A letter to the best wedding creators in the world by Josh Withers
15 years ago a letter arrived in the mail letting me know that as of 15 years ago today, the 14th of May, I had been appointed a Commonwealth Authorised Marriage Celebrant. 27 years old and not a clue in the world what was coming my way.
That night we were out for dinner in Broadbeach with friends, the news is shared around the table, then I tap two friends on the shoulders proclaiming them married.
Everyone stops laughing, horrified at what I just did - after all the two people weren't even romantically involved! - until I smiled, laughed, and quickly told them I was joking.
One day you're just a kid having some fun with friends, the next you're on global television marrying strangers at first sight, standing in sub-zero temperatures creating marriage ceremonies around places like a plane crash wreck in Iceland, the Joshua Tree desert, lakeside at Queenstown in New Zealand, or in a villa on the Amalfi Coast.
I've also been glad to hold the gate open for new and aspiring celebrants through my partnership with my friend Sarah at the Celebrant Institute where we have had the opportunity to speak to thousands of Australian celebrants over the past six years, I've also been lucky to spend one-on-one time coaching and mentoring so many celebrants who over the past decade have gone on to do so many great things, plus there is this daily letter to the best wedding creators in the world.
I say all that to say this: dream big, you could never totally grasp where passion, big thinking, and hard work could take you.
And if you'd like to get me a 15th celebrant birthday present, I would love a shout out on your blog, social media, text messages, wherever you are to whoever will listen about this letter. Send them a link to aisleauthority.email. I'm really proud of what I'm writing here and going off your feedback it's a valuable email or blog post you read each day - and it would warm my heart so much if each of you shared it with at least one other person. Let them know why you subscribed and why you think it would be a blessing to them.