Justin Connor

I find myself in the body of a middle aged, cis-gendered white male. In order of interest to me, I whakapapa to Ngati Porou, Lebanon, Ireland and the North of England. Born and bred in Pōneke, as a child I felt drawn to the wide open Wairarapa with it’s big skies, continental climate and holding hills. I now live on a 7 acre plot near Woodside which hosts a regenerative market garden, a community orchard and a bunch of other cool people and stuff.

I reckon the wedding ceremony is by far the most important part of the whole process of getting married. Something cosmic changes in that very tapu space – and as such, I think it’s worth paying a lot of attention to designing well. For me that design process is what people value from my celebrant offering. Think of it as a long, slow, iterative stretch of couples counselling as we explore and unfold together what marriage deeply means to you both and how this can be deeply and symbolically manifested through ceremony. So far, my process takes 6-9 months and involves 10-15 meetings – mamny of which can be 2-3 hours long. Of course, all this time and effort means it’s an excellent and fundamentally enriching experience, but it’s also really expensive (expect $5 – $10k). This is for people who also see the primary importance of the ceremony, and the design process often includes rippling out into the design of the broader marriage event. If you think this approach is for you, please get in touch!