Darren Clear - Celebrant

25/11/2022

First beach wedding of the season.

14/04/2021

A personal story

Wind the clock back to 2018 – our first son Jacob had just finished Year 8 and after a rough start to his high school journey he had found h...

06/01/2020

Preparing for a funeral tomorrow and will be using this poem to close out the service. It's one of my absolute favourites and has a message in there for everyone

Youth is not a time of life – Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life —it is a state of mind. It is not a matter of red cheeks, red lips and supple knees. It is a temper of the will; a quality of the imagination; a vigor of the emotions; it is a freshness of the deep springs of life. Youth means a tempermental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over a life of ease. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years; people grow old by deserting their ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair—these are the long, long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.

Whether seventy or sixteen, there is in every being’s heart a love of wonder; the sweet amazement at the stars and starlike things and thoughts; the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for what comes next, and the joy in the game of life.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

In the central place of your heart there is a wireless station. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, grandeur, courage, and power from the earth, from men and from the Infinite—so long are you will be - forever young.

06/10/2019

Enjoyed a great morning checking out the new wedding venue set up at Bawley Vale Estate. Looking forward to perform some ceremonies here in the near future.

13/09/2019

So great to conduct my second wedding of the season for a wonderful couple in Travis and Kasey while working with two of the best people in the local wedding industry - Clare from South Coast Wedding Planners and Events (http://southcoastweddingplanner.com.au) and Dean from CloudFace Photography.

Perfect day at Matron Porter Reserve as well which only added to a brilliant occasion. Loving my job!

10/09/2019

With thanks to Erin Latimore Photography see the photo below of my first spring wedding of the season for Andrew and Rebecca on Saturday. Despite the forecasts it turned out to be a brilliant day both weather wise and in terms of the atmosphere we were able to create at the Bawley Bush Retreat and served as the perfect way to begin the 2019-20 wedding season.

04/09/2019

With Spring now upon us - wedding season starts this weekend. Really excited to be starting at one of the favourite venues at the Bawley Point Bush Cottages http://www.bawleybushretreat.com.au/ which creates a unique atmosphere in a natural setting with most guests staying on site and enjoying the company of close friends and family on the most special of day.

Weather forecast is clear at this stage - either way looking forward to a great start for 2019-20!

03/09/2019

In addition to the many weddings I perform each year I remain busy performing many funeral ceremonies within our local area. I am often asked how I cope with doing this and the simple answer is that helping people out during the most difficult period of their lives is one of the most rewarding parts of being a celebrant - as the feedback I received last week (detailed below) illustrates.

"Now that I am back home and the intensity of Mum's funeral is lifting, I want to reiterate how grateful I am for what you did during that morning. I am in awe of your skills, and of how you so seamlessly drew everything together. While my Dad passed away 18 years ago, I really wanted Mum's funeral to be in a sense a reaffirmation of his love for her. I suspect that you sensed my thinking in that regard and in your words and manner you went to the very heart of both of them ... an extraordinary accomplishment. I will be forever grateful to you."

12/09/2018

As I prepare for the upcoming wedding season I love to look back on photos from the previous year and this one stands out as one of my favourites (hence why it is my cover photo also).
When I started working as a celebrant in 2008 my main aim was to create simple laid back ceremonies where couples could celebrate their love in a relaxed armosphere and this photo captures that perfectly.
I only met with Terry and Ainslie twice before the ceremony but we formed a connection that allowed me to intertwine their story into my ceremony on the day in an engaging (and at time humourous) manner.
It is these sort of moments - where I speak about a couple more personally and turn away from my notes that I hope sets the scene for not only the ceremony itself but the rest of the day's festivities.
If this is the type of atmosphere and ceremony you'd like to see for your own wedding why not visit my website (www.darrenclearcelebrancy.com.au) or give me a call today and book in a first meeting to see if I am the right fit for your big day.

06/06/2018

I might be a bit biased but only having 3 local (Ulladulla and surrounds) venues on this list is criminal.

Located on the South Coast of NSW and searching for your wedding venue? We recommend you start by looking at these 20 popular South Coast wedding venues.

05/06/2018

I get this question from couples more than you would think - "who should we use as witnesses for our official paperwork?" This article provides some food for thought when considering this question

1. Breathe This will most likely be the first moment you haven't been slightly overwhelmed and emotional since you laid eyes on each other in the ceremony space. Take a deep breath, squeeze each others hand and get ready to sign on that dotted line. S**t just got real.

29/05/2018

Choosing the right wedding location is one of the most essential parts of getting everything right for your big day. This article takes you through some steps to take when making this important decision

We tapped the wedding experts for their top tips for finding your dream venue.