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  • Websites and Local Area Marketing

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    Posted on October 30th, 2010Mandy HobsonUncategorized

    A website itself is an essential below the-line marketing tool and it can be built at a cheap price and have an instant impact on your organization. Your franchisor or corporation most likely boasts a company-wide website, which makes a lot of sense, so that the detail and costs can be divided across the entire organisation. The website should be a two-way medium that places you in touch with your target customers 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 build 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 built 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 and 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 upgrade 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, reclusive people not willing to contact you by phone are able to gather information and if they wish to pursue things, they will often email you via the contacts section of the website.

    There is an overwhelming amount written about websites and how they should be created and what they should say. Suffice to say that the content you display on your website is very important because it has the potential to become the foundation for enticing clients to your site and positioning 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 may build inbound links to your site.

    There is some debate as to how many pages should form your website ranging from one simple tellall/sell-all page to adding as much content as you like. Regardless, it’s crucial 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 like 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 engaged 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 an astounding amount of statistics from hits through to hot spots within a page. Websites are also great 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 great 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.

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  • Oil Paints and Painting

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    Posted on October 26th, 2010Mandy HobsonUncategorized

    Artists’ oil colours are created by adding dry powder pigments with special refined linseed oil until it reaches a stiff paste thickness and then grinding it under harsh friction in steel roller mills. The smoothness of the shade is fundamental. The common standard is a smooth, buttery paste, and not stringy or long or tacky. When a transient or mobile element is required by the artist, a liquid painting medium such as pure gum turpentine needs to be combined with the concoction. To expediate drying, a siccative, or liquid drier, can be sometimes used.

    Top-grade brushes are available in two kinds: red sable (from varying members of the weasel species) and chemically whitened hog bristles. Both can be acquired in numbered sizes for four regular shapes: round (pointed), flat, bright (flat shape but is shorter and not as supple), and oval (flat but bluntly pointed). Red sable brushes are usually preferred for smoother, more detailed type of technique. The painting knife, a declicately tempered, thin version of an palette knife, is a common tool for using oil colours in a robust manner.

    The usual support for oil painting is a canvas from pure European linen of stable close weave. The canvas is cut to the required size and pulled over a frame, generally wood, and then secured with tacks or, in the 20th century, with staples. In order to lower the absorbency of the fabric and attain a consistent surface, a primer or ground might be applied and is given time to dry first. The most usually found primers have been gesso, rabbit-skin glue, and lead white. If rigidity and a smooth texture are preferred to elasticity and texture, a wooden or processed paperboard panel, sized or primed, would be employed. Other supports, such as paper and varying textiles and metals, have also been attempted.

    A polish of painting varnish is generally given to a completed oil painting to prevent atmospheric attacks, minor abrasions, or injurious accumulation of dirt. This varnish film might be taken off without damaging the painting by experts who use isopropyl alcohol and other household solvents. The varnish film also sets the surface to a uniform lustre and sets the tonal depth and colour intensity really to the level initially seen by the artist in the wet paint. Some painters today, particularly those who do not favour deep, intense colouring, will prefer a mat, or lustreless, finish in oil paintings.

    Many oil paintings created previous to the 19th century were built in layers. The first would be a blank, uniform field of thinned paint known as a ground. The ground subdued the glaring white of the primer and provided a base of gentle colour on which to apply the oil paint. The shapes and items in the painting were roughly blocked in using shades of white, along with gray or neutral green, red, or brown. The resulting field of monochromatic light and dark colours were termed the underpainting. Forms were then given definition with either solid paint or scumbles, which are non-uniform, thinly applied layers of opaque pigment that can create a whole lot of effects. At the last point, transparent layers of pure colour known as glazes were employed to create luminosity, depth, and brilliance to the figures, and highlights were then created with thick, textured patches of paint called impastos.

    Oil as a medium of painting is recorded circa the 11th century. The technique of easel painting with oil colours, however, came directly from 15th-century tempera-painting techniques. Simple improvements in the process of refining linseed oil and the availability of volatile solvents post 1400 coincided with a requirement for some other medium than pure egg-yolk tempera, meeting the changing needs of the Renaissance (see tempera painting). At first, oil paints and varnishes were employed to glaze tempera panels, painted in a traditional linear draftsmanship. The technically brilliant, crystal-like paintings of the 15th-century Flemish painter Jan van Eyck, for example, were completed with this technique.

    Throughout the 16th century, oil paint became firmly established as the fundamental painting material in Venice. By the end of the century, Venetian painters had become proficient in utilising the basic elements of oil painting, notably in their use of many layers of glazes. Canvas of linen, after a long time of development, overcame wood panelling as the most common support.

    One 17th-century master of the oil technique was Velázquez, a Spanish painter in the Venetian tradition, whose highly economical but informative brushstrokes have commonly been copied, notably in portraiture. The Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens influenced later painters in the style in which he loaded his light colours opaquely, juxtaposing the thin, transparent darks and shadows. A third notable 17th-century master of oil painting was the Dutch painter Rembrandt. In his art, a single brushstroke would effectively depict form; cumulative strokes gave great textural depth, combining the rough and the smooth, the thick and the thin. A technique of loaded whites and transparent darks was fully enhanced by glazing, blendings, and highly controlled impastos.

    Other basic influences on easel painting techniques are the smooth, thinly painted, deliberately planned, tight qualities. A great many admired works (e.g., like from Johannes Vermeer) were executed with smooth gradations and blends of shades to create subtle 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. Some abstract painters - and a few modern painters in traditional styles - have shown a need for a plastic flow or viscosity that cannot be created in oil paint and its conventional additives. Some want a larger variation of thick to thin applications and a speedier rate of drying. Some mixed coarsely grained materials with colours to create textures, some of them have used oil paints in greater thicknesses than ever before, and lots have begun to use acrylic paints, as they are more versatile and dry speedily.

    Interested in oil painting? For art supplies Brisbane, including canvas art supplies and artists supplies, visit or call the Discount Art Warehouse.

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  • What are Hydrocarbons?

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    Posted on October 21st, 2010Mandy HobsonUncategorized

    Hydrocarbons are any in a class of organic chemical compounds composed only of the elements carbon and hydrogen. The carbon atoms link together to form the framework of the compound; the hydrogen atoms join to them in a number of varying configurations. Hydrocarbons are the elemental constituents of petroleum and natural gas. They might be fuels and lubricants as well as raw materials for the production of plastics, fibres, rubbers, solvents, explosives, and industrial chemicals.

    Many hydrocarbons occur in nature. While also part of fossil fuels, such compounds may be found in trees and some plants, such as, for example, with the type of pigments called carotenes that can be found in carrots and green leaves. More than 98 percent of natural crude rubber is a part of hydrocarbon polymer, a chainlike molecule that consists of numerous units linked.

    Hydrocarbons aren’t soluble in water and also are less dense than water, so they will float on top. They will often be soluble within one another, when combined, as well as in certain organic solvents. All hydrocarbons will be fully combustible. If ignited completely with sufficient oxygen, they should produce carbon dioxide and water, releasing heat. If the oxygen amount is insufficient, the combustion will yield carbon monoxide.

    The structures and chemistry of unique hydrocarbons is dependant largely on the types of chemical bonds that link the atoms of their constituent molecules. A carbon atom might form four single bonds, or it can possess double or triple bonds. A hydrogen atom may have one single bond.

    Hydrocarbons are categorized in several classes based on their structure. The two fundamental types are aliphatic and aromatic. Aliphatic hydrocarbons might be composed of molecules in which the carbon atoms are attached in chains (known as acyclic) or in rings (known as alicyclic, or carbocyclic). Aliphatic hydrocarbons also are divided according to the kind of bonds between the carbon atoms. For aliphatic hydrocarbons, if every bond is single (termed sigma bonds), the compound is termed to be saturated. Those compounds are allocated into the appropriate categories as alkanes or cycloalkanes. If two or more bonds connect any two carbon atoms, the hydrocarbon is called unsaturated. The bonds may be double, like the alkenes or alkadienes, or triple, like the alkynes. A few compounds possess both classes of multiple bonds in the singular molecule.

    The simple alkanes are methane, ethane , and propane. These compounds exist in an individual structure in each. Higher compounds of the series, beginning with butane, can be created in two varying ways, from whether the carbon chain is straight or branched. These compounds are labelled isomers; those are compounds that feature a matching molecular formula but differing arrangements of their atoms. The result is, they frequently can have a variety of chemical properties.

    Cycloalkanes are ring structures featuring two fewer hydrogen atoms within the molecule of the corresponding alkane. Lots possess not one ring, but many. Six-membered rings are of note due to the fact that they are seen in numerous natural products, notably the steroids. Cyclic structures might also be isomers in the case where two molecules are different only in the spatial arrangement of substituent groups.

    The primary commercial sources of alkanes are known to be petroleum and natural gas. Singular higher alkanes and cycloalkanes commonly are synthesized with reactions designed for a specific product. These saturated hydrocarbons could also be synthesized by a relative unsaturated molecules, by hydrogenation (inclusion of hydrogen). Saturated hydrocarbons are relatively inert; i.e., at room temperature they won’t 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

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  • What is Sculpture?

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    Posted on October 12th, 2010Mandy HobsonUncategorized

    Sculpture is an art in which hard or plastic materials are shaped into 3D objects. The designs may be embodied in freestanding objects, in reliefs on surfaces, or in environments that range from tableaux to contexts enveloping the spectator. A massive variety of media are often used, including clay, wax, stone, metal, fabric, glass, wood, plaster, rubber, and random “found” objects. Materials will be carved, modeled, molded, cast, wrought, welded, sewn, assembled, or otherwise shaped and combined.

    Sculpture is not a fixed term that applies to a permanently circumscribed category of objects or set of activities. It is, rather, an art that grows and changes and continually extends the range of forms and evolving new types of objects. The definition of the term became much wider in the latter half of the 20th century than it had been only two or three decades previously, and in the everchanging state of visual art at the beginning of the 21st century, nobody can predict what its future possibilities are going to become.

    There are certain features which in previous centuries were regarded as essential to the art of sculpture but are no longer present in a great deal of modern sculpture and thus no longer form part of the definition. One of the most significant of these is representation. Prior to the 20th century, sculpture was considered to be a representational art; an imitation of forms in life, that were most often of human figures but also inanimate objects, like game, utensils, and books. From the start of the 20th century, however, sculpture has also included nonrepresentational forms. It began to be accepted that the forms of such functional 3D objects as furniture, pots, and buildings may be expressive and beautiful without having to be in any way representational. It was only in the 20th century that nonfunctional, nonrepresentational, three-dimensional art began to be produced.

    Previous to the 20th century, sculpture was seen as essentially an art of solid form, or mass. Though the negative elements of sculpture — the voids and hollows underneath and between its solid forms — have usually been to some extent an intricate part of any design, but their role was purely secondary. In a large part of modern sculpture, however, the focus of attention has broadened, and the spatial aspects have started to become dominant. Spatial sculpture is currently a commonly recognisable field of the art of sculpture.

    It was also taken for granted in sculpture from the past that its components had to be of a constant shape and size and, excepting items such as Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Diana (a monumental weather vane), should not move. With the modern development of kinetic sculpture, neither the immobility nor immutability of its form can any longer be considered to be fundamental to the definition of sculpture.

    Last, sculpture during the 20th century was no longer confined to the two traditional forming procedures of carving and modeling, or to such traditional natural materials like stone, metal, wood, ivory, bone, and clay. Now that modern sculptors may use any materials and methods of manufacture that serve a purpose, the definition of the art can no longer be identified for the use of any particular kind of materials or techniques.

    With all this evolution, there is probably just one aspect that stayed constant in sculpture, and it exists as the central abiding concern of sculptors: the art of sculpture is a part of the visual arts that is specially concerned with the creation of objects in 3-D.

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

    The actual 3D nature of sculpture in the round limits its scope in certain respects when compared with the scope of painting. Sculpture cannot conjure the illusion of space from purely optical means, or invest its structure with atmosphere and light as we might see in painting. But sculpture does possess a kind of reality, a vivid physical presence that simply cannot be found in the pictorial arts. Sculptures can be tangible as well as visible, and they can appeal strongly and directly to the tactile and visual senses. Even the visually impaired, even those who are congenitally blind, can produce and appreciate certain sorts of sculpture. It was, in fact, debated by the 20th-century art critic Sir Herbert Read that sculpture should be regarded as primarily an art of touch and that the roots of sculptural forms can be based on the pleasure that we experience in doing this.

    All 3D forms are regarded as possessing an expressive character along with pure geometric properties. They may come across to the observer as delicate, aggressive, flowing, taut, relaxed, dynamic, soft, and such. By exploiting the expressive qualities of form, a sculptor is able to create visual imagery in which subject matter and expressiveness mutually reinforce the form. Such images go beyond the simplistic presentation of fact and impress a huge range of subtle and powerful emotions.

    The aesthetic raw material used here is, so to speak, the total realm of expressive three-dimensional form. A sculpture can draw upon what we see exists in the endless variety of natural and man-made form, or it can be an art of pure invention. It has been utilised to express a huge range of human emotions and feelings from the gently tender and delicate to the terribly violent and ecstatic.

    All human beings, inherently involved from birth with the world of three-D form, know something of its structural and expressive aspects and will possess emotional reactions to them. This combination of understanding and reaction, also known as a sense of form, is able to be cultivated and refined. It is to this sense of form that the art of sculpture 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.

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  • Why use Promotional Products?

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    Posted on October 8th, 2010Mandy HobsonUncategorized

    In the advertising industry the persuasiveness of an advert is measured by:- How many people it reaches, how many times they view it, do they relate to it?, do they remember what it was selling?, and most essentially, 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 formulating 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 basic as your telephone number) will always be at hand - they will not have to use 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 show your existing customers that you appreciate them, they will thank you for it, which in turn will create goodwill towards you and your business. Furthermore it will produce 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 place importance on staff contentment and showing them they are appreciated - they often use Corporate Gifts. Simply acknowledging someone 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 goods 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 per annum in Australia. Marketers desire to brand their organisation, product, or service is why they use Promotion Product’s items and services.

    An abundance of 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 work, 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 target the people you are appealing to. No non-prospects, no wasted circulation.

    Longevity - A quality Promotional Product will last for years and is used on a daily basis by your client. No other media presents 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 - Successful 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 functional 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.

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  • The History of Weddings

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    Posted on October 2nd, 2010Mandy HobsonUncategorized

    A form of marriage has been discovered to exist in all human societies, past and present. Its importance can be seen in the elaborate and intricate laws and rituals surrounding it. Although these laws and rituals are as varied and abundant 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 establish the rights and define the relationships of children within a community. Marriage has empirically conferred a legitimate status on the offspring, which empowered him or her to the various privileges set down by the society of that community, including the right of inheritance. In most societies marriage also established the permissible social interaction allowed to the offspring, including the acceptable selection of future spouses.

    Until the late 20th century, marriage was almost never a matter of free choice. In Western societies love between spouses 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 primary purpose for matrimony in the majority of eras, and one’s marriage partner was carefully selected.

    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 limited, endogamous marriage is a natural conclusion. Cultural influences to partner within one’s social, economic, and ethnic group are still very strongly enforced in some societies.

    Exogamy, the customof marrying outside the group, is found in societies in which kinship partnerships are the most complex, thus excluding from marriage large groups who may trace their lineage to a common ancestor.

    In societies in which the large, or extended, family structure remains the basic unit, marriages are usually arranged by the family. The assumption is that love between the partners occurs 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 almost universal 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. A 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 distinction of marriage for the continuation of a clan, people, or society. They also assert a familial or communal sanction of the mutual decision and an understanding 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 thought to confer good fortune on the couple. Because economic considerations play a crucial role in the happiness of child rearing, the offering of gifts, both real and symbolic, to the married couple are a meaningful part of the marriage ritual. When 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 planned 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 appear in contemporary ceremonies include the conspicuous display of fruits or of cereal grains that may be 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 produce 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 vary greatly among different societies, and components such as time, place, and the social importance of the event are fixed by tradition and habit.

    These traditions 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 several prescribed rituals. Marriages are generally arranged by the parents of the couple, and the date of the ceremony is determined by careful astrological calculations. Among the majority of Buddhists marriage remains chiefly a secular affair, even though the Buddha offered guidelines for the responsibilities of lay householders.

    In Judaism marriage is thought to have been instituted 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 before 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 symbolizes 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 explained of marriage as instituted by God, and most Christians consider it a unbreakable 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 strictly 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 laid out 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

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