Alyssa Fritzlaff
LOCAL woman Christine Skicko has been awarded Marriage Celebrant of the year in ‘Gippsland and Phillip Island’, for the second year in a row.
The 2021 Brides Choice Awards recognise businesses that “excelled and or exceeded a
Brides expectation in the planning of their wedding”.
Ms Skicko has been working as a celebrant for seven years, and currently resides in Newborough.
She was voted in by the couples she works with throughout the last 12-18 months, and was “extremely surprised” she first time she won.
“It’s nice that you know your couples have voted for you,” she said.
Ms Skicko started her work as a celebrant at an unexpected time – after her own divorce.
“I split up with my husband, and it was something I always wanted to do… I’d seen a
couple of people do it – and I thought, ‘I think I’d be good at that’.”
She was looking for something to do on her weekends, and eventually booked in and
completed the course.
“It’s just such an enjoyable thing to do,” she explained.
“I can be a lot more relaxed about it, because I love it … I get to be with people at their very happiest time.”
Ms Emma Dyer is a former client and said Ms Skicko was really easy to work with.
“I met Christine at the 2018 wedding expo in Morwell…I went around and spoke to people
and came back to her, we had a connection and really hit it off.”
“She gave us a lot of freedom to do what we wanted to do… she was really flexible and clear.”
She said people who attended her wedding have since asked her for Ms Skicko’s contact
details.
Ms Skicko has a theatre background, and currently works in admin and customer service –
skills she feels are helpful as a celebrant.
“I think it’s mainly about being organised, making sure you’re on top of everything,” she
explained.
“I also don’t get nervous in front of a crowd, if things go wrong I can generally fix them, or fluff it until we get back to where should be
“I think my theatrical background is a real asset, because I can project my voice, I know
how to stand, I know where to stand, I’m always very aware of not being in people’s way… I have a very clear, nice speaking voice I’ve been told, and I get very involved with my people – I love them!”
Over the years she has acquired her fair share of hilarious and heart-warming stories.
“I did a beautiful wedding, it was out the back of Maffra somewhere on a private property,
under the most magnificent oak tree you’ve ever seen… they had their dog there,” she said.
“The dog was really well-behaved, he was going has he was told. Then the bride walked
down the aisle, and the dog walked right to the front – and did the biggest poo ever. It was very funny, and it made some fantastically funny photos.”
Another wedding she attended almost ended in disaster when a groomsmen dropped the
rings.
“I said to the groomsmen, ‘you’ve got the rings, haven’t you’, he goes ‘yep’, and with a flourish pulls them out of his pocket, opens the box and the wedding ring went down the crack in the rotunda … they had to pull all the planks off and a guest had to crawl under with a torch to find it.”
Currently in the final months of planning her own wedding, Ms Skicko can “empathise”
with her couples – many of whom have had to reschedule due to COVID-19.
“I think this year was even worse than last year … people haven’t been getting a lot of new
bookings,” she said.
“People were just too frightened to make the commitment – and that’s understandable, it’s a big expense.”
Ms Skicko feels the most important thing is to have a connection with the couple she’s working with.
“It’s very, very important that you can create a really nice relationship with your couple,” she said.
‘I think, the most important thing to consider when you’re a celebrant is that you’re not the
right fit for every person, and you can’t beat yourself up about that … you have to have that connection.”
For couples, she said that trusting your celebrant is of the utmost importance.
“You’ve got to trust them, if nothing else you’ve got to trust them. You’ve got to trust that
they’re going to turn up, trust that they’re going to turn up looking presentable, and trust that they’re going to deliver what you want them to.” Ms Skicko also does other events, including baby naming and renewal of vows.
“Most of my business comes from word of mouth,” she explained.
“I travel all over Gippsland, I just charge more if it’s more than a 100km round trip … I’ve done quite a few weddings in Melbourne, the Yarra Valley, Dandenongs.”
With restrictions lifting at the beginning of 2020, the early months of the year were a very
busy time.
“All of February and all of March I had at least two weddings every weekend – I was
stuffed,” she said.
This year, the Brides Choice Awards were held on Zoom, which Ms Skicko said was “a bit
disappointing, but couldn’t be helped”.
The ultimate measure of her success, however, are the responses she receives after each
wedding, with Ms Skicko saying she relies on feedback from the couples and attendees to
gauge whether she has done the best possible ceremony for her clients.
“At the end of the day… if I don’t get at least two people come up to me afterwards, I haven’t done my job right,” she said.
