About Nell
Before you trust someone with the most important half hour of your year, you should know who they are. I’m a former radio producer, a Brunswick local and a celebrant who writes every word for you.
Celebrant by accident
Lives in Brunswick, two streets from Sydney Road and its very good bakeries.
Walks the Moonee Ponds Creek trail most mornings; most good lines turn up there.
Shares the house with an old kelpie called Juno, who sleeps through every rehearsal.
Knows the best bakery in most country towns between here and Bright.
But also...
Still gets nervous before every single one.
Has strong opinions on folding chairs.
Calm on the day, nervous the night before
I plan like a producer and cry like a guest. Your running sheet is timed to the minute and the mics are checked twice, and I’ll still need a tissue when your dad starts reading. Quietly organised, loudly happy for you: it turns out a celebrant needs both.
The legal part 
How I got here
I spent fourteen years producing radio, mostly the parts nobody hears: the script, the timing, the moment someone needs a glass of water before they speak. Then two friends asked me to marry them in their backyard, and I said yes before I’d checked whether I could.
I trained, registered and married them that autumn under a borrowed gazebo. I’ve been doing it ever since, full time now. Radio taught me that people listen best to someone who sounds like a person, so that’s how I write: your words, your stories, short enough that nobody shuffles.
Home base: Brunswick, Victoria
Anywhere with a view
I’m based in Brunswick and marry couples all over Melbourne and regional Victoria: the Yarra Valley, the Dandenongs, the Mornington Peninsula, the Great Ocean Road, the Macedon Ranges, the Grampians and the High Country.
Travel within 40 km of Brunswick is included, and further out is quoted in writing before you book. My small car has a big boot: speaker, mics, signing table, two chairs, umbrellas and a first aid kit.
Where I sit on the scale
1.
Funny or serious?
Funny, with a lump in the throat by the end.
2.
Relaxed or formal?
Relaxed. You can still wear the tie.
3.
Short and sweet, or long and thorough?
Short and sweet. Most of mine run under half an hour.
4.
Traditional or modern?
Modern, with the old words kept where they still mean something.
5.
Winging it, or ready for anything?
Ready for anything, including the wind.
6.
Quietly spoken, or heard in the back row?
Heard in the back row. Every word.
7.
Reads from a script, or knows it by heart?
Both. I know it well, and the script is in my folder so the legal words are exact.