Rev Dr Jason Betts Marriage Celebrant - call me for your free marriage kit on 03 6431 3540

To contact Jason by email, please click here.

Rev Dr Jason Betts is a Religious Marriage Celebrant (RMC) authorised by the Commonwealth of Australia, with Registration Number A4699. Dr Betts is the Minister-General for the Tasmanian association Order of the Mystic Rose (Inc), which acts as an accreditation body for spiritual teachers and practitioners in Tasmania. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tasmania (Mathematics/Philosophy) and a Doctor of Philosophy (Metaphysics) from the Open International University of Complementary Medicines (Sri Lanka), plus many other spiritual, educational and therapeutic qualifications.

The wedding package Dr Betts offers includes the following:

Initial Consultation (30 mins) - free
Pre-nuptial Counselling
Sorting of Documentation
Notice of Intended of Marriage Form
Wedding Service Creation
Wedding Rehersal
Wedding Service
Ceremonial Marriage Certificate (with Calligraphy)
Government Marriage Certificate of Registration
Filing of Government Documentation

Initial Consultation:

The initial consultation is free-to-meet, and if after 30 minutes you wish to choose Dr Betts as your celebrant, a non-refundable deposit of $100 is required and the Notice of Intended Marriage is filed with documentation. This is kept by the celebrant but may be used by any other celebrant of your choice. It must be filled-in by a registered celebrant a month and a day before the wedding date with all correct and necessary documentation.

Celebrant Fee:

The standard fee is $500 which includes all of the above, plus travel expenses if the wedding is out of the greater Hobart area. Concession discounts are available. The balance is to be paid 15 days before the wedding day and may be paid by cash, cheque or credit card.

Documentation:

Please bring all originals for sight authentication and a photocopy of each of the following:

• both driver licences, photocopied together onto the same sheet - 2 copies (Items #1 and #2)
• state government birth certificate/extract or overseas passport for each person (Items #3 and #4)
• family court decree nisi if divorced (Items #5 and #6 if divorced)
• state government death certificate if widowed (Last Item if widowed)

Marriage Certificates:

A beautiful formal marriage certificate is ceremoniously presented after the signings as part of the service on your wedding day. Your government marriage certificate is mailed out after lodgement of the documents by the celebrant with your marriage registration number, and acts as the legal document of proof of your marriage. This is necessary for important things such as change of name, wills, next of kin, passports, legal status, and so on. This should arrive within 4 weeks.

The Service:

Your wedding service may be of your own devising, from scratch or by tailoring an existing service to your personal and spiritual preferences. A simple service is listed below, illustrating the four basic parts of a typical service, being: Introduction, Vows, Rings, Conclusion. Dr Betts is a non-demoninational religious marriage celebrant and performs civil and spiritual weddings to meet the couple's personal and spiritual needs.

Making Your Wedding Special:

My purpose is not only to fulfil my role as legal celebrant and functionary, but also to make your wedding day as special, memoriable and fulfilling as possible. To this end I am willing to assist you with the following if desired:

• any time of the day or night
• travel to the location of your choice
• ceremonial and religious specifications
• helping you find or write the right ceremony
• involvement of family and friends in the service
• guiding guests before, during and after the service
• the proposal of the first toast if it is a garden party
• special legal considerations, e.g. international party.

SAMPLE OF A SIMPLE MARRIAGE SERVICE of (him) and (her)

Introduction:

We have come together, at this time, and at this place, to witness and to celebrate, the coming together of two separate lives; to join (him) and (her) in the sacred bond of marriage; to impress upon them the mystic significance of the marriage tie. We have come to give social recognition to their decision to accept one another totally, and to rejoyce with them in the making of this important decision.

This is a commitment not to be taken lightly; but rather, to be undertaken with the greatest respect and consideration for one another. To be true, this outward ceremony must be the symbol of an inward and sacred union between two minds and two hearts.

Marriage should enhance the differences and individuality of each partner. May you enjoy all the things you do together, and be of brave heart when you are separated from the other. While you give yourselves in love, you must not give yourselves away. A good, healthy, balanced relationship is one in which neither partner is absorbed or overpowered by the other.

I am duly authorised by law to solemnise marraige according to law. Before you are joined in marriage in my presence, and in the presence of witnesses, I am to remind you of the solemn and binding nature of the relationship into which you are now about to enter. Marriage, according to law in Australia, in the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into, for life.

And so now, we will hear the sacred marriage vows of the couple. Will the couple please step forward, hold each others hands, and turn to face each other:

The Vows:

Do you, (him), take this woman (her), for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, to have and to hold from this day forth as your lawfully wedded wife? as you love her, honour her, and protect her, in sickness and in health, in prosperity and adversity, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her, for so long as you both shall live?

I DO.

Do you, (her), take this man (him), for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, to have and to hold from this day forth as your lawfully wedded husband? as you love him, honour him, and protect him, in sickness and in health, in prosperity and adversity, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him, for so long as you both shall live?

I DO.

Do you mutually promise, in the presence of your friends and family, that you will at all times, and in all circumstances, conduct yourselves toward one another as becomes Husband and Wife?

WE DO.

Then will you please repeat after me.
(Repeat to each other in phrases)

With all my heart, I take you to be my beloved. I will love you through the good and the bad, and through the joy and the sorrow. I will try to be understanding, and to trust in you completely. Throughout the years ahead, we will be equal partners, in an open honest relationship. I pledge to you with all my heart, to love and support you in all ways, to my upmost capabilities, for the rest of my life.

The Rings:

From ancient times, the symbol of the Golden Circle has been the sacred token of oneness, continuity and completeness. It is, and will always be, the outward signification of an eternal reality.

(to best man/bridesmaid) The ring, please.
(groom/bride) Place this ring upon the third finger of her left hand, and repeat after me: "With this ring, I thee wed."

(bride/groom) Do you accept this ring, as token of his/her troth? (I DO) (troth=promise)

(to the groom) Repeat after me: I call upon the persons here present, to witness that I, (him), do take thee (her), to be my lawfully wedded wife.

(to the bride) Repeat after me: I call upon the persons here present, to witness that I, (her), do take thee (him), to be my lawfully wedded husband.

Conclusion:

May these two, now wedded, remember the vows they have made. May they comfort and help each other in all the experiences of their lives, living joyfully under the same roof.

May we, who are gathered here today, and those who could not be with us, always remember (him) and (her), and hope that the inspiration of this hour will not be forgotten, but will be the cornerstone of a loving, lasting, and wonderful relationship.

For as much as this man, and this woman, have thus engaged and pledged themselves, each to the other, before the Universe and these witnesses, both seen and unseen, they join themselves in sacred and holy matrimony. Thus, by the power invested in me by the Commonwealth of Australia, I pronounce you henceforth, Husband and Wife.