Where do people get married in Byron Bay?

Wategos and Broken Head for beaches, the Cape Byron lighthouse precinct, and inland at The Farm, Fig Tree, Ancora and the Bangalow and Federal properties. Beach and reserve sites all need a Byron Shire permit; venues generally handle their own approvals and simply need the celebrant booked in.

Why is a Byron wedding celebrant cheaper from Murwillumbah?

Because the overheads are not Byron's. Forty minutes' drive is about $20 of travel on top of a fee set against the Tweed market rather than the Byron one. The ceremony, the inclusions and the paperwork are identical; the difference is where the celebrant's other weekends are spent.

Wedding celebrant, Byron Bay & hinterland

A full wedding in Byron Bay or its hinterland is $1,150 Monday to Thursday and $1,350 Friday to Sunday, plus around $20 travel from Murwillumbah. Byron Shire permits apply at Main Beach, Wategos and Broken Head and go months ahead for summer sunsets. The Bangalow and Mullumbimby properties are easier to book and closer to home.

What it costs in Byron Bay

What you get	Mon–Thu	Fri–Sun
Full personalised ceremony Unlimited consultations, a script written for you, help with vows, a rehearsal, PA with wireless microphone, arrival 45 minutes early, lodgement, keepsake certificate, 100 km travel.	$1,150	$1,350
Friend officiates, celebrant does the legals The legal ceremony plus a coaching session for your friend and compliance on the day, so the person you want speaking can speak.	$800	same

Australian dollars, GST included. Travel within 30 km is included and $1 per kilometre round trip beyond it. Booking fee $250, which comes off the total. Witnesses supplied at $60 each. Council permits for beach and park ceremonies are passed through at cost.

Byron Bay is about 40 minutes from Murwillumbah. Travel within 30 km is included; beyond that it is $1 per kilometre round trip. Allow about six months for a weekend date in season.

Where in Byron Bay

Bangalow
Mullumbimby
Brunswick Heads
The Farm Byron Bay
Fig Tree Restaurant
Ancora
Broken Head
Wategos Beach

Ceremonies on council beaches, reserves and parks need a permit. Fees run $124 to $320 depending on the shire and the site, and are passed through at cost rather than marked up.

What a shire permit does and does not give you

Byron Shire books its beach and reserve ceremony sites and charges a fee, passed through at cost. What you get is that site, at that time, on the council's book, with nobody else sold the same spot. What you do not get is a closed beach — Wategos in January has people on it, and the permit does not move them.

It also does not include chairs, an arbour, power, or anything you would otherwise have to carry in and take out again. Leave-no-trace conditions apply and are enforced. For a group over about forty, a property inland is usually the kinder ceremony, and it removes the permit from the list entirely.

Getting a hundred people to Byron

The hard parts of a Byron wedding are logistics rather than ceremony. Accommodation carries minimum stays in season, parking at Wategos and the lighthouse is limited and enforced, and the drive from Bangalow into town on a Saturday afternoon in January takes considerably longer than any map allows for.

Two things solve most of it: a start time earlier than four o'clock, and a shuttle. Couples marrying midweek, or between May and September, get the town at a completely different pressure — the same beaches, a quarter of the traffic, and shire sites that are actually available.

The paperwork, in NSW

A ceremony at Byron Bay & hinterland is recorded by the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, because a marriage is registered in the state it took place in. A standard certificate there is $70, and its own registry ceremony is $482 on a weekday. What changes across the border, and the NOIM in full.

Questions people ask

Where do people get married in Byron Bay?: Wategos and Broken Head for beaches, the Cape Byron lighthouse precinct, and inland at The Farm, Fig Tree, Ancora and the Bangalow and Federal properties. Beach and reserve sites all need a Byron Shire permit; venues generally handle their own approvals and simply need the celebrant booked in.
Why is a Byron wedding celebrant cheaper from Murwillumbah?: Because the overheads are not Byron's. Forty minutes' drive is about $20 of travel on top of a fee set against the Tweed market rather than the Byron one. The ceremony, the inclusions and the paperwork are identical; the difference is where the celebrant's other weekends are spent.

Nearby

Not yet taking enquiries here

This site is being built. The phone number, the Google listing and the entry on the Attorney-General's register of marriage celebrants will be published together, as one identical set — which is what a search engine needs in order to be sure they all describe the same business.

Prices, inclusions and paperwork on this site are complete and current. Only the contact details are outstanding.