It’s no secret that we are super excited about marriage equality officially being accepted in Australia. We aren’t alone, 62% of the 12,727,920 million who participated in the Australia popular vote said yes to marriage equality.
As if the ability for everyone to marry in Australia was not exciting enough, it comes with another change that will positively impact all weddings. Up until marriage equality became the law of the land, every wedding ceremony had to come with a legal disclaimer stating that marriage was just for a man and a woman, which many couples were not happy about.
“Marriage, according to law in Australia, is the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life,” the statement read.
All Australian weddings performed by a celebrant were legally required to include this phrase ever since the Marriage Law of 1961. This upset many couples getting married, putting them in an uncomfortable position of having to go against their values, offend their guests and have this ugly line be part of their wedding memory forever.
To share their support for marriage equality, some couples would ask guests to cover their ears during this line of the ceremony, others would have their celebrant turn off the microphone for this part and some celebrants, if they were willing to take the risk of being reported by a guest or wedding vendor, would omit it all together.
With same-sex marriage now being recognized, the phrasing has been changed, meaning guests will no longer cover their ears at Australian weddings.
“Marriage, according to law in Australia, is the union of two people to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life,” celebrants will now share.
Featured image by Thomas Stewart Photography
