Glennys Logan - who was the most popular wedding celebrant in New Zealand when her Central Otago business was thriving in January - was forced to find other work when bookings vanished overnight. Continue reading

Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages Jeff Montgomery said it was important to distinguish between organised celebrants and independent celebrants. Continue reading

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) last month increased a range of celebrant-related fees.

A spokesman for the DIA said the new fees will help the Department manage costs.

The changes will also allow the Department to maintain an accurate register and discourage people applying to be a celebrant to perform a one-off celebration.

But Prendeville is asking why it is couples have to pay, because it is in the interest of government not of a couple to have record of who is married, and where they are living.

Couples now have to pay $150 to have their marriage solemnised by a celebrant, an almost $30 increase, and $240 if married in the registry office - up from $174

Prendeville, who is the parish priest of St John the Evangelist Parish in Otara, Auckland, says the DIA should value marriage, not hit couples with fees.

Independent marriage celebrants have also been hit with a $220 appointment fee, which must be renewed annually for $60.

Celebrants appointed by an approved organisation will be expected to pay $150 to register and $30 to have their registration renewed annually.

Although these fees do not apply to Prendeville as a celebrant from a religious body, he said no celebrant should be charged for providing a service to the community.

"Marriage celebrants are doing a service to witness, for the state, that this couple got married, and doing it well."

"I'm surprised marriage celebrants haven't got a head of steam about it because they're offering a service," he said.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: dailymail.co.uk

After receiving feed-back about this CathNews sought clarification from Internal Affairs.

CathNews was informed that the following approved organisations, which are listed in the schedule in Part 2 Section 8 of the Marriage Act 1955 (as amended on May 3 2017), are exempt and are not required to pay any fee to be registered as marriage celebrants.

• Anglican
• Baptist
• Greek Orthodox Church
• Hebrew Congregations
• Lutheran Church of New Zealand
• Methodist
• Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa NZ
• Roman Catholic
• Salvation Army

CathNews regrets the error.

(Note: This post has been updated to correct some errors.)

They will also have to pay an annual fee of $60.00 to renew their registration.

Ministers of recognised religions are exempt.

Up until now the cost of registering is covered by couples when they pay their marriage-licence fee.

But the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Jeff Montgomery, said since marriage celebrants are providing a professional service they should pay their own fees.

There are 10,000 registered marriage celebrants

• The 75% who are from religious bodies conduct 26% of the 20,000 marriages and civil unions that take place each year.
• The 24% who are independent marriage celebrants conducted 52% of the services.
• The the remaining services are held at registry offices.

Too many independent marriage celebrants
The department also wants to cut down on the number of independent celebrants who conduct one or less marriages a year.

Montgomery said about half of the nearly 2500 independent celebrants fall into this category

He said couples often complained there were too many listed on the department's website who simply were not available.

However an independent celebrant, Bill Logan, said some people just wanted to perform a few marriages for people they knew and loved.

"Some kind of licence which authorises them to do a few ceremonies, would be perfectly adequate, but it's not necessary for them to pay $60 a year," he said.

Who ends up paying?
Montgomery said marriage celebrants can either recoup the costs through the fees they charged or through the organisations with whom they are registered.

A Wellington based independent celebrant said the majority of people charged about $350 to $550 in most parts of the country for celebrant services.

"It's at least eight hours of work with writing ceremonies, meeting couples, replying to emails.

Sources

• radionz.co.nz
• departmentofinternalaffairsnz.createsend.com
• govt.nz
• Image: weddingswairarapa.co.nz

Correction

On Monday 29 May, the Department of Internal Affairs confirmed by email, a telephone conversation saying ministers of certain religions will not be required to pay the registration and annual fees.

In response to a request by Family First NZ to the Department of Internal Affairs under the Official Information Act, 22 potential marriage celebrants have had their applications declined just in the last year because they have stated that they don't want to officiate at same-sex weddings due to personal conviction. Continue reading

Mr McCoskrie, the Family First national director, has not renewed his licence as a celebrant because he rejects the state definition of marriage, he announced on his blog. continue reading