The COVID-19 lockdowns led to an exciting and fulfilling change of direction for CFA volunteers and married couple Greg Thorpe and Anne Tammesild.
Instead of sitting idle, they both completed a Certificate IV in celebrancy, and now get a lot of joy from marrying people – especially fellow CFA volunteers.
“I retired during the COVID-19 pandemic after being an air traffic controller for 43 years,” Greg said. “Anne saw me getting bored and suggested I find something new to do. I said I wouldn’t mind being a marriage celebrant, and Anne replied that she’d like to do that too.”
Greg and Anne both completed their certificate IV in about nine months, but because of COVID-19 they weren’t able to get their new business off the ground the way they had hoped.
Greg and Anne, who live in Hampton, are members of District 8 Headquarters Brigade where they are learning new skills to work in an Incident Control Centre. Before moving to Hampton, Greg had been a firefighter with St Andrews Fire Brigade since 2008, and the impact of the 2009 fires on Greg and those around him prompted him to become a peer in CFA's Peer Support Program.
“At St Andrews I got really interested in firefighting and learned a range of skills. Then after 2009 I also wanted to help fellow volunteers, so I trained to be a peer supporter,” Greg said.
Greg and Anne love marrying people, and are happy to conduct weddings in addition to having daytime jobs.
“We aim to do 15 weddings a year in between my part-time job as the manager of emergency management and business continuity across 51 magistrates’ courts, and Anne’s full-time teaching role.”
Anne became a CFA member about a year ago after many years as a Life Saving Victoria volunteer where she was a district assessor and trainer. She now wants to contribute to the operation of CFA Incident Control Centres.
Greg and Anne approach a wedding as a team. Although only one celebrant can legally marry a couple, they both attend the wedding.
“We do it together because we enjoy it so much,” Greg said. “If Anne conducts the ceremony, I’ll be the roadie and set everything up. It brings us a lot of joy. After the wedding, we walk away with a big smile. We’re not in it to make much money but to marry people and make them happy.
“I see how much work CFA members devote to supporting their communities and we like to give back by marrying them for a reasonable fee. We’re not worried about travelling a long distance to marry CFA people – we just turn the occasion into a weekend away.”
One happy occasion was when Greg married CFA employee Jacinta McMahon and her partner Tim late last year in their backyard with about 30 guests. Their beloved dog Bundy was the ring bearer.
Greg and Anne discuss each wedding together and writing the couple’s love story is a joint effort.
“Having two celebrants who know all the documents and the members of the bridal party means that either of us can conduct the ceremony. If I was sick, Anne could take the ceremony and vice versa. Fortunately, that hasn’t been a problem,” Greg said.
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