ICC Alumni and Friends Association
CODE OF ETHICS
The Association and all its members agree to:
Mr Justice Lionel Murphy
1) To hold in respect and honour the memory of the founder of the Civil
Celebrant Program, the late Mr Justice Lionel Murphy.
Uniqueness of the Australian Civil Celebrant
2) To encourage all members in the maintenance of the unique concept and
nature of the Australian Civil Celebrant and the qualities which Mr Justice
Murphy considered essential — bringing service, cultural awareness, choice
of ceremony, appropriateness, efficiency, dignity and professionalism.
Standards of Service – Weddings
3) To set and maintain a professional standard of obliging service to the
public by which member celebrants will be distinguished, and which will bring
above average credit and recognition on this assocation and its individual
members.
4) To encourage member wedding celebrants to inform clients of practical
sources for personalised ceremonies i.e. prose, poetry, music, choreography
and symbols, which will make their choice, and thus, their ceremony, truly
meaningful.
(5) To encourage wedding celebrant members to observe sensitivity in the
assessment of each client couple and with courteous respect for their cultural
rights, encourage them in choosing and/or approving, by their choice, a
ceremony which is appropriate and culturally satisfying to them.
Standards of Service – Funerals
(6) To encourage member funeral celebrants, to maintain sensitive attention
to clients' needs, and such a high standard of preparation of the
biography/eulogy, of efficient checking of the ceremony, and of
compassionate organisation and sincere delivery of the funeral service, that
members will stand out as the professionals in the industry.
Reasonable Fees
(7) To ensure, through whatever means and structures are appropriate, that
the fees charged will be so sufficiently reasonable as to enable the celebrant
to observe the high standard of professional service to the public which this
assocation encourages and advocates.
Professional Cooperation
(8) To promote a spirit of sharing, cooperation, and mutual encouragement
and assistance among member celebrants, indeed all celebrants.
(9) To publish and promote this standard of Service and Code of Ethics and
encourage all members to adhere to the principles therein.
Suite F5, 62 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne, Victoria, 3002.
Phone: (03) 9419 0460 Fax: (03) 9419 0783
Email: celebrants@netspace.net.au
ICC Alumni and Friends Association
Publicity
(10) To bring to the attention of the community, especially in the media,
information about the College Association, its members and their role in the
community. To promote the cultural rights of the public, and the image of the
unique celebrant role.
Defence of Members
(11) To represent all member celebrants with the government, the public
service, the media and with society's other organisations and structures. This
particularly includes representing members with elected representatives, the
public service especially when the actions of people in their influential
position - by guidelines, interpretations, regulations or laws, are detrimental
to the public good and/or militate against the celebrant's ability to serve the
public appropriately.
Assistance to members
(12) To assist, by every means available, all celebrants, especially all
member celebrants, to officiate at the best ceremonies they can i.e.
Weddings, Renewal of Vows, Funerals, Namegivings and similar. The
Association intends to provide and market the best resources and products
available to do this.
(13) To defend, protect, represent and assist member celebrants when their
individual rights or position are threatened, or when they have made a
mistake, when they are ill, or when they find themselves with a problem of
any relevant kind.
Education of members
(14) To acquire, disseminate or publish information on subjects of interest to
Civil Celebrants. To support the International College of Celebrancy in its
Diploma Courses, Training Programs, and Professional Development.
Friendship among members and other celebrants
(15) To provide for the social interaction and to promote friendship and
education of all members and non member celebrants by the organisation of
celebrations, functions, seminars and the like.
(16) To do all such other things as are conducive to advance the interest of
the general public, the cultural development of Australia and other countries
with a similar society, the clients of celebrants, and the interest of celebrants
themselves.
Suite F5, 62 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne, Victoria, 3002.
Phone: (03) 9419 0460 Fax: (03) 9419 0783
Email: celebrants@netspace.net.au
ICC Alumni and Friends Association
Celebrant and client
• To promote an ideal of respect for the client and the clients right to
choose and approve their own ceremony.
• To support access by clients to resources through information
regarding publications and websites.
• To challenge unaware clients to go to higher levels of quality in their
ceremony.
Celebrants and celebrants
• To promote a spirit of respect and cooperation among members and
indeed all celebrants
 To respect the proprietary work of other celebrants and to promote
the right to copyright of personal work.
• To promote an ideal of respect for student celebrants, and the right
of every suitable person to study to become a celebrant.
Celebrant and society
• To enrich the culture by promoting Best Practice ceremonies for all
the milestones of human life, all the seasonal change moments, and
societal and historical days of significance.
• To promote an awareness of the importance of Rites of Passage for
individuals and the society, through the media, and by personal
communication.
STANDARD OF SERVICE
Prolegomena
Individual members agree to achieve a number of objectives for the
Australian Community. They agree to contribute to the sum total of
human happiness by facilitating the most appropriate, meaningful,
aesthetically beautiful ceremonies possible for citizens in our pluralistic
and multicultural society.
The member celebrant is entrusted with the challenge of sensitively
working out the cultural needs of their clients when they decide on a
Rite of Passage, such as marriage. In this sense the Civil Celebrant has
an important role in developing Australian culture as expressed in the
way significant occasions are marked and celebrated. In this way
valued relationships will be psychologically strengthened and the
Institution of Marriage and the family unit will enjoy social and cultural
esteem and support within our society.
Suite F5, 62 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne, Victoria, 3002.
Phone: (03) 9419 0460 Fax: (03) 9419 0783
Email: celebrants@netspace.net.au
ICC Alumni and Friends Association
Therefore the Association Member Celebrant should seek:
(1) To avoid all attitudes of pretentiousness, authoritarianism and self
importance; or of an overbearing style which would intimidate a couple
from exercising their rights or their wishes about their ceremony.
(2) To inform clients of sources for personalised ceremonies; i.e.
prose, poetry, music and symbols, which will make their choice, and
thus, their ceremony, truly meaningful.
(3) To avoid intruding personal beliefs, prejudices and/or preconceived
ideas into arrangements for weddings wherein the client couple and
their associates wish to express themselves in their own way.
(4) To avoid influencing arrangements merely to suit their own
personal convenience.
(5) To see himself/herself as a catalyst of the culture — encouraging
the artists of Australia; including composers, musicians, singers,
poets, writers, actors, gardeners, designers and photographers.
(6) To be available to attend and assist with a rehearsal, preferably
on-site, so as to ensure that the ceremony goes smoothly on the day.
(7) To dress as appropriately as possible, given the style of the
ceremony, its level of formality, and the wishes of the bride and
groom.
(8) To present oneself, given the style of dress required, in the best
possible way, neat, clean and dignified, in accordance with accepted
standards.
(9) To arrive punctually at an agreed time, and a reasonable time
before the commencement of the ceremony.
(10) To organise and orchestrate the ceremony as skilfully as possible,
speaking assigned words or poetry (if any) with clear diction and a
sincere voice, always keeping in mind that every client's ceremony is
special, perhaps the most special, at least a very special moment in a
lifetime.
(11) To avoid rushing out of the ceremony venue with unseemly haste,
but to wait an appropriate time, so as to give the Rite its due
importance and attention.
(12) To establish and maintain:
(a) an office where people can be interviewed in private and where
proper records can be kept with privacy and confidentiality. This office
should be equipped with the necessary computerisation and office
equipment to carry out all appropriate administrative functions
conscientiously and efficiently.
(b) a reliable and maintained motor vehicle with a respectable
appearance.
Suite F5, 62 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne, Victoria, 3002.
Phone: (03) 9419 0460 Fax: (03) 9419 0783
Email: celebrants@netspace.net.au
ICC Alumni and Friends Association
(c) communications systems which ensure that clients have reasonable
access to their celebrant.
(d) where necessary, sound and speaker systems so that the
ceremony can be heard by all present.
(e) a wardrobe of suitable clothes so as to ensure that the celebrant
presents herself or himself in an acceptable manner. Celebrants should
always dress so that they fit in with the ceremony without in any way
competing with the bride, groom and wedding party and with similar
appropriateness at other ceremonies.
(13) The Law and Procedures. In the case of marriage ceremonies,
to become acquainted, knowledgeable and expert regarding all the
relevant sections of the Marriage Act; the conventions and
interpretations commonly followed, and the procedures of the
registering authorities. The Celebrant shall observe the spirit and the
letter of the law under which he/she operates. All relevant forms and
records shall be processed conscientiously and filled out neatly and
clearly.
(14) Allied commercial interests. To ensure that couples, are free
to approach the celebrant to organise a wedding or other ceremony
without the chance, fear or possibility of being taken advantage of in
any way. For this reason every celebrant's appointment should not be
allied with any commercial interest external to the office of celebrant;
e.g. in the case of a marriage ceremony, a celebrant should not
attempt to sell to clients insurance, wedding rings, photography
packages, travel, hire car catering, receptions or wedding venues. The
purpose of this is to ensure that couples are free to make their own
choices, without being in any way intimidated by the celebrant into
any particular purchase; and so that the celebrant be the specialist
professional of the central event, the ceremony itself.
(19) This does not preclude a celebrant giving clients a list of
musicians, poets, or similar, in which lists the celebrant has no
commercial interest or alliance.
(20) To speak out honestly to any appropriate authority which he/she
believes that the law, regulations and practices exist which are not in
the best interests of the Australian community.
(21) To constantly seek education to do the task better, and to engage
in a continual process of self assessment and external assessment to
ensure that he/she is not giving offence, and to observing a high
standard of expertise in ceremonies which a acceptable to couples and
to the public.
Reasonable Fees
(22) Fees should be based on what is paid comparatively to the
general community for equivalent work with equivalent skills i.e. in
Suite F5, 62 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne, Victoria, 3002.
Phone: (03) 9419 0460 Fax: (03) 9419 0783
Email: celebrants@netspace.net.au
ICC Alumni and Friends Association
out-of-hours and weekend time. The fee should be such that an
intelligent, informed person would judge it reasonable by the relative
standards stated. The celebrant should individually determine the fees
to be charged for his or her services.
Philosophy, Code of Ethics, Standard of Service
(Originally written by Dally Messenger in 1994 - adapted)
OUR PHILOSOPHY
To pursue excellence in all that we do.
To strive for Professionalism — for perfection in every detail.
To officiate at the best and most beautiful ceremonies possible.
To give top-of-the-range service to our clients and to the public.
To stay passionately aware that the ceremony is not ours but the
clients: and their wishes, their choices, and their contributions are
central.
To enjoy the happiness that we have the rare and unique opportunity
to be paid to read poetry in public, and that the poetry, prose, music
and symbols that we use in our ceremonies, and the artists we
encourage, are a significant element in the artistic and cultural
development of this country and humanity generally.
To be concerned about unity and cooperation among celebrants. To be
motivated to cooperate with the other professionals with whom we
operate.
To preoccupy ourselves with standards — standards of preparation,
standards of service, and ethics and conventions of behaviour that
result in ceremonies which please, thrill, console, and strengthen our
clients and our fellow human beings.
To be open to new ideas, new possibilities and responding to needs
with all personal ceremonies, public ceremonies, and to be ritually part
of paradigm shifts in the social fabric.
Suite F5, 62 Wellington Parade, East Melbourne, Victoria, 3002.
Phone: (03) 9419 0460 Fax: (03) 9419 0783
Email: celebrants@netspace.net.au