Celebrant · Gold Coast · QLD
Celebrant, Gold Coast
The Gold Coast, Coolangatta to Coomera and the hinterland behind it, is forty minutes to an hour and a half from Murwillumbah, where Felicity Best is based, which puts the whole of it inside the included travel. Ceremonies run $650 for legals only to $1,200 for a full Saturday wedding, under most Gold Coast celebrants for the same inclusions. City of Gold Coast permits apply to beaches and parks.
Venues
Places I've stood on the Gold Coast.
- Currumbin
- Burleigh Heads
- Palm Beach
- Broadbeach
- Surfers Paradise
- Sanctuary Cove
- Springbrook
- Gold Coast Farm House
- Currumbin Rock Pools
Ceremonies on the Gold Coast
The same prices as at home, plus the drive.
Gold Coast is about 40 minutes from Murwillumbah. Travel within 80 km or an hour and a half of Murwillumbah is included, and $1 per kilometre round trip beyond that. Every price is published in full on the prices page.
How far north the included travel reaches
Travel is included within 80 km or an hour and a half of Murwillumbah, whichever gets you there, and that takes in the entire coast: Currumbin at twenty-five minutes, Burleigh at forty, Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise at an hour, Sanctuary Cove and Coomera at about an hour and ten. So the drive costs nothing anywhere on this coast. It is the same ceremony at the same price at Rainbow Bay and at Hope Island, and the estimator on the prices page works out anywhere further.
The honest caveat is the M1 on a Friday afternoon. North of Broadbeach the drive is an hour and a quarter on a good day and longer when it is not, so I book a late afternoon ceremony up there with an hour's margin and a run sheet that can absorb it. That is a planning note rather than a reason to say no, and it is why I price the far end of the coast here instead of quoting for it.
The hinterland is closer than the beach
Springbrook, Currumbin Valley and Numinbah read as remote from Surfers Paradise and are not remote from the Tweed Valley. The road up the back of Numinbah is a shorter drive from Murwillumbah than Palm Beach is. Gold Coast Farm House and the Springbrook properties are all comfortable distances, and Tamborine Mountain, on the far side of the council line, has its own page under the Scenic Rim.
They are also several degrees cooler than the strip in February, they hold their light later because the ground is higher, and most of them manage their own ceremony approvals, so there is no council booking to make, no site fee to pass through and nobody else's sunset slot to compete for.
Which registry
A marriage on the Gold Coast is registered in QLD by the Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages: a standard certificate is $58.10 and its own registry ceremony $410.60 on a weekday. What differs across the border.
Questions
Questions people ask
- How much does a Gold Coast celebrant cost?
- A full personalised ceremony is $950 midweek and $1,200 Friday to Sunday, with the travel included: Currumbin is twenty-five minutes from Murwillumbah and the far end of the coast is inside the hour and a half. Gold Coast celebrants typically sit $200 to $500 higher for the same ceremony midweek.
- Do you need a permit for a Gold Coast beach wedding?
- Yes. The City of Gold Coast books its beach and park ceremony sites. You book and pay for the permit directly with the council, and the requirements and fees vary between sites. Currumbin, Burleigh headland and Palm Beach all have designated spots, and sunset slots between September and April are booked months in advance.
- How far up the Gold Coast do you travel?
- The whole coast, Coolangatta to Coomera, and the hinterland behind it. Every part of it is inside the included travel: Currumbin is twenty-five minutes, Burleigh forty, Surfers Paradise an hour and Sanctuary Cove about an hour and ten, so nothing is added for the drive anywhere on the coast. North of Broadbeach the drive is the M1, so I book a Friday afternoon ceremony there with an hour's margin rather than declining it.
- Can you marry us in the Gold Coast hinterland?
- Yes. Springbrook, Currumbin Valley, Numinbah and Gold Coast Farm House are all regular, and Tamborine Mountain, across the council line, has its own page under the Scenic Rim. In some cases the hinterland is closer to Murwillumbah than the beaches are, and my drive up from the Tweed Valley is shorter than most Gold Coast celebrants' drive down.
Guides for Gold Coast
Get in touch
Check my date
Send the date, or the season, and where for a ceremony on the Gold Coast. I will tell you whether it is free and exactly what it costs. No obligation.
Most days, 9am to 7pm.