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About Nicholas

I created this blog to really help Adelaide brides who are planning their wedding. I've been been a professional photographer for 15 years. My work has appeared in Harpers Bazaar UK, the New York Times, Style Me Pretty and brides.com. In 2015 Style Me Pretty interviewed me, in 2016 Complete Wedding Magazine called me "One of the World's Best Wedding Photographers".

Profile: Rob MacPherson Celebrant

I recently photographed a wedding up in the Adelaide Hills at a beautiful little rustic chapel called Shady Grove. I had the pleasure to listen to the wedding being officiated by Rob McPherson. It was one of the most wise, intelligent and original weddings I've heard anywhere and so Rob was an obvious candidate to be my first celebrants profile on the Adelaide Wedding Blog.

Rob is a Minister at the Unitarian Church in Adelaide but is able to perform non religious civil ceremonies.

What is your background and how long have you been performing weddings?

I am Minister of the Unitarian Church of SA, and as such am a registered Religious Celebrant. Unitarians were the first denomination in the USA and the UK to support same-sex marriage over a generation ago. Before that, we were the church people came to marry outside more restrictive religious traditions (say if a Jew wanted to marry a Catholic, or a divorced Anglican wanted to re-marry without a special dispensation from their bishop). Thankfully, those days are gone, and now am no different from a civil celebrant, with the exception that I have a graduate degree in theology and can fine-tune the service according to the couple's spirituality.

I have been a Minister for 6 years. Prior to that, I was a professional actor in film, TV, radio, and theatre, and a Senior Lecturer at University.

What are your fees?

Negotiable, depending on the couples' requirements, length of service, associated travel, etc. The average ranges between $300 and $500.

What does the fee include?

A service tailored to the couple's religious views, even if that means no religion at all. I can offer a wide range of religious and secular curated readings, vows, and other service components. The service can be as formal or as informal as they like.

What additional costs are involved?

None, the fee is fully inclusive.

Can you tell us about your process from a couples first contact with you, through to after the ceremony? Do you meet in person?

We meet in person (or via Skype) to establish the rough parameters and do the preliminary paperwork. Then I draft an outline of the service components and email it to the couple. They send back changes, additions, etc. I then write a full draft, and we exchange that and re-draft until they're happy with every syllable. We rehearse if needed and then meet on the wedding day. Thus, out-of-town couples can return 'home' to Adelaide and never have met we face to face in til the rehearsal.

Do you personalise the ceremony for each couple?

Absolutely. It's their wedding and no one else's.

What paperwork is required and when?

The usual 30-day notice notification can be downloaded and filled out by the couple. I then complete this after the wedding and send it to the AG's office. They also sign our church registry (which gets archived at the State Library for historical records) on the day of the wedding. I also provide a signed, frame-able certificate, also on the day of the wedding.

Do your do a rehearsal with the couple?

If required. It depends on the formality of the service and the location.

What actually happens on the wedding day?

They arrive single, say certain words, sign documents with witnesses, and leave married. Everything else is a matter of our creative collaboration.

What happens if you are ill on the day?

Unless I'm actually infectious, I do the wedding anyway. Seriously, I'd have to be dead to let the couple down.