ACT celebrants are enjoying a heady boom, even if the length of the same-sex marriage tourism window remains unclear.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Celebrant Judy Aulich officiated six same-sex weddings with another four booked in on Sunday and on one scheduled for Monday.
And while most of the newly weds won’t spend the figures accepted as average for an Australian wedding, with IBISWorld quoting $36,200 and Bride to Be magazine estimating $48,296, the explosion of gay-marriage has certainly given some industries a boost.
‘‘Overwhelming the couples I’m doing are what I’m calling ’quickies’ – they’ve been in relationships for a long time and they just want the ceremony so they are doing it in my backyard,’’ Ms Aulich said.
But three of the couples are going for big weddings complete with caterers and interstate guests staying at hotels.
Peter Darcy and Andrew Buchanan shelled out more than $5000 for flights, venue hire, a celebrant and hotel bookings before they knew the marriage could go ahead.
Chief Executive Officer of the ACT Region Chamber of Commerce Andrew Blyth said if the High Court allowed gay-marriages to continue it would bring in additional funds to the ACT although it was to early to put a dollar figure on wedding tourism.
‘‘We welcome all the visitors to Canberra for the weddings that are taking place... and we hope they enjoy the place and spread the word,’’ Mr Blyth said.
‘‘It will be welcome by tourism operators and hoteliers and people running functions centres so it’s not just the people themselves getting married.’’
There are 47 couples who have given the required one month’s notice to be eligible to marry under the ACT law from Saturday and the number of authorised celebrants in the ACT doubled following the introduction of marriage equality laws, from 41 Civil Union Celebrants to 80 Authorised Celebrants.