I’m Matt Hicks, a marriage celebrant, DJ and all-round lover of a good story, good music and a great occasion.

I’ve been a registered marriage celebrant for 10 years, but my background stretches across media, music, film and events, and I’ve been working in those worlds since 2007.

I started out as Programme Director at Hamilton’s Backbeat 89FM before going on to work as an announcer on nationwide radio station Kiwi FM, hosting a number of shows between 2010 and 2012. I also spent several years writing for Nexus Magazine, where I was nominated for Humourist of the Year at the 2011 Aotearoa Student Press Awards and later named Nexus Magazine’s Columnist of the Year at the 2013 Waikato University Clubs Awards.

Music has always been a big part of my life. I ran New Zealand music website SouNZgood.co.nz, helped organise events including The Escape music festival, and have DJed everything from weddings and birthdays to school balls and corporate events.

I’ve also worked professionally in video production as a producer, camera operator and editor. More recently, I wrote and directed the New Zealand feature film The Tavern, bringing together my love of storytelling, film and a slightly questionable sense of humour.

Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to turn a lot of the things I genuinely enjoy into work, from writing and radio to film, music, events and celebrancy. There’s not necessarily a neat job title that covers all of it, but I’ve never been particularly interested in sticking to just one thing anyway.

If there’s a common thread, it’s probably people, stories, music and having a good time. And after nearly 20 years of doing various combinations of the above, I still genuinely enjoy it.