HiFi Questions.

1. Go on a date and chat about what kind of wedding you’d like. Big, intimate, on a mountain top, disco themed? Think about how you want it to feel for you both and your guests (if you’re having guests). What vibe and personality do you want for your big day? Your answers will help guide you to a venue and the type of celebrant you want.
2. Choose a date and a venue. There are so many cool venue directories online. Ask me if you need ideas!
3. Choose a celebrant that gets you. There’s a new breed of celebrants out there who are fun, high energy and natural. I’m one of them!

Yes, sure do! All throughout Sydney, Eastern Suburbs, Inner West, The Shire, Western Suburbs, Northern Beaches, ACT, Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Hunter Region, North Coast, Kangaroo Valley, Newcastle, South Coast and Southern Highlands. Talk to me about interstate and overseas weddings too!

Celebrants booking processes will vary but generally, a booking fee and some sort of contract are involved.

The process is simple with me:

1. You say Marry Me Zoe! I do an 80s happy dance :)

2. I send you a service agreement you can sign online. Once this is signed, we are official! 

3. A 50% booking fee makes me yours.

4. Let the hitching adventure begin!

Once you know the date and have booked a venue, get in touch. If you don’t need to book a venue, hit me up once you know the date.

You must not be in a prohibited relationship.

You must not be already married.

You must both be consenting.

You must be over 18 (one of you may be 16 with court consent.

You must give at least one month's notice with a Notice of Intended Marriage form. A celebrant handles this for you.

You need two people, over 18 to witness your marriage.

You need ID that proves your identity, date and place of birth. 

You've probably seen all those romantic scenes in movies where the couple look at each other and say

"Let's just get married now!"

I hate to break it to you. That ain't happening in Australia. You need to give a minimum of a month's notice by lodging a Notice of Intended Marriage Form with your celebrant. Your celebrant will usually help you fill it in and witness your signatures. After your ceremony, they send it to the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages. Check out my process of getting married.

This is the most popular question! I get it lovesters.  Weddings can be expensive so you want to know you're getting good value for the money you're spending!

How much a wedding celebrant costs varies depending on your location, the type of ceremony you want and your package inclusions and the celebrant themselves.

You can find my services and fees here. I'm about giving you as much value as possible and giving you a great ceremony that will make you and your guests feel amazing.

One tip: When it comes to a celebrant, go with your gut. Choose a celebrant that gets you and will feel like a friend is marrying you on the day. Everyone has a different budget but if you can spare the extra say $100 to get the celebrant you want, you're probably gonna be pretty chuffed with yourselves on the day when they nail your ceremony. Here are some tips on choosing a celebrant!

I love this question! If you want to know what a celebrant wears then you're probably my kind of human.

A celebrant will usually ask you what your colour palette and theme and try to wear something that suits. If you're on a beach and your theme is sparkly mermaid, you don't want your celebrant turning up in a long black ball gown. Or maybe you do? Check out their website to get a feel for their style too. I love chatting about your wedding fashun :) so any excuse for me to get a new outfit, I'm down for. Gotta look good to feel good, right?

Depends what you mean by surprise and for whom!

I love love love of a surprise wedding as long as it's legal. Let me break it down for you.

Both of you must be consenting to the marriage so you can't surprise each other!

You need to give a month's notice to get legally married in Australia so again, you can't surprise each other or your celebrant!

You need two witnesses over 18 to be at your ceremony so they can be kind of surprised. You can tell them just before you get married but they have to be willing witnesses.

But you can surprise your family and friends! Here are a couple of ways:

You can elope just the two of you, your celebrant and two witnesses and then have a party to announce your marriage!

You can invite your tribe to a "birthday" (or an engagement, bbq, whatever) and then have your celebrant pop out to announce a "surprise" wedding.

Get in touch and we can brainstorm some more ideas!

You do not need to be an Australian Citizen to be legally married in Australia. You do need to follow all the normal legal requirements. Check out the question above "What are the legal requirements for getting married in Australia".

Yes and No really.

Did you invite them to party with you? Are they your MC for the reception? Then hells yes they'll be there.

Are they there just to get you hitched? Then they'll probs leave after the ceremony and lodge your paperwork while you go party like newlywed hotties.

The mother of all wedding questions, right there! Planning a wedding is exciting but dayum it's freaking overwhelming too! I'm not a wedding planner but I can help you out with some advice. For example: Be clear (both of you) on your wedding brief and let that be your guiding light throughout the roller coaster ahead of you.

I've got a little checklist I can share as well as some practical tips if you're keen. And if you just want to delegate the whole shebang to someone, I can even introduce you to some wedding planners who are all over it. 

Before the ceremony:

Notice of Intended  Marriage – must be lodged with a celebrant at least a month before the ceremony. I will fill this, and you sign it when we meet. I’ll need to see some ID,  but I’ll explain all that before we meet.

Declaration of No Legal Impediment to Marriage – signed as close to the ceremony date as possible.

At the ceremony:

Two Official Certificates of Marriage – I send one copy to Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages and keep one for my records.

Certificate of Marriage - your pretty copy to take home. This is not an official marriage certificate, but I’ll explain how to get one of those.

These also need to be signed by two witnesses who are over 18.

Depending on your circumstances you may also need some other paperwork, but we’ll cover that when we speak.

Yes, you need an authorised marriage celebrant if you want a valid marriage in Australia. Simples.

This question my favourite question ever, cos I get to not so humble brag about how awesome (the good ones) are! So a celebrant does many things but here are the most important things they do as well as a couple of fun things I've added to my job description:

1. An authorised marriage celebrant is duly authorised by law to solmenise marriages according to law. That means they get you legally hitched. Without them, you just have a commitment ceremony. In a nutshell, you can't get married without them. 

2. They get all the marriage paperwork completed and send it to the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages. This is how your marriage is officially registered.

3. They create your ceremony! This can be as personal and unique as you ( my kind of ceremonies) or it can be a quickie ceremony that just covers the legal ceremonies ( I can do this too). Check out my ceremonies here.

4. They create an awesome couple experience from the moment you book them. This is my favourite thing to do cos I want you o feel crazy good every step of the way to your big day. 

5. They tell your love story! Seriously, how often does your story get told publicly? Once? Twice? So your celebrant has a huge responsibility to tell it like it's the greatest one ever told! They will tell it like you are true superstars, even if you think it's totally boring way that you met. Do not despair! They will give it a great spin!

6. They warm up your guests and keep them happy, engaged and feel included in the ceremony. I like to greet all your guests before the ceremony and make them feel spesh!

7. They are your sounding board for all things wedding! Tell me everything, show me your shoes, ask me about flowers, share your creative choices. I'm that one person that will ALWAYS want to hear about your wedding!

Writing your vows can be stressful, I get it. There is a lot of pressure to get them right, not to mention you're usually pouring your soul out in front of a tribe of people. I'll help you with your vows but in the meantime here are a couple of tips:

1. Start writing little things down that you love about your favourite human, either in a notebook or your phone. Add to this whenever you think of something.

2. Decide together, how long you want your vows to be. You don't want one of you writing a novel and the other coming up with a #Iloveyousomuch

3. Pick 3 or 4 vow categories to focus on like:

- What you love about them

- What you promise ( fun as well as heartfelt)

- What you're looking forward to in the future

Remember this lovesters: There are no rules. 

Well that depends on you guys and what you want in it! A short registry-style ceremony can take 5 minutes and one with all the bells and whistles 30 minutes. We’ll work it out together.

Well that’s what I’m for; to help you figure it out! I have a cool little ceremony maker and together we'll brainstorm our way to the best marrying for you!

If you wanna tell traditions and clichés to go find another wedding to bother, then I’m your biggest supporter. There are very few legal requirements in a ceremony that you must include. Other than these, you're free to do exactly what you damn well want.

They are:

1. The celebrant must say the Monitum – a legal statement

2. You must say a line each – mandatory vows

3. We must sign 3 marriage certificates ( 2 witnesses over 18 to sign as well) 

I’m not sugar-coating this – YES! A solid Plan B means less stress and more smiles. If you’re planning an outdoor ceremony we’ll come up with a plan for an indoor option if what we don’t what to happen, happens. We’ll have it covered!

Hit me up if you’ve got more questions.

Do I ever! I dream in rainbow so marrying the hell outta LGBTQ+ superstars is my favourite thing to do! Marriage Equality got me into this gig. And now I'm so bloody lucky. About half the couples I marry identify as LGBTQ+ and it always makes my heart do a happy dance when I announce the definition of marriage as being the union of two people! Hell Yeah to that! 

So on the day of your ceremony, you'll sign paperwork that your marriage celebrant will send to the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages in the state that your ceremony took place (which may not be the state you live in). Your celebrant can then apply for your official Registered Marriage Certificate on your behalf, at the same time they lodge this paperwork. The fee charged by the BDM in NSW is $60. Once you get this registered marriage certificate in your hot little hands, you can use it to change your last name/s if that's how you're rolling.

On the day of your ceremony, your wedding celebrant will also give you a fancy marriage certificate which is pretty but you can't use it for anything official. 

I sure can! Just get in touch and let me know how I can help. I've also interviewed a range of vendors in my blog, you can read this here.

I'm happy to provide guidance for all things wedding! I've also written a blog on preparing for your wedding here, or you can also check out the interview I did with fab Wedding Planner Jordan Weaver