QUEENSLAND’S NO. 1 CELEBRANTBrisbane Marriage Celebrant, Gwen Inglis has been voted No. 1 Marriage Celebrant in Queensland. Gwen’s award, “Queensland Celebrant of the Year” was announced at the 21st annual Australian Bridal Industry Academy (ABIA) gala awards night at Victoria Park Golf Complex.
“I was so excited”, Gwen told us. “I have been a finalist for the last 11 years and won 5 years ago. There are some amazing celebrants in Queensland so to have won a second time is a real thrill”.
ABIA contacts those brides who have agreed to participate and invites them to rate their wedding suppliers. Gwen received a rating of 99.96%.
Marriage is still very much in vogue in Queensland and Australia as a whole. There were over 112,000 marriages in Australia in 2017 with 78% of them performed by civil marriage celebrants. Just over 2,000 of Australia’s nearly 9,000 marriage celebrants are based in Queensland ensuring healthy competition and giving couples plenty to choose from.
For Gwen the next big challenge is the “Australian Celebrant of the Year”. Where results for the State competition are taken over 12 months, those for the “Australian Celebrant of the Year” are taken over a 4-year period.
“In 2017 I came 3rd in Australia. In 2018 I came 2nd. If you see me walking around with my fingers crossed, there are no prizes for guessing why!”, Gwen says with a wry smile.
