there!), on 17 April 2013 the New Zealand Parliament passed the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill. This amendment finally meant that same sex and transgender couples were to be accorded equal relationship rights and able to marry. While I am not proud that New Zealand waited to be the 13th country in the world to do this, I felt hugely honoured to officiate at one of the first same sex marriages in Aotearoa/New Zealand on the 19th August 2013. Possibly the first, as the couple wished to be married right on the dawn of this wonderful day. Click here for the newspaper article.

I work with you as I do for all couples, with openness, integrity, warmth and fun. Please click on the Weddings page to see how the creation of your marriage ceremony evolves, and how it will work on the day!

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like to know more.

LOVE IS LOVE
Much of the literature, both poetry and prose, that honours love, does so without bias or exclusion. True love is beyond such constraints. The following excerpt by Sir Hugh Walpole (which is often read at marriage ceremonies) was written early last century and the human being Walpole was looking for was most definitely not a wife.

“The most wonderful of all things in life is the discovery of another human being with whom one’s relationship has a growing depth, beauty and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvellous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life.”

Perhaps the most real help for you is from some same sex couples – who have kindly written their impressions of their day and the process of creating their ceremony. They have also generously allowed me to use one of their stunning photos (thank you) of their happy day.

“Within moments of meeting you we knew we’d found the perfect celebrant! From the outset, you guided us through planning an individual and unique ceremony, provided fantastic resources and you were always happy to accommodate our changes as they evolved. We are incredibly grateful for the time and care you put into making our ceremony just so perfect. Somehow you captured the essence of who we both are – making it a very beautiful and meaningful start to out married lives together. On the day the ceremony felt just as we hoped it would – warm, sincere, relaxed, and a bit fun. In fact, we had many comments from guests that it was one of the loveliest ceremonies they’d been to.
Thanks so much Wendy – we’ll happily recommend you to other couples.”

Caroline and Kirsty
Oreti, Lake Taupo

“As our wedding came with a different set of logistics (being held on a cruise ship) my search for a suitable celebrant started on the web and your professional and detailed website caught my eye. You made everything very easy, and helped us with far more than we expected from a celebrant. All our guests commented on how much they enjoyed the ceremony and I think that this can be largely attributable to all the effort you put before the ceremony to ensure that it had the perfect balance between formality, emotion and humour. In our opinion the ceremony was perfect for our perfect day.
Thank you”

Cary and Mark
Cruise Ship

“You are a gem! We knew you were perfect for us from our first introduction. You are professional, understanding and caring, we appreciated your guidance, and coming up with the perfect solution.
We had a fantastic day!
Thank you Wendy!”

Gennaro and Brett
Celebrant’s garden

“From the moment we read your celebrant profile, we just had to have you as our celebrant. Organising a wedding from Australia was daunting at first, but you offered comfort by providing us with all the information we needed. We loved how you always had time to Skype and send emails to put our minds at ease. The ‘homework’ not only created time for us to reflect on our relationship, it also created the perfect and unique ceremony.

Thank you for opening your charming home and garden for the ceremony. The gardens and lawns were immaculate, the views were stunning. We live streamed the ceremony to our friends and family in Australia and they were so impressed!, they thought the ceremony reflected our relationship and personalities so well. We cannot thank you enough for creating the most unforgettable experience and opening your heart and home to marry two women from Oz.”

Melissa and Lisa
Celebrant’s garden