Choice - blessing or curse?

We live in a world that is chock full of choices to be made - from breakfast food to eat, television to buy, and blogs to read. Having choice can be a good thing. Having too much choice can be paralysing, according to psychologist, Barry Schwartz in his 2005 TEDtalk [see below] and this recent article, 'No freedom in too much choice' from the Sydney Morning Herald.


Couples readying for marriage also find themselves bombarded with overwhelming choice and decisions to be made - venue, flowers, cake, photographer, outfits, transport, and of course, Celebrant.

It's interesting to note in the latest statistics from Celebrants Online that many couples seeking the services of a wedding celebrant send an enquiry to just one Celebrant. The statistics show that, in the 6 months - January to June 2012 - for enquiries sent to Celebrants via their Celebrants Online direct contact forms

• 77.9% of enquirers contacted just the ONE Celebrant
• 13.6% of enquirers contacted two Celebrants
• 4.1% of enquirers contacted three Celebrants
• 4.4% of enquirers contacted four or more Celebrants

How did those 321 people (77.9%) choose their one Celebrant to contact? Celebrant location generally plays a part in a potential client's decision. But other factors may be:

• Celebrant smile - approachability, grooming, sense of openness and welcome apparent in a Celebrant's profile photo
• Profile text - experience, point of difference, sense of humanity and warmth, human touch apparent in a Celebrant's profile text

It all comes back to a sense of connectedness - connecting with a smile, connecting with a voice, connecting with an experience, connecting with a way of being.

If a Celebrant can make or enable that connection, then that Celebrant is enabling choice, allowing a potential client to bypass the 'too much choice' paralysis.