Websites and Local Area Marketing

A website itself is an exceptional below the-line marketing tool and it can be constructed at a low price and have an instant impact on your company. Your franchisor or corporation probably boasts a company-wide website, which makes a lot of sense, so that the detail and cost can be divided across the entire organisation. The website should be a two-way medium that puts you in touch with your target audience 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 construct a database of potential clients.

Websites have the capability to reach world-wide audiences, which takes you out of your local area! Regardless, websites can also be made in such a way that if someone does a search for your products in your area, you can be found.

This is important because more people are going to the Internet first before reaching for the Yellow Pages. A professionally produced and presented website can establish the credibility of your company regardless if 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 extend the life of your printed material, radio and television advertisements by incorporating them on the site. You can produce forms and gather information as you need 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, shy people not willing to contact you by phone are able to gather information and if they wish to pursue things further, they will often email you via the contacts section of the website.

There is a lot written about websites and how they should be created and what they should contain. Suffice to say that the content you display on your website is crucial because it has the potential to become the foundation for attracting clients to your site and establishing 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 conjecture as to how many pages should constitute your website ranging from one simple tellall/sell-all page to adding as much content as you like. Regardless, it’s important 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 a myriad 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 fantastic 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.

Oil Paints and Painting

Artists’ oil colours are put together by adding dry powder pigments with particular refined linseed oil until the mixture reaches a stiff paste texture then grinding it by strong friction in steel roller mills. The smoothness of the shade is important. The common feel is a smooth, buttery paste, and not stringy or long or tacky. When a transient or mobile aspect is desired by the artist, a liquid painting medium such as pure gum turpentine needs to be stirred in with it. If the artist wishes to accelerate drying, a siccative, or liquid drier, could be usually used.

Top-class brushes are produced in two styles: red sable (from different members of the weasel species) and chemically whitened hog bristles. Both are produced in in numbered sizes for each of four regular shapes: round (pointed), flat, bright (flat shape but is shorter and not as supple), and oval (flat shape but bluntly pointed). Red sable brushes are often chosen for a smoother, delicate kind of painting. The painting knife, a finely tempered, skinny version of the art palette knife, is a convenient method for using oil colours in a robust manner.

The standard support for an oil painting is a canvas manufactured of pure European linen of sturdy close weave. A canvas is cut to the desired size and cast over a frame, often made of wood, and secured by use of tacks or, from the 20th century, by staples. If the artist wants to reduce the absorbency of the canvas fabric itself and to attain a smooth surface, a primer or ground may be applied and allowed to dry before painting begins. The most typically found primers for this have been gesso, rabbit-skin glue, and lead white. If rigidity and a consistent texture are preferred to springiness and texture, a wooden or processed paperboard panel, sized or primed, may be utilised. A number of other supports, for example paper and certain textiles and metals, have also been experimented with.

A coat of painting varnish is commonly applied to a finished oil painting to protect it from atmospheric attacks, minor abrasions, and an injurious accumulation of dirt. This film of varnish could be removed safely by experts with isopropyl alcohol and other common solvents. The film varnish also sets the surface to a full lustre and takes the depth of tone and colour intensity virtually to the vibrancy originally created by the artist in the wet paint. Some painters, especially those who do not favour deep, intense colouring, will prefer a mat, or lustreless, finish in the paintings.

Most oil paintings dating prior to the 19th century were built in layers. The first would be a blank, uniform field of thin paint known as a ground. The ground lessened the white gleam of the primer and formed a base of gentle colour on which to apply the oil paint. The shapes and items in the painting were then roughly blocked in using shades of white, along with gray or neutral green, red, or brown. The ultimate field of monochromatic shades were termed the underpainting. Forms were given definition using either the paint or scumbles, which are irregular, thinly applied layers of opaque pigment that can display a lot of visual effects. At the last stage, transparent layers of pure colour known as a glaze could be employed to cast luminosity, depth, and brilliance to the forms, and highlights would then be created with thick, textured patches of paint called impastos.

Oil as a medium for painting is chronologised circa the 11th century. The method of easel painting with oil colours, however, resulted directly from 15th-century tempera-painting techniques. Simple improvements in the process of refining linseed oil and the availability of volatile solvents after 1400 coincided with a requirement for a medium other than pure egg-yolk tempera, in meeting the changing needs of the Renaissance (see tempera painting). At first, oil paints and varnishes were used to glaze tempera panelswhich had been painted with a traditional linear draftsmanship. The technically gleaming, jewel-like works by the 15th-century Flemish painter Jan van Eyck, for example, were perfected with this new technique.

Throughout the 16th century, oils became established as the ultimate painting material in Venice. At the end of the century, Venetian painters had grown proficient in the use of the fundamental aspects of oil painting, especially in their application of successive layers of glazes. Canvas, after a long time of development, replaced wood panelling as the most commonly used support.

A 17th-century master of the oil technique was Velázquez, a Spanish painter in the Venetian tradition, whose supremely economical but certain brushstrokes have commonly been emulated, particularly in portraiture. The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens challenged tradition in the style in which he loaded his light colours opaquely, to juxtapose the thin, transparent darks and shadows. A third remarkable 17th-century master of oil painting was the Dutch painter Rembrandt. In his artworks, a single brushstroke could effectively depict form; cumulative strokes create great textural depth, with a combination of the rough and the smooth, the thick and the thin. A system of loaded whites and transparent darks would be further enhanced by glazed effects, blendings, and highly controlled impastos.

Other particular influences on easel painting techniques are the smooth, thinly painted, deliberately planned, tight styles of painting. A great many admired works (e.g., such as those of Johannes Vermeer) were created with smooth and graduated blends of tones to create subtly shadowed forms and delicate colour variations.

The technical requirements of some schools of modern painting cannot be attained by use of traditional genres and/or techniques, however, and some abstract painters - as well as some contemporary traditionally-geared painters - have shown a desire for a plastic flow or viscosity that cannot be formed from oil paint and its conventional additives. Some desire a larger variety of thick and/or thin applications and a quicker rate of drying. Some artists have mixed coarsely grained materials with the colours to create textures, some artists have used oil paints in heavier volume than traditionally, and many have begun to favour acrylic paints, because 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.

What are Hydrocarbons?

Hydrocarbons are those of a class of organic chemical compounds formed only of the elements carbon and hydrogen. The carbon atoms are combined to produce the framework of the compound; the hydrogen atoms link to them in many differing configurations. Hydrocarbons are the primary constituents of petroleum and natural gas. They may be fuels and lubricants as well as raw materials for the creation of plastics, fibres, rubbers, solvents, explosives, and industrial chemicals.

Many hydrocarbons are formed in nature. While also present in fossil fuels, the compounds will be present in trees and some plants, like, for example, with the form of pigments termed carotenes that are seen in carrots and green leaves. More than 98 percent of natural crude rubber is a hydrocarbon polymer, a chainlike molecule formed of a number of units connected.

Hydrocarbons will not dissolve in water and are less dense than water, so will float on it. They will usually be soluble with one another, however, as well as within some certain organic solvents. All hydrocarbons will be combustible. If ignited wholly with an adequate amount of oxygen, they will produce carbon dioxide and water, releasing heat. If the oxygen is not adequate, the combustion yields mainly carbon monoxide.

The structures and chemistry of individual hydrocarbons depends mostly on the type of chemical bonds that link the atoms of the constituent molecules. A carbon atom might have four single bonds, or it can possess double or triple bonds. A hydrogen atom may form one single bond.

Hydrocarbons are categorized into a number of classes according to their structure. The two essential kinds are aliphatic and aromatic. Aliphatic hydrocarbons may be formed out of molecules in which the carbon atoms are attached in chains (termed acyclic) or in rings (called alicyclic, or carbocyclic). Aliphatic hydrocarbons also will be divided into categories according to the kinds of bonds between the carbon atoms. If each bond is single (known as sigma bonds), the compound is known as saturated. Such compounds are classified as alkanes or cycloalkanes. If more than two bonds link any two carbon atoms, the hydrocarbon is known as unsaturated. The bonds may be double, like the alkenes or alkadienes, or triple, such as the alkynes. Certain compounds have both types of multiple bonds in the single molecule.

The simplest alkanes are methane, ethane , and propane. Those compounds can exist in just one structure each. Higher types of the series, beginning with butane, might be compounded in two varied processes, according to whether the carbon chain is straight or branched. These compounds are labelled isomers; those are compounds that feature identical molecular formula but have differing arrangements of their atoms. The outcome is, they can often possess various chemical properties.

Cycloalkanes are ring structures featuring two fewer hydrogen atoms in the molecule of the corresponding alkane. Lots of these have not just one ring, but several. Six-membered rings are of note because of the fact that they are seen in several natural products, notably the steroids. Cyclic structures also could be isomers where two molecules differ only in the spatial arrangement of their substituent groups.

The key commercial sources of alkanes are petroleum and natural gas. Individual higher alkanes and cycloalkanes generally are synthesized by reactions designed for a particular product. These saturated hydrocarbons can also be synthesized with a relative unsaturated molecules, by hydrogenation (addition of hydrogen). Saturated hydrocarbons are generally inert; i.e., in room temperature they will not be affected by the majority of acids, alkalies, and oxidizing or reducing agents.

For hydrocarbon storage tanks and self-bundled hydrocarbon tanks, contact Logitank.com.au

Ten 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 adores the natural look of a lawn, but who has the time these days? With artificial grass you get all the benefits of real grass with no chance of dead patches, muddy patches or the weekend maintenance routine.

Never mow again
Imagine having your weekends available to do what you like most without ever having to find the mower again. Not only will you never be caught out by unexpected visitors and an untidy 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, save it for something more necessary, like drinking a nice cold glass of it while you are admiring your lawn.

No nasties
Don’t worry about having to use gross fertilisers, stepping in something sharp, or dealing with seasonal grass allergies. 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 fine in shady areas and will keep them looking lush whilst providing you with many years of usable space. Being synthetic it doesn’t mind being in 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 viewing these new generation artificial lawns you can be forgiven for thinking they are fragile, but in fact they are extremely durable. They can stand up to the stress of 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 to 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 a variety of 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 the top 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 implemented 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 as 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
Animals adore 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 remains as long as it should so make sure you mention this when you are being quoted on installation.

Enduroturf is Australian made, 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

What is Sculpture?

Sculpture is an artistic form in which hard or plastic materials are shaped into three-D items. The designs may be embodied in freestanding objects, in reliefs on surfaces, or in environments that can vary from tableaux to contexts that envelop the spectator. A huge variety of materials can be used, including clay, wax, stone, metal, fabric, glass, wood, plaster, rubber, and random “found” objects. Materials are carved, modeled, molded, cast, wrought, welded, sewn, assembled, or purely shaped and combined.

Sculpture is not a fixed branding that applies to a permanently restricted category of objects or sets of activities. It is, rather, the name of an art that is growing and changes and is continually extending the range of activities and evolving new styles of objects. The breadth of the term became much wider in the second part of the 20th century than as it had been only two or three decades previously, and in the everchanging state of art at the dawn of the 21st century, it is impossible to predict what its future possibilities are going to become.

Some features which in previous centuries were regarded as essential to sculpture but are no longer present in a big part of modern sculpture and so no longer form part of a definition. One of the most significant of these is representation. Before the 20th century, sculpture was considered to be a representational art; an imitation of forms in life, mostly of human figures but also inanimate objects, like game, utensils, and books. Since the beginning of the 20th century, however, sculpture also began to include nonrepresentational forms. It began to be accepted that figures of such functional three-dimensional objects as furniture, pots, and buildings could be expressive and beautiful without being in any way representational. It was only in the 20th century that nonfunctional, nonrepresentational, three-dimensional artworks began to be an art form in and of themselves.

Prior to the 20th century, sculpture was seen as primarily an art of solid form, or mass. Whilte the negative elements of sculpture — the voids and hollows within and between its solid parts — have always been to some extent an inextricable part of any design, but their role was purely secondary. In a good part of modern sculpture, however, the focus has deepened, and the spatial aspects have come to be dominant. Spatial sculpture is now a commonly acceptable field of the art.

It was also taken for granted in sculpture from the past that its components had to be of a constant shape and size and, with the exception of objects such as Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Diana (a monumental weather vane), would not move. With recent developements of kinetic sculpture, neither the immobility nor immutability of its elements can remain to be considered essential to defining the art of sculpture.

Finally, sculpture during the 20th century was not restricted to the two traditional forming processes of carving and modeling, or to the traditional natural materials including stone, metal, wood, ivory, bone, and clay. Now that today’s sculptors might use any materials and methods of manufacture that serve their purpose, the definition of the art form can no longer be identified by any particular kind of materials or techniques.

Withstanding all these changes, there is probably only one thing that remained constant in the art of sculpture, and it endures as the key abiding concern of sculptors: the art of sculpture is a field of the visual arts that is specially concerned with the creation of items in three dimensions.

Sculpture may be either in the round or in relief. A sculpture in the round consists of a separate, detached piece in its own right, with a similar independent existence in reality as a human body or a chair. A sculpture that is in relief does not have this independant form. It projects from and is attached to or is an inextricable part of something else that can serve either as a background for it or a matrix from which it emerges.

The actual three-D nature of sculpture in the round limits its scope in a few respects when compared with the scope of painting. Sculpture does not have the illusion of space with purely optical means, or invest its shape with atmosphere and light as we see in painting. But sculpture does proffer a kind of reality, a vivid physical presence that simply cannot be found in the pictorial arts. The forms of sculpture are tangible as well as visible, and they may appeal strongly and directly to both tactile and visual senses. Even the visually impaired, and those who are congenitally blind, can produce and appreciate different kinds of sculpture. It was, in fact, pushed by the 20th-century art critic Sir Herbert Read that sculpture should be considered as primarily an art of touch and that the originating roots of sculptural sensibility can be tracked to the pleasure that we experience in doing so.

All 3D forms are viewed as exhibiting an expressive character along with their purely geometric properties. They may be viewed the observer as delicate, aggressive, flowing, taut, relaxed, dynamic, soft, and so on and so forth. By exploiting the expressive qualities of form, artists are able to create images in which subject matter and expressiveness mutually reinforce the form. This visual imagery will go beyond the mere presentation of fact and evoke a vast range of subtle and powerful reactions.

The aesthetic raw material for this art is, so to speak, the entire realm of expressive three-dimensional form. A sculpture may draw upon what already exists in the endless range of natural and man-made form, or it might be an art of genuine invention. It has been mastered to express a wide range of human emotions and feelings from the most tender and delicate to the terribly violent and ecstatic.

All human beings, intimately involved from birth with the world of three-dimensional form, understand something of its structural and expressive elements and possess emotional responses to them. This combination of understanding and sensitivity, known as a sense of form, can be cultivated and refined. It is to this sense of form that this art 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.

Why 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 crucially, 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 creating 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 a large amount of repeat advertising exposure to your customer. Your logo/message (or even something as rudimentry as your telephone number) will always be at hand - they will not have to look through 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 prove 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 create 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 hugely important to our business and they will be to yours too. Study has 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 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 focus their attention to on staff contentment and showing them they are appreciated - they often use Corporate Gifts. Patting someone on the back and telling them they are wonderful is good but the act of giving is a lot more powerful.

What are Promotional Products?

Promotional Products are products 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 p.a. in Australia. Marketers need 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 few - these however do not offer the accountability offered by Promotional Product Marketing. Promotional Products are successful, as not only do they communicate your message but your client will thank you for them.

Consider the benefits of Promotional Product Marketing outlined below:

Targeted - Promotional Products are targeted conveying your message only to the people you are appealing to. No non-prospects, no wasted circulation.

Longevity - A quality Promotional Product will last for years and will be used on a daily basis by your client. No other media can use 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 - Good business is based on 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 useful 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.

The History of Weddings

Some form of marriage has been known to exist in all human societies, past and present. Its significance can be seen in the detailed and complicated laws and rituals surrounding it. Although these laws and rituals are as varied 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 assure the rights and define the relationships of children within a community. Marriage has historically conferred a legal status on the offspring, which empowered him or her to the various privileges confirmed by the culture of that community, including the right of inheritance. In most societies marriage also founded the permissible social relations 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 cultures (as the novels of writers such as Henry James and Edith Wharton attest) romantic love was not the dominant basis for matrimony in the majority of 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 restrictive, endogamous marriage is a natural result. Cultural influences to partner within one’s social, economic, and ethnic group are still very strongly enforced in some societies.

Exogamy, the ritualof marrying outside the group, is prevalent in societies in which kinship partnerships are the most complex, thus barring from marriage large groups who may trace their lineage to a common ancestry.

In societies in which the large, or extended, family remains the basic unit, marriages are usually arranged by the family. The assumption is that love between the partners comes 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 overwhelming custom is that a person acts as an intermediary, or matchmaker. This person’s capitalresponsibility is to arrange a marriage that will be satisfactory to the two families represented. Some form of dowry or bridewealth is usually 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 fecundity and confirm the significance of marriage for the continuation of a clan, people, or society. They also assert a familial or communal sanction of the mutual choice 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 happiness 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 presentation of gifts is extensive, either from the bride’s family to the bridegroom’s or vice versa, this usually signifies that the ability to choose one’s marital partner has been restricted and policed by the families of the betrothed.

Fertility rites intended to ensure a fruitful marriage exist in some form in all ceremonies. Some of the oldest rituals still to be found in contemporary ceremonies include the conspicuous display of fruits or of cereal grains that are sprinkled over the couple or on their nuptial bed, the accompaniment of a small child with the bride, and the smashing of an object or food to cultivate a successful consummation of the marriage and an easy childbirth.

The most universal ritual is one that symbolizes a sacred union. This may be asserted 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 fixed by tradition and habit.

These ceremonies are, to a certain extent, formulated 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 usually arranged by the parents of the couple, and the time of the ceremony is determined by careful astrological calculations. Among the majority of 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 established 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 begins with the groom signing the marriage contract in front of 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 involves 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 beginnings, Christianity has emphasized the spiritual nature and indissolubility of marriage. Jesus Christ spoke of marriage as instituted by God, and the majority Christians consider it a permanent 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 rigidly 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 explained 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 may 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