Jeff Montgomery,
General Manager and Registrar-General;
Services and Access
Message from the
Registrar-General
Tēnā koe – hello.
Happy New Year.
Thank you for your responses to our survey on the celebrant appointment process. We received 1,700 responses over the 4 weeks the survey was open, with 501 in the first two days. Our next step is to analyse the results.
My team will deliver the outcome of the review at the 2020 Celebrants Association Conference in May. The outcome will also be published in this newsletter shortly after the conference.
Radio NZ ran a story over Christmas about celebrant number and the current review. A couple of things in the story weren’t quite as I said them. The headline said the review was a bid to reduce the number of celebrants. That is not the case. I am conducting the review because the overall process for marriages has seen several changes since 2017, including online applications for marriage licences, and the move away from courthouses. Several celebrants have also voiced concern regarding the current high number of celebrants, and that standards might be dropping. Also the report has me saying “market forces haven’t work. What I actually think is that they haven’t worked as I expected in that I expected applications to reduce as a result of increased fees, the need for a Police check and the addition of the online test. In reality we have seen the number of applications increase.
Kia pai tō rā (Have a good day)
Jeff
Summary of results of questionnaire on review of celebrant appointment process
We received 1,700 responses to the questionnaire, representing about half of independent celebrants. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.
A consensus was found for most questions, in particular most respondents feel the application process to apply or renew as an independent celebrant is working well. The response to other topics, such as training and the total number of celebrants, is more divided.
Over 12,000 individual comments were made across the questionnaire. We will be using these comments to understand the ‘why’ behind responses, in particular for topics where opposing views were shared.
Registry ceremonies after 6 months
It has been over six months since registry weddings started being performed by celebrants.
Celebrants appointed to do this work will soon be asked by the Celebrants Association for their input into what works well, what needs tweaking, what challenges them, what supports them etc.
The registry wedding price of $90 is for a very brief, scripted, no frills ceremony on weekdays with a handful of family and friends at a location of the couples choice:
- The venue could be the local hall, beach, park, your home or the couples. The celebrant doesn’t have to provide a venue/location for the wedding but they can if they wish to.
- The celebrant is under no obligation to travel long distances.
- It is the couple’s responsibility to provide 2 witnesses.
- Registry weddings can be performed any time on week days that the celebrant and couple agree between themselves. There is no restriction on the time of day or night - that is flexible and entirely up to you.
- Registry weddings should not be performed on weekends or public holidays. This is so there is a clear separation between the personalised ceremonies usually performed on weekends and these short and simple registry ceremonies.
- The fee the couple pay the celebrant is a set fee of $90.
Statistics
We have registered 204 registry ceremonies since 1 July 2019 and there are another 48 booked with celebrants over the next 3 months.
There are currently 93 registry celebrants and growing, with our busiest being equally Karin de la Rey, Christine Hislop and Anne Withington.
Registry ceremonies that have been registered
Where our registry celebrants are
Profile of a registry celebrant: Anne Withington
Anne Withington is a celebrant performing registry ceremonies in Queenstown. Since 1 July 2019, Anne has performed 17 registry ceremonies and has another four booked in.
Anne comments “that just reinforces that even though these ceremonies are scripted they are still very meaningful to the couple involved.”
Anne says she “loves the opportunity” and that “it feels less like work and more like joy.”
Anne Withington with Deborah Arantes and Renato Milano after their registry wedding.
In the media
It's been a busy time for BDM with stories over the holiday period about celebrants, registry weddings, surnames and the most popular names ever. In the new year we also had the annual release of top baby names, rejected names and citizenship statistics. This highlights some of the diverse ways our mahi makes New Zealand better for New Zealanders.
New Zealand's most popular baby names for 2019
The full list of baby names is available on the SmartStart website.
Top baby surname
Top baby names of the past 120 years
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12297583
Baby names rejected in 2019
Registry weddings - making it easy, making it work
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/12/kiwis-untie-the-knot-with-registry-weddings.html
Many marriage celebrants don't do any weddings
Wellington office is moving to NZ Post House
The last day our Mulgrave Street office will deliver services from that location is Friday 21 February 2020.
Effective from Monday 24 February, the Wellington office is at:
New Zealand Post House
7 Waterloo Quay
Pipitea
Wellington 6011
The Wellington office will only perform registry ceremonies until 31 January. After that date, registry celebrants fully take over across the Wellington region.
Celebrants’ Association NZ Conference 2020
The Celebrants’ Association New Zealand Conference is open to all!
Theme: Connect the dots
Date: 22 – 24 May 2020
Venue: Lower Hutt Events Centre, Lower Hutt, Wellington
A varied and innovative programme promises to provide all the learning and networking opportunities that you would expect from such an event.
The plenary speakers and workshops have all been selected and designed to stimulate and inform your thinking and will all be aligned to VCANZ’s Body of Knowledge (BOK) competencies: Professional Practice, Professional Knowledge and Professional Education, but importantly it will also allow you to recharge and refill. And of course, there is the “out of workshop time” and the invaluable chatting and networking that goes on then.
Early-bird registrations close 20 March – SO REGISTER TODAY – DON’T MISS OUT!
Watch this space for the full conference programme and registration coming soon: https://www.celebrantsassociation.co.nz/member-dashboard/conference-2020/
