Websites and Local Area Marketing
A website itself is an important below the-line marketing tool and it can be created at a cheap price and have an immediate impact on your company. Your franchisor or corporation most likely boasts a company-wide website, which makes a lot of sense, so that the deatails and costs can be spread across the entire organisation. The website should be a two-way medium that places you in touch with your target market and explains in detail your offerings and how to reach your organisation. It should gather and distribute leads and should collect prospect details so that you can build a database of potential clients.
Websites have the capability to reach world-wide audiences, which takes you well away from your local area! Regardless, websites can also be tailored in such a way that if someone does a search for your products in your area, you can be found.
This is crucial because more people are going to the Internet first before reaching for the Yellow Pages. A professionally produced and presented website can increase the credibility of your company regardless of whether you are working out of a one-bedroom apartment or an expensive office block.
Your website can answer the same questions over and over and over again whilst you sleep and can upgrade the life of your printed material, radio and television advertisements by incorporating them on the site. You can introduce forms and gather information as you require and provide your clients with valuable reports whilst collecting their details for your prospect database. The site can also be another inexpensive retail outlet for you without the cost of hard real estate.
Believe it or not, reclusive people not willing to contact you directly by phone are able to gather information and if they wish to pursue things, they will often email you via the contacts section of the website.
There is a lot written about websites and how they should be made and what they should say. Suffice to say that the content you present on your website is crucial because it has the potential to become the foundation for attracting clients to your site and positioning your company as the leader in its field. By regularly updating the content on your site, you can also attract search engines and, if the content is worthy, other businesses will build inbound links to your site.
There is some argument as to how many pages should form your website ranging from one simple tellall/sell-all page to adding as much content as you like. Regardless, it’s crucial to know that the heading or first line of the web page is the most important and the next in line is the first paragraph. Why is this so? Well, a web page is similar to a newspaper in that people will scan for headlines before either selecting something they like or moving on to the next page. Keep the reader interested with clear, concise. and confronting headlines and strong first paragraphs.
Web pages are one of the most easily tracked marketing techniques available. In fact, you can obtain an astounding amount of statistics from hits through to hot spots within a page. Websites are also perfect for companies that can’t find enough room on their business cards to explain their products and services!
It’s one thing to have a great website; it’s an absolutely different thing to have one that can be found.
For internet marketing Brisbane, Brisbane web design and SEO services Brisbane, contact Search Tempo today.
Sphere: Related ContentOil Paints and Painting
Artists’ oil colours are put together by adding dry powder pigments with selected refined linseed oil until the substance reaches a stiff paste thickness and then grinding it by strong friction in steel roller mills. The consistency of the shade is essential. The usual feel is a smooth, buttery paste, not stringy or long or tacky. When a more flowing or mobile aspect is desired by the artist, a liquid painting medium such as pure gum turpentine needs to be combined with the concoction. If the artist wishes to expediate drying, a siccative, or liquid drier, may be occasionally used.
First-rate brushes are sold in two styles: red sable (from various members of the weasel family) and chemically whitened hog bristles. They are produced in in numbered sizes for any of four regular shapes: round (pointed), flat, bright (flat but shorter and not as supple), and oval (flat shape but bluntly pointed). Red sable brushes are widely chosen for the smoother, delicate kind of brushstroke. The painting knife, a thinly tempered, limber version of an palette knife, is a useful utensil for applying oil colours in a robust way.
The standard support for oil painting is a canvas manufactured from pure European linen of sturdy close weave. A canvas is cut to the desired size and cast over a frame, generally a wooden frame, and secured by tacks or, since the 20th century, with staples. If the artist needs to lower the absorbency of the canvas and achieve a consistent surface, a primer or ground might be applied and is left to dry before painting begins. The most often seen primers for this have been gesso, rabbit-skin glue, and lead white. If stiffness and a consistent texture are preferred to springiness and texture, a wooden or processed paperboard panel, sized or primed, might be used. A number of other supports, including paper and differing textiles and metals, have also been experimented with.
A coat of paint varnish is usually applied to a completed oil painting to protect it and prevent atmospheric attacks, minor abrasions, and harmful accumulation of dirt. This varnish film can be taken off without damaging the painting by experts who use isopropyl alcohol and other household solvents. Varnishing also sets the surface to a consistent lustre and sets the depth of tone and colour intensity basically to the appearance initially seen by the artist in the wet paint. Some contemporary painters, particularly those who don’t favour deep, intense colouring, and stay with a mat, or lustreless, finish in the paintings.
The majority of oil paintings from prior to the 19th century were done in layers. The first would be a blank, uniform field of thinned paint known as a ground. The ground subdued the white gleam of the primer and established a gentle base of colour on which to apply oil paint. The forms and figures in the painting would be roughly blocked in with shades of white, along with gray or neutral green, red, or brown. The resulting field of monochromatic colours were called the underpainting. Forms could then be defined with either the paint or scumbles, which are non-uniform, thinly applied layers of opaque pigment that creates a whole range of pictorial effects. For the last stage, transparent layers of pure colour known as glazes were employed to cast luminosity, depth, and brilliance to the forms, and highlights could then be imparted with thick, textured patches of paint known as impastos.
Oil as a medium for painting is chronologised back to the 11th century. The method of easel painting with oil colours, however, came directly from 15th-century tempera-painting styles. Simple improvements in the method of refining linseed oil and the availability of volatile solvents after 1400 coincided with a requirement for some other medium than pure egg-yolk tempera, meeting the changing desires of the Renaissance (see tempera painting). Originally, oil paints and varnishes were utilised to glaze tempera panels that had been painted from the typical linear draftsmanship. The technically vibrant, jewel-like paintings from the 15th-century Flemish artist Jan van Eyck, for example, were done with this new technique.
In the 16th century, oil colour became firmly established as the basic painting material in Venice. By the end of the century, Venetian painters had become proficient in utilising the fundamental aspects of oil painting, notably in applying a number of layers of glazes. Canvas, after a long era of development, overcame wood panelling as the most common support.
A 17th-century master of the oil technique was Velázquez, a Spanish artist in the Venetian tradition, whose highly economical but informative brushstrokes have commonly been copied, particularly in portraiture. The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens challenged the norm in the method in which he loaded the light colours opaquely, juxtaposing his thin, transparent darks and shadows. The third great 17th-century master of oil painting was the Dutch painter Rembrandt. In his paintings, a single brushstroke would effectively depict form; cumulative strokes created great textural depth, by combining the rough and the smooth, the thick and the thin. A technique of loaded whites and transparent darks would be fully enhanced by glazing, blendings, and highly controlled impastos.
Other basic influences on the techniques of easel painting are the smooth, thinly painted, deliberately planned, tight styles of painting. A great many admired works (e.g., such as from Johannes Vermeer) were created with smooth and graduated blends of colours to cast subtly modeled forms and delicate colour variations.
The technical requirements of some schools of modern painting cannot be attained by traditional genres and/or techniques, however, and some abstract painters - and to some extent contemporary painters in traditional styles - have shown a desire for a plastic flow or viscosity that cannot be formed in oil paint and its conventional additives. Some require a larger range of thick to thin applications and a faster rate of drying. Some artists mix coarsely grained materials with their colours to create textures, some artists are applying oil paints in heavier volume than traditionally, and many have started to use acrylic paints, as they are more versatile and dry very fast.
Interested in oil painting? For art supplies Brisbane, including canvas art supplies and artists supplies, visit or call the Discount Art Warehouse.
Sphere: Related ContentWhat are Hydrocarbons?
Hydrocarbons are those in the class of organic chemical compounds created only of the elements carbon and hydrogen. The carbon atoms are combined to form the framework of the compound; the hydrogen atoms connect to them in plenty of varied configurations. Hydrocarbons are the primary constituents of petroleum and natural gas. They might serve as fuels and lubricants as well as raw materials for the construction of plastics, fibres, rubbers, solvents, explosives, and industrial chemicals.
Most hydrocarbons occur in nature. As well as part of fossil fuels, such compounds could be seen in trees and some plants, like, for example, for the form of pigments known as carotenes that are produced in carrots and green leaves. More than 98 percent of natural crude rubber is partly hydrocarbon polymer, a chainlike molecule formed of numerous units connected.
Hydrocarbons won’t dissolve in water and are less dense than water, so they will float on its surface. They will generally be soluble in one another, when combined, as well as in some particular organic solvents. All hydrocarbons are combustible. If ignited completely with sufficient oxygen, they produce carbon dioxide and water, releasing heat. If the oxygen amount is insufficient, the combustion will mainly form carbon monoxide.
The structures and chemistry of individual hydrocarbons is dependant for the most part on the sorts of chemical bonds that connect the atoms of their constituent molecules. A carbon atom could feature four single bonds, or it might have double or triple bonds. A hydrogen atom will have just one single bond.
Hydrocarbons are divided within differing classes depending on their structure. The two essential classes are aliphatic and aromatic. Aliphatic hydrocarbons could be constructed of molecules in which the carbon atoms are attached in chains (called acyclic) or in rings (termed alicyclic, or carbocyclic). Aliphatic hydrocarbons are also allocated according to the kinds of bonds between the carbon atoms. If the bonds are single (called sigma bonds), the compound is called saturated. Such compounds are classified as alkanes or cycloalkanes. If two or more bonds combine any two carbon atoms, the hydrocarbon is known as unsaturated. The bonds may be double, such as the alkenes or alkadienes, or triple, like for the alkynes. Certain compounds contain both classes of multiple bonds within the singular molecule.
The simplest alkanes are methane, ethane , and propane. Those three compounds exist in only one structure in each. Higher members of the series, for example butane, might be constructed in two different procedures, according to whether the carbon chain is straight or branched. They compounds are called isomers; these are compounds with an identical molecular formula but feature varied arrangements of the included atoms. The upshot is, they frequently possess varied chemical properties.
Cycloalkanes are ring structures with two fewer hydrogen atoms within the molecule of the corresponding alkane. Lots of these have not one ring, but many. Six-membered rings are of note due to the fact that they occur in several natural products, especially the steroids. Cyclic structures may be isomers where two molecules vary purely in the spatial arrangement of their substituent groups.
The key commercial sources of alkanes include petroleum and natural gas. Individual higher alkanes and cycloalkanes commonly are synthesized by reactions designed for a specific product. These saturated hydrocarbons could also be synthesized from a relative unsaturated molecules, with hydrogenation (inclusion of hydrogen). Saturated hydrocarbons are generally inert; i.e., when in room temperature they will not be affected by most acids, alkalies, and oxidizing or reducing agents.
For hydrocarbon storage tanks and self-bundled hydrocarbon tanks, contact Logitank.com.au
Sphere: Related ContentTen Good Reasons to Consider Synthetic Grass
Gone are the days of synthetic grass looking fake and plastic. These days new generation synthetic lawn is lush, soft, extremely realistic and difficult to tell apart from the real thing.
Everyone likes the natural look of a lawn, but who has the time these days? With artificial grass you get all the advantages of real grass with no chance of dead patches, muddy patches or the weekend maintenance routine.
Never mow again
Imagine having your weekends free to do what you love most without ever having to find the mower again. Not only will you never be caught out by unexpected visitors and an unkempt lawn, you’ll have the peace of mind of never having to hear that mower motor pacing up and down your yard ever again!
Save your water
Only grass that grows needs water, so save it for something more useful, like drinking a nice glass of it while you are admiring your lawn.
No nasties
Don’t worry about having to use putrid fertilisers, stepping in bindii, or dealing with seasonal hayfever. With synthetic grass this is all a thing of the past, you can sit on it, lie on it, roll in it and get up without being caked in mud or grass clippings.
Can be installed anywhere grass won’t grow or you don’t want to mow
Synthetic grass doesn’t need sunlight , it is quite happy in shady areas and will keep them looking lush whilst providing you with many years of usable space. Being synthetic it is unaffected by constant direct sunlight or harsh conditions, this grass is made to last. Synthetic grass is also at home around the pool, good quality grasses are UV, salt and chlorine resistant.
It might look delicate but its durability will surprise you
Apart from homes these grasses are used in schools and council public areas, even dog runs and kennels. Just by looking at these new generation artificial lawns you can be forgiven for thinking they are fragile, but in fact they are extremely tough. They can stand up to heavy daily traffic, children, pets, are non-flammable and, you can expect high quality synthetic grass to last as long as high quality pavers.
It is available for DIY
For those that are willing, you can install your own synthetic grass. Find a good DIY installation guide do it yourself and save some money.
Turn unusable space into your favourite place
Synthetic lawn is so inviting, you will find that areas that were never used in the past become favourite resting and/or play areas.
You don’t need to leave home to have a practice hit on the green.
If golf is your thing then what could be more luxurious than planting a putting green in your backyard. There are numerous options when it comes to artificial putting greens. Everything from DIY putting kits through to PGA level greens just like those in the homes of famous golfers, these PGA level greens allow you to chip and pitch from a distance, with a realistic roll from every angle of the green.
Synthetic lawn is used on the fringe of the green and can expand out to truly blend the putting green into the garden landscape.
Of course synthetic putting greens have all the same low maintenance advantages of synthetic grass. So these greens will be ready for play when you are.
Perfect for Children’s play areas
Synthetic grass has always been popular in day care centres, but synthetic lawn takes it to a whole new level of softness. Synthetic grass doesn’t conceal hidden hazards the way that sand or chipped bark can, and synthetic grass can be installed to comply with soft fall standards for use where play equipment is used.
Perfect for pets
Pets love synthetic grass and it is often used in luxury dog kennels.
Urine will simply soak through and make its way into the ground below, unfortunately there is no way of magically making number 2’s disappear so they will need to be picked up just as you would with real grass, however neither one of these will damage your grass. Removal of waste is purely for you and your dog to avoid any inconvenience.
For dogs that like to dig there are special installation techniques that will ensure your grass lasts as long as it should so make sure you mention this when you are being quoted on installation.
Enduroturf is Australian made, is available Australia-wide and recognised as being one of Australia’s largest suppliers and installers of synthetic grass. Brisbane is home to Enduroturf’s head office but you can find our synthetic grass in Melbourne, Geelong , Canberra, Sydney, Cairns, Toowoomba, , Tasmania , Alice Springs, Adelaide and we of course also provide our synthetic grass in Perth. Call us today for a free, no obligation quote or visit us at enduroturf.com.au
Sphere: Related ContentWhat is Sculpture?
Sculpture is an artistic form in which hard or plastic materials are worked into three-D works. The designs may be embodied in freestanding objects, in reliefs on surfaces, or in environments varying from tableaux to contexts enveloping the spectator. An unrestricted variety of material are used, including clay, wax, stone, metal, fabric, glass, wood, plaster, rubber, and random “found” objects. Materials may be carved, modeled, molded, cast, wrought, welded, sewn, assembled, or simply shaped and combined.
Sculpture is not a fixed branding that applies to a permanently restricted category of objects or range of activities. It is, rather, the name given to art that is growing and is changing and is continually extending the range of forms and evolving new types of objects. The scope of the term grew much wider in the later half of the 20th century than it had been only two or three decades previously, and in the fluid state of art at the beginning of the 21st century, one cannot predict what its future extensions are likely to see.
There are certain features which in previous centuries were considered to be essential to the sculpturing art but are no longer present in a great deal of modern sculpture and so no longer form part of a definition. One of the most elementary points of these is representation. Before the 20th century, sculpture was considered to be a representational art; one that imitated forms in life, that were most often human figures but also inanimate objects, such as game, utensils, and books. At the dawn of the 20th century, however, sculpture also began to include nonrepresentational forms. It has long been accepted that figures of such functional three-D objects as furniture, pots, and buildings can be expressive and beautiful without having to be in any way representational. It was only in the 20th century that nonfunctional, nonrepresentational, three-D works of art began to be created.
Before the 20th century, sculpture was considered essentially an art of solid form, or mass. It is true that the negative elements of sculpture — the voids and hollows underneath and between its solid parts — have generally been to some kind of extent an intricate part of the design, but this role was unacknowledged. In a large part of modern sculpture, however, the focus has broadened, and the spatial aspects have become dominant. Spatial sculpture is now a wholly recognisable area of the art.
It was also taken for granted in past sculpture that its components were of a constant shape and size and, except for works such as Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Diana (a monumental weather vane), would not move. With the contemporary developments of kinetic sculpture, neither the immobility nor immutability of its elements can any longer be considered fundamental to defining the art form.
Finally, sculpture since the 20th century has not been confined to the two traditional forming processes of carving and modeling, or to any traditional natural materials as stone, metal, wood, ivory, bone, and clay. As contemporary sculptors might use any materials and methods of manufacture that work for their purpose, the art can no longer be identified by any particular kind of materials or techniques.
With all this evolution, there is probably just one aspect that stays constant in the art form, and it endures as the foremost abiding concern of sculptors: the art of sculpture is a field of the visual arts that is specially concerned with the creation of objects in 3D.
Sculpture should be either in the round or in relief. A sculpture in the round is a separate, detached object in its own right, possessing an independent existence in space as a human body or a chair. A relief does not exist in this reality. It is attached to and projects from or is an inextricable part of something else that serves either as a background to it or a matrix from which it projects.
The actual three-dimensionality of sculpture in the round restricts its scope in some respects in comparison with the scope of painting. Sculpture cannot cast the illusion of space by purely optical means, or invest its structure with atmosphere and light as we might see in painting. However, it does proffer a realistic experience, a vivid physical presence that is denied to the pictorial arts. Forms of sculpture can be tangible as well as visible, and may appeal strongly and directly to our tactile and visual sense. Even the visually impaired, including those who are congenitally blind, can create and appreciate some types of sculpture. It was, in fact, debated by the 20th-century art critic Sir Herbert Read that sculpture should be seen as primarily an art of touch and that the first roots of sculptural sensibility can be traced to the pleasure one experiences in doing so.
All three-dimensional forms are viewed as exhibiting an expressive character along with their pure geometric properties. They strike the observer as delicate, aggressive, flowing, taut, relaxed, dynamic, soft, and such. By exploiting the evocative qualities of form, the artist is able to create images in which subject matter and expressiveness are mutually reinforcing of form. These images may go beyond the mere presentation of fact and evoke a wide range of subtle and powerful emotions.
The aesthetic raw material in sculpture is, so to speak, the whole realm of expressive three-D form. A sculpture can draw upon what we know exists in the endless worlds of natural and man-made form, or it may be an art of genuine invention. It has been utilised to express a vast range of human emotions and feelings from the gently tender and delicate to the most violent and ecstatic.
All human beings, innately involved from birth with the world of three-D form, understand something of its structural and expressive properties and will develop emotional responses to them. This combination of intellectual understanding and response, often called a sense of form, may be cultivated and refined. It is to that sense of form that this art form primarily appeals.
For art supplies Brisbane, including canvas art supplies and artists supplies, visit or call the Discount Art Warehouse. Become a member for free and get 10% discount on future purchases.
Sphere: Related ContentWhy use Promotional Products?
In the advertising industry the influence of an advert is measured by:- How many people it contacts, how many times they see it, do they relate to it?, do they remember what it was selling?, and most importantly, will it make them buy?
We cannot think of any other sort of advertising that is as good as promotional products at delivering you exposure to customers and formulating goodwill that leads to sales.
Consider these examples:-
1. A low cost item like a promotional fridge magnet, custom notepad or promotional drink bottle will give your company an abundance of repeat advertising exposure to your customer. Your logo/message (or even something as basic as your telephone number) will always be at hand - they will not have to pick up the Yellow Pages to find your (and your competitors) details.
2. Being given a mid priced item like a promotional desk clock, a branded mousemat or a logo printed coffee mug will present to your existing customers that you appreciate them, they will thank you for it, which in turn will produce goodwill towards you and your business. Furthermore it will produce years of daily exposure to your logo/message. The cost of pre exposure (to your message) will be miniscule.
3. Top clients and staff are essential to our business and they will be to yours too. Studies have shown that happy staff are productive staff and you will know how much business, say, your top twenty five customers provide. A $30 thank you gift will represent less than 1/1000 of most employees yearly pay!
It may perhaps be a smaller fraction of a contract you are tendering for or the annual sales volume of clients. Some of the largest companies we know are not huge payers but have a focus on staff contentment and showing them they are appreciated - they often use Corporate Gifts. Simply acknowledging someone and telling them they are essential is good but the act of giving is a lot more powerful.
What are Promotional Products?
Promotional Products are items that can be decorated with a clients name, logo or message on them. The industry is fast growing and has a value of $3.0 billion per annum in Australia. Marketers desire to brand their organisation, product, or service is the reason they use Promotion Product’s items and services.
Several other media options are available - newspaper, radio, and direct mail to name a couple - these however do not offer the accountability offered by Promotional Product Marketing. Promotional Products are successful, as not only do they advertise your message but your client will thank you for them.
Consider the benefits of Promotional Product Marketing outlined below:
Targeted - Promotional Products only convey your message to the people you are interested in. No non-prospects, no wasted circulation.
Longevity - A well made Promotional Product will last for years and is used on a daily basis by your client. No other media presents as much exposure.
Versatility - There are so many applications for Promotional Products Marketing that a listing of them would look like the Sydney telephone directory.
Budget Flexible - From a few cents to hundreds of dollars Promotion Products has items to fulfill your personal communication objectives.
Obligation - productive business is based on good relationships Promotional Products to customers strengthens these relationships and creates an obligation towards doing business with you and your organisation.
Functional - The Promotional Products we offer are functional ensuring that your client will use the gift and be exposed to your message on a daily basis.
Promotion Products is a Brisbane based company that supplies promotional products such as promotional drink bottles and custom notepads and much, much more, call us on 1300 303 717 at anytime.
Sphere: Related ContentThe History of Weddings
A form of marriage has been known to exist in all human societies, past and present. Its importance can be seen in the elaborate and complicated laws and rituals surrounding it. Although these laws and rituals are as different and plentiful as human social and cultural organizations, some universals do apply.
The principal legal function of marriage is to ensure the rights of the partners with respect to each other and to ensure the rights and define the relationships of children within a community. Marriage has historically conferred a legal status on the offspring, which entitled him or her to the various privileges assured by the society of that community, including the right of inheritance. In most societies marriage also founded the permissible social interaction allowed to the offspring, including the acceptable selection of future spouses.
Until the late 20th century, marriage was rarely a matter of free choice. In Western societies love between partners came to be associated with marriage, but even in Western society (as the novels of writers such as Henry James and Edith Wharton attest) romantic love was not the dominant basis for matrimony in most eras, and one’s marriage partner was carefully chosen.
Endogamy, the process of marrying someone from within one’s own tribe or group, is the oldest social regulation of marriage. When the forms of communication with outside groups are limited, endogamous marriage is a natural result. Cultural pressures to marry within one’s social, economic, and ethnic group are still very strongly enforced in some societies.
Exogamy, the processof marrying outside the group, is found in societies in which kinship partnerships are the most complex, thus excluding from marriage large groups who may trace their lineage to a common ancestor.
In societies in which the large, or extended, family structure remains the basic unit, marriages are usually arranged by the family. The assumption is that love between the partners occurs after marriage, and much consideration is given to the socioeconomic advantages accruing to the larger family from the match. By contrast, in societies in which the small, or nuclear, family predominates, young adults usually choose their own mates. It is assumed that love precedes (and determines) marriage, and less thought is normally given to the socioeconomic aspects of the match.
In societies with arranged marriages, the almost universal custom is that a person acts as an intermediary, or matchmaker. This person’s dominantresponsibility is to arrange a marriage that will be agreeable to the two families represented. A form of dowry or bridewealth is almost always exchanged in societies that favour arranged marriages.
In societies in which individuals choose their own mates, dating is the most typical way for people to meet and become acquainted with prospective partners. Successful dating may result in courtship, which then usually leads to marriage.
Marriage rituals
The rituals and ceremonies surrounding marriage in the majority of cultures are associated primarily with productivity and validate the importance of marriage for the continuation of a clan, people, or society. They also assert a familial or communal sanction of the mutual decision and a comprehension of the difficulties and sacrifices involved in making what is considered, in most cases, to be a lifelong commitment to and responsibility for the welfare of spouse and children.
Marriage ceremonies include symbolic rites, often sanctified by a religious order, which are considered to confer good fortune on the couple. Because economic considerations play an essential role in the success of child rearing, the offering of gifts, both real and symbolic, to the married couple are a important part of the marriage ritual. Where the exchange of prevents is extensive, either from the bride’s family to the bridegroom’s or vice versa, this usually indicates that the ability to choose one’s marital partner has been limited and determined by the families of the betrothed.
Fertility rites with the intention to ensure a fruitful marriage exist in some form in all ceremonies. Some of the oldest rituals still to exist in contemporary ceremonies include the conspicuous display of fruits or of cereal grains that may be sprinkled over the couple or on their nuptial bed, the accompaniment of a small child with the bride, and the breaking of an object or food to ensure a successful consummation of the marriage and an easy childbirth.
The most universal ritual is one that symbolizes a sacred union. This may be proclaimed by the joining of hands, an exchange of rings or chains, or the tying of garments. However, all the elements in marriage rituals differ greatly among different societies, and components such as time, place, and the social importance of the event are established by tradition and habit.
These rituals are, to a certain extent, shaped by the religious beliefs and practices found in societies throughout the world. In the Hindu tradition, for example, weddings are highly elaborate affairs, involving many prescribed rituals. Marriages are generally arranged by the parents of the couple, and the date of the ceremony is determined by careful astrological calculations. Among most Buddhists marriage remains essentially a secular affair, even though the Buddha offered guidelines for the responsibilities of lay householders.
In Judaism marriage is thought to have been instituted by God and is described as making the individual complete. Marriage involves a double ceremony, which includes the formal betrothal and wedding rites (prior to the 12th century the two were separated by as much as one year). The modern ceremony starts with the groom signing the marriage contract before a group of witnesses. He is then led to the bride’s room, where he lays a veil on her. This is followed by the ceremony under the huppa (a canopy that signifies the bridal bower), which includes the reading of the marriage contract, the seven marriage benedictions, the groom’s placing a ring on the bride’s finger (in Conservative and Reform traditions the double ring ceremony has been introduced), and, in most communities, the crushing of a glass under foot. After the ceremony the couple is led into a private room for seclusion, which symbolizes the consummation of the marriage.
From its origins, Christianity has emphasized the spiritual nature and indissolubility of marriage. Jesus Christ explained of marriage as being instituted by God, and the majority Christians consider it a unshakeable union based upon mutual consent. Some Christian churches count marriage as one of the sacraments, and other Christians confirm the sanctity of marriage but don’t identify it as a sacrament. Since the Middle Ages, Christian weddings have taken place before a priest or minister, and the ceremony involves the exchange of vows, readings from Scripture, a blessing, and, sometimes, the eucharistic rite.
In Islam marriage is not strictly a sacrament but is always understood as a gift from God or a kind of service to God. The basic Islamic tenets concerning marriage are laid out in the Qur’an, which states that the marital bond rests on “mutual love and mercy,” and that spouses are “each other’s garments.” Muslim men are allowed to have up to four wives at one time (though they seldom do), but the wives must all be treated equitably. Marriages are traditionally contracted by the father or guardian of the bride and her intended husband, who must offer his bride the mahr, a payment offered as a gift to guarantee her financial independence.
If you are looking for a Cairns wedding celebrant, a wedding celebrant in Cairns or a Cairns civil celebrant, contact Del at sharingandcaringcairns.com.au
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