A ‘MAFS’ Celebrant Reveals What Parts Of The Weddings Are ‘Faked’
I’ve seen a bunch of leaked snaps of Season 11’s Married at First Sight weddings and it got me wondering: how real or fake are the ceremonies? I’ve had some experience working in reality TV and have seen firsthand how producers can manipulate contestants, ask judges to pretend to like a finished product (when they actually hated it), and some other cooked behaviour.
There’s been rumours flying around fan groups that the wedding celebrants on MAFS are actors and that the ceremonies are totally faked, but I haven’t seen any proof… yet. So I decided to reach out to a wedding celebrant who has appeared on MAFS – it’s time to get to the bottom of this, once and for all.
Here’s all the tea I got from a former MAFS wedding celebrant, including how much they knew about the couple beforehand, what was real, and if being a celebrant on the show was good for business.
Melinda Willis and Layton Mills getting hitched. Image credit: Channel 9, MAFS
Are the MAFS weddings “faked”?
The celebrant tells Punkee that while the first looks are definitely real, producers and cameramen can ask the audience to fake reactions, plus the ceremony is repeated multiple times for extra coverage.
“Is it fake? I guess at first no, their reaction and everything is real… but they did do four different takes to get different angles,” they spill. “They didn’t ask the bride and groom to change their reactions, but they did say to the guests things like, ‘Be more excited when you see your friend coming in’, that kind of thing.”
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The producers also have the celebrants wear earpieces, so they can give them direction during the ceremony. During this particular MAFS wedding, the celebrant was told not to speak to the nervous groom, which was extremely awkward.
“He was trying to talk to me to calm his nerves and get some reassurance, but the person in my ear was saying, ‘Don’t talk to him’, so I felt really weird,” they reveal. “I didn’t want to be that person and go, ‘I can’t talk to you’… I’d just look down and pretend I wasn’t hearing him.”
Are the MAFS wedding celebrants paid actors?
The celebrant I chatted to is a real wedding celebrant, and from watching other seasons of MAFS, they’re pretty sure that there aren’t any paid actors on the show.
“I’m definitely not an actor. I get asked that quite often because a lot of people ask if the celebrants were fake,” they say. “ I can speak for myself and watching a few ceremonies over the years, I actually do know some of the celebrants [do it professionally].”
Duncan James at his MAFS wedding ceremony. Image credit: Channel 9, MAFS
It makes sense to have actual celebrants run the ceremonies because they’re equipped with all the skills when it comes to pulling off a smooth wedding. And of course, at a MAFS wedding, you need to expect the unexpected.
When it comes to a boost in business, the celebrant isn’t convinced that being on MAFS as a celebrant helps boost their profile. It’s quite different to Jesse Burford’s approach, where he went on as a contestant, and can now use his influencer status to reach thousands of new customers.
“Maybe one or two people recognise me from MAFS, but I think it’s because people who know me have told them [I was on it]. I got a few new followers… but I don’t think it has boosted my customer base,” the celebrant explains.
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What’s it like to attend a MAFS wedding?
The celebrant was one of the first to arrive, and was mic’d up by production crew before the guests started to trickle in.
“The family members started coming in, and they sat down in front of me and everyone was trying to ask questions,” they say. “Everything was a bit exciting. Then they brought the groom out… that took about five takes to [capture] him [walking] in properly.”
Domenica Calarco and Jack Millar at their MAFS wedding ceremony. Image credit: Channel 9, MAFS
The celebrant believes there were three cameras filming, and it felt like being on a proper film or TV set. “There was a props department, there was a stylist, there was makeup, directors and producers,” they say, adding that they were given direction through the earpiece they were wearing.
Sadly, the producers would only speak to the celebrant through the earpiece when they were giving directions, so they didn’t get to hear any juicy behind-the-scenes gossip from the control room.
What happens behind the scenes of a MAFS wedding?
Regular celebrants are usually quite involved when it comes to planning a wedding ceremony, but when it comes to MAFS, details aren’t given to them until the last minute. To avoid spoilers leaking, producers won’t reveal the location until the week of the wedding. And if you want to know the contestants’ names in advance? Forget it.
“The venue wasn’t even disclosed to me until maybe four days before. I didn’t know my couple’s names until I got there,” they spill. “They had printed out my script and put it onto cue cards with the names of the couple. They [then] gave me a quick brief of the names and that was it.”
“[I knew] nothing about their age, or anything like that, until I saw them.”
According to the celebrant, while the groom was nervous, the bride was full of confidence. “They made her walk down the stairs a few times, I guess they didn’t get the reaction they wanted.”
Though it sometimes seems like producers purposely put together mismatched couples (Shady Shannon and Caitlin come to mind), the celebrant believed their bride and groom actually suited each other.
Newlyweds Caitlin McConville and Shannon Adams. Image credit: Channel 9, MAFS
“I thought that these two would be pretty good together [but] they didn’t last. When I met them, in their vows section, I thought they were quite similar people,” they spill. Interesting.
What guests get to go to a MAFS wedding?
I’m dying to know what a MAFS reception is like, so I asked the celebrant if they were part of the evening festivities. Unfortunately for me, the celebrants don’t get an invite.
“I think [the reception] is quite awkward… it would be cool to be like a fly on the wall with a champagne in hand and watch what actually happens,” they admit. “I would go [if] someone asked me, just to see what it was like, but it wasn’t on my wishlist.”
It seems as though the only people on the invite list are the couples’ friends and family, which makes total sense. So if anyone knows a couple getting hitched on MAFS, can I please go as your plus one?
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Image credit: Channel 9, MAFS