(Source: Hailey Paige Flowers)
Celebrancy Services
Weddings
One of the most important decisions you will make during the planning of your wedding is your choice of ceremony. Although we are denominational focused, we still offer the choice to couples having a Commonwealth Registered Civil Marriage and we proudly support marriage equality in Australia. We offer extensive experience backed by a commitment to nothing less than excellence and professionalism for your special day. No matter what stage of planning you are at, our personalised style and unique creative approach will ensure a highly individualised ceremony that uniquely matches both your needs and values. And regardless of the type of marriage along with location, size or specific requirements of your wedding venue, together will craft an incredible ceremonial service that perfectly fits the setting you choose. Please note, you do not have to have a religious ceremony of you do not wish so. With us, you can have the ceremony of your choice, in the place of your choice.
Marriages cannot be conducted on the following days:
- 14 September, because of the Elevation of The Cross Feast Day.
- From 18 to 25 December, during the fasting of Christmas.
- 5 January, prior to Theophany.
- 6 January, Theophany.
- During the Great Lent, from Clean Monday to Great Saturday.
- All the Saturdays of the Souls, if these fall within the Great Lent.
- Holy Spirit Feast Day.
- Of The Holy Apostles, from the Sunday of All The Saints till the day prior to the Feast Day.
- From 1 to 15 August, during the fasting of the Dormition of Our Lady Theotokos.
- 29 August, because of the Feast Day of the Beheading of St John The Baptist.
- On the Churches’ Feast Day and the Sunday of the same week.
Christening
If you are looking to host a contemporary spiritual christening as a means of marking the commencement of life’s journey for a child or loved-one, we can help create a tailor-made service either with or without Orthodox Christian-faith rituals, readings and other elements incorporated. In fact, we offer total flexibility as to the type of service you wish for from the form the ceremony will take and your choice of location through to any combination of Godparents you wish to invite into the family circle. As an increasingly popular alternative we offer, naming ceremonies which are also a fulfilling and significant experience for many modern families. And it is not a service exclusively designed for infants either. For those adolescence and adults wishing to celebrate a naming day, they often choose this ceremony to mark a period of change or transition, or because no ceremony of a formal welcoming ever occurred in childhood. No matter what your needs or desires for a naming ceremony are, we can carefully craft a service with classic or bespoke options in consultation with you and your family, using either your own selection of words, or poems and readings from the wide selection provided.
Christenings cannot be conducted on the following days:
- 14 September, because of the Elevation of The Cross Feast Day.
- From 18 to 25 December, during the fasting of Christmas.
- 5 January, prior to Theophany.
- 6 January, Theophany.
- During the Great Lent, from Clean Monday to Great Saturday.
- All the Saturdays of the Souls, if these fall within the Great Lent.
- Holy Spirit Feast Day.
- Of The Holy Apostles, from the Sunday of All The Saints till the day prior to the Feast Day.
- From 1 to 15 August, during the fasting of the Dormition of Our Lady Theotokos.
- 29 August, because of the Feast Day of the Beheading of St John The Baptist.
- On the Churches’ Feast Day and the Sunday of the same week.
Commitment Ceremonies
A commitment ceremony is often very similar to many other kinds of weddings. The chief difference is that rather than being a legally binding marriage, it is simply a public affirmation of a couple’s commitment to one another before family and friends. We have a heart-felt passion for the rules for your commitment ceremony – that is, there are no rules. The content and style of a commitment ceremony is unique and tailored to your specific needs and desires meaning the ceremony may take on any form be it religious or secular, formal and traditional or freely unstructured. Commitment ceremonies do not involve laws or government agencies in any way, there’s no license required, and a couple’s legal status does not change.
Funerals
Planning a funeral or memorial service for a loved one can often be daunting for family and friends, particularly during a time of personal bereavement. Whether expected or not, losing someone we love is one of the hardest times of anyone’s life. And with the expectation of creating a fitting and professional funeral or memorial service, it’s easy for emotions to take over. This is where we can help, providing gentle guidance and compassionate support whilst fulfilling your needs by crafting and delivering a highly personalised funeral or memorial service that is both life-affirming and deeply consoling.
Memorials
Memorial Services are offered for those departed Orthodox Christians. When the Memorial Service is offered, it is customary for the family of the deceased to bring a dish of boiled wheat to the Church. The boiled wheat is placed on a table in the nave. The wheat, known as koliva, is a symbol of the Resurrection. When speaking of the Resurrection, our Lord said: “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit.” (John 12:24).
Memorial Services cannot be done on the following days:
- Circumcision of Our Lord (1 January).
- Theophany (6 January).
- The Presentation of Our Lord (2 February).
- Annunciation of the Theotokos (25March).
- Pentecost because there is a Soul Saturday prior for this occasion.
- Transfiguration of Our Lord (6 August).
- Elevation of The Cross (14 September).
- Christmas (25 December).
- Sunday of Veneration of The Cross.
- 1st Sunday of each month because we do the blessing of the waters.
- In all above occasions it is allowed to do a Trisagion at the cemetery or the house of the departed but without a koliva.
