To know JC is to swept up by her rhythmic tales as she swings into every room that she enters!*

We recently caught up with JC to chat about being a celebrant and her other big passion in life and love.  

So, JC, where are you based?
Melbourne

What’s your favourite thing about being a celebrant?
Being a celebrant “marries” my skills and passions together in a neat little profession. I love meeting people and celebrating their lives and future together. 

I also love being given free rein on puns… where I am allowed of course!

[This is just one of the reasons why we leant into some puns in our intro!]

What’s the number one thing you’ve learnt after being involved in so many celebrations?
That “chill” and “organised” are not mutually exclusive. I’ve learned that the best way to create a chill event for yourselves, your guests, and your vendors is to be organised. 

I’ve also learned that if you are doing a DIY wedding, the number 1 thing you’ll forget is to organise a cake knife.

What’s your favourite post wedding drink?
Can’t say no to some bubbles if it’s on offer!

For you, what’s the best thing about being part of TCS?
That “community over competition” isn’t just some cool slogan, but it’s embodied in everything. TCS really helped me get started and it’s such a joy to now be able to help others too. 

I also love that I never stop learning new things being part of TCS.

You never arrive at a wedding without?
A hard copy of the ceremony in the unlikely case of a technical difficulty, but maybe I should also never arrive without a cake-knife.

Now, we know that a couple’s ceremony is not the only part of a wedding that you can guide your couples in…..tell us more about dance classes?

[*now, our dance puns make sense…. Right…?]

I love being able to provide dance lessons to couples! The lessons range from “we don’t want to look like we’re dancing awkwardly at a school formal” to fully choreographed fun. 

I teach with my partner in dance, and in life, Ash, and together we teach both lead and follow roles from our home dance studio. 

Regardless of whether you’re after a few simple moves or the whole choreographed show, our aim is to get you to feel comfortable dancing with each other. 

Does being a couple’s dance instructor and celebrant help you with their ceremony? 

Yes! I actually had a couple who dance to do a dance choreography as the entrance to their ceremony, so in that case, it absolutely helped! 

In most cases though where the dance is for the reception, I still finds it helps with the ceremony. Dance lessons naturally gives me more face-to-face time with the couple. We can tack on planning meetings after our lessons and we generally get to know each other better. On top of that, if I MC the reception, then I get to witness the first dance with my own eyes! I cheer loudly and become a proud Mumma! 

So, in your expert opinion, what makes a great first dance? 

I wrote a blog on this very topic for The Celebrant Society : What Makes a Good First Dance. 

In a nutshell though, being comfortable with your song choice and in your dance connection as a partnership are the main ingredients to a great first dance. You have invited guests, as opposed to an audience or a judging panel to your wedding, so they are going to be cheering for you regardless of what you end up doing for a first dance.

Thank you for chatting with us JC. 

If you want to know more about our fabulous JC, she has been sharing her inspirations and passions as part of our #tcs_photo_challenge on Instagram.