- Location: Cromwell Presbyterian Church, 10 Elspeth Street, Cromwell
- Start Date: Wednesday 15th Jul, 2026.
- End Date: Wednesday 15th Jul, 2026.
- Time: 10.00am - 12.00pm.
- 1 Weeks.
- 2 hours per week.
U3A Cromwell - Fifty Years of Getting Married
Speaker: Douglas Pratt
Rev Dr Douglas Pratt retired in mid-2018 as Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Waikato, where he had worked since 1984. Before that, he began working life as a Methodist minister. In 1998 became an Anglican priest.
Douglas lives in Cromwell and is presently Interim Priest-in-Charge of the Upper Clutha Anglican Parish.
In the mid-1970s Douglas was a young newly-minted Methodist minister, a bit long-haired, a bit radical, prepared to do things a bit differently. At the time, the only options couples had for getting married was at a registry office or by a Christian minister – which often came with constraints such as using a church building. But the times were a-changing. Auckland-based, Douglas was at the forefront of offering alternative forms of wedding ceremonies, and conducting weddings in different settings.
In 1984, following doctoral studies in Scotland, Douglas took up the position of ecumenical chaplain at the University of Waikato, which has its own Lady Goodfellow chapel. overlooking a delightful lake at the heart of the campus. It was, he discovered, a hotly desirable spot for weddings.
In 1986 Douglas published Celebrating Marriage: A practical guide to getting married in New Zealand. Douglas will discuss what led to the book, its subsequent developments and more recent revision as, simply, Getting Married in New Zealand. Along the way he will share anecdotes from his experiences and discuss how the concept and legal context of getting married in Aotearoa has changed.
