Andrés Allemand Smaller

Andrés Allemand Smaller is a secular celebrant who trained in Geneva in 2011 and has been writing and leading wedding ceremonies ever since, many of them for couples of mixed cultures or faiths. His site, AndresTheCelebrant.com, is published in English, French and Spanish and carries the tagline "Swiss style, Registered in Australia". That tagline matters for planning: he says on his about page that he now lives most of the year in Sydney, and he lists a phone number in Sydney as well as one in Geneva. A couple marrying in Switzerland should check his availability for their date before anything else.

What he offers

On his weddings page he says that since 2011 he has specialized in meaningful, often multicultural wedding ceremonies "for couples who value their differences and wish to commit their lives to each other in the presence of their loved ones." He works with the couple to build a ritual that reflects their relationship and their hopes for the future. He describes each ceremony as both universal (people everywhere and in every era have marked a partnership for life with social rituals) and unique (it is always the union of two different people with their own backgrounds).

Weddings are one part of his work. The site also covers funerals, baby namings, ceremonies after divorces and separations, and renewals of vows. He addresses same-sex couples directly, noting that the right to marry no longer depends on sex or gender in Australia (since 2017) or Switzerland (since 2022), and that he considers it important to celebrate the symbolic union of two people.

How he works

The first step, he says, is usually a meeting in person or a Zoom call to work out which kind of ceremony would suit, how to organize it and how much it would cost. His FAQ adds that meetings can take place on Zoom or other video services, which suits couples who are not yet in Switzerland.

The testimonials describe the process in some detail. Mélissa and Benjamin (Domaine de Collet, 2024) write that he guided them while letting them express themselves freely. Lise and Jérôme (Le Louverain, 2023) describe "meticulous and fun preparations" and a ceremony where "the guests played a part too", and warn that rituals that seem "kitschy or artificial" during planning come together on the day. A guest quoted by Carolyn and Jan Pieter (Chexbres, 2022) called it "a 'proper' wedding service but without the boring bits". John and Cecilia (Verbier, 2017) write, "We definitely felt married after that!" Alexandra and Nicolas (Bern, 2017) liked their ceremony "standing and in a semicircle".

The venues named in the testimonials give a sense of where he has worked in Switzerland: Domaine de Collet, Le Louverain, Chexbres, Spiez Castle, La Barcarolle in Prangins, Verbier, the Rose Garden in Bern and Lausanne. Others are abroad: Marrakesh, Provence, Whidbey Island near Seattle and Cockatoo Island in Sydney.

His background

He was born in Buenos Aires and grew up in New York and then Geneva. He calls himself "the humanist son of a Protestant pastor", an atheist with a passion for exploring the meaning of life, and says he grew up watching his father craft ceremonies and editing them in French. As a young adult he followed a two-year seminar in Geneva comparing Catholicism and Protestantism, the "Atelier œcuménique de théologie", and later read widely on Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. His loved ones, he writes, are "Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Agnostic and Atheist".

He started working as a journalist in 1992, was hired by La Tribune de Genève in 1999, became its correspondent at the United Nations, and in 2005 took charge of the World News team. He says reporting trained him to interview people and find the story, which several couples mention in their testimonials.

The turning point was his own wedding in Pearl Beach, New South Wales, in April 2011. His wife defines herself as a believer and he does not, and on the flight home he decided to make such ceremonies available in Switzerland. He trained that year in Geneva with Jeltje Gordon-Lennox and Julien Abegglen Verazzi, added baby namings, then from January 2017 funeral services and ceremonies after separations.

Credentials

He says he cofounded ACOR, the Association of Celebrants and Officiants of the French-speaking region of Switzerland, was elected its president in 2015, and is still on the board, in charge of developing a training program. Members sign a Charter of Ethics, and once a year a professional celebrant reviews one of his ceremonies; he says the same applies in Australia. In 2017 his essay "Multicultural Wedding Ceremonies: Venturing into the World of Diversity" was published in Emerging Ritual in Secular Societies (Jessica Kingsley Publishers). Since July 2024 he has been a Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant in Australia, based in Clovelly, NSW.

The legal side, in his words

His FAQ is clear on the difference between the two countries. In Australia he is entitled to perform civil ceremonies and legally marry couples. In Switzerland, he writes, "There is no such thing" as a registered wedding celebrant: "Couples are legally married at the town hall. Once they have confirmed their commitment aloud and signed the papers, they are free to organise a symbolic ceremony, whether religious or secular." By his own account, then, what he leads in Switzerland is the symbolic ceremony, not the civil marriage.

Languages and travel

The site is in English, French and Spanish, and his own pages are written in fluent English. He has celebrated weddings in Switzerland, Australia, Spain, Morocco and the US, and has organized ceremonies for people who came on purpose from the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Argentina, Mexico, Canada and the US. Contact is by phone (Sydney +61 476 009 237, Geneva +41 77 431 68 38) or email (andres.allemand@gmail.com).

What the site does not settle

The site publishes no fees. His FAQ explains why a secular ceremony costs money (there is no institution paying the celebrant), but the price itself comes out of the first meeting. The site does not say how much of the year he spends in Switzerland, how far ahead to book, or how travel costs are handled when he flies in or drives to a venue. Those three points are the ones to settle first.

Who he suits

He suits couples who want an English-language or bilingual secular ceremony, particularly couples of different cultures or beliefs, and couples who like a celebrant with a long track record and a clear view of the civil and symbolic sides of a Swiss wedding. The Zoom-based preparation works well for couples planning from abroad.

The caveat is location. Because he lives most of the year in Sydney, availability on a given Swiss date is not a given, and travel may add to the cost. Ask early.