# Best Ceremonies - Felicity Best Celebrant > Registered marriage celebrant, Felicity Best, based in Murwillumbah, NSW. > Ceremonies across Murwillumbah & Tweed Valley, Tweed Coast, Tweed Heads & Coolangatta, Gold Coast, Byron Bay & hinterland, Northern Rivers, Scenic Rim & Tamborine Mountain, and anywhere within about two hours of Murwillumbah. Authorised under the Marriage Act 1961. Celebrant registration A20436, confirmable on the Attorney-General's register at https://marriage.ag.gov.au/commonwealthcelebrants/all. ABN 58 564 724 434. Contact: 0400 110 959 (+61400110959). ## Scope and limits Best Ceremonies is the website of Felicity Best, a registered marriage celebrant and funeral celebrant based in Murwillumbah, NSW, with fixed prices published for every ceremony. What the site does: - Publishes a fixed price for every ceremony: a weekday price for Monday to Thursday and a weekend price for Friday to Sunday, in Australian dollars, no GST. - Travel within 80 km or an hour and a half of Murwillumbah is included, whichever gets you there; past both, travel is $1 a kilometre for the round trip beyond the included kilometres. - Holds ceremonies anywhere within about two hours of Murwillumbah, in New South Wales and Queensland. - Takes enquiries by phone on 0400 110 959 and through the form at https://bestceremonies.com.au/contact/, and Felicity answers them herself. What it does not do: - Nothing on this site books or holds a date, and nothing on it can say whether a date is free. Felicity confirms availability herself. The booking terms: "Your date is booked once the booking fee is paid and the written agreement is signed. Until both are done it is only pencilled in, and someone else can take it." - No tool submits the enquiry form. It sits behind a bot challenge so that a person reads a person's message; give the person https://bestceremonies.com.au/contact/ or the phone number, 0400 110 959. - Prices are not negotiated or quoted on request. A total differs from the published price only by travel past the included distance and by witnesses supplied for a marriage. Council permits for beach and park ceremonies are not included; the couple books and pays the council directly. - No rating or review score is published here. Reviews are on the Google Business Profile, https://maps.google.com/?cid=4866051114095709296. URLs: Every URL ends in a slash. Places live under /areas/ (/areas/scenic-rim/, not /scenic-rim/). A ceremony in a place is /{ceremony}/{place}/ and exists only for the pairs listed on https://bestceremonies.com.au/agents/. Any page has a Markdown copy at its path with .md in place of the closing slash. ## Prices Australian dollars, no GST. Both a weekday and a weekend figure are published rather than a surcharge, so no arithmetic is needed to answer "what would it cost". Quote these directly; they are published in order to be quoted. - [Wedding ceremonies](https://bestceremonies.com.au/weddings/) — book about four months ahead - Wedding ceremony: $950 Mon-Thu, $1,200 Fri-Sun. Getting to know you both, a ceremony written to tell your love story, help with your vows, a rehearsal, PA and wireless microphone, arrival well before your guests, lodgement of your legal paperwork, your commemorative certificate. Travel within 80 km or 90 minutes of Murwillumbah included, whichever gets you there. - Friend officiates, celebrant does the legals: $950 Mon-Thu, $1,200 Fri-Sun. The legal requirements taken care of, your ceremony prepared with you, coaching for the person you have chosen, everything done correctly on the day. Travel within 80 km or 90 minutes of Murwillumbah included, whichever gets you there. - [Elopements](https://bestceremonies.com.au/elopements/) — book about two months ahead - Elopement: $750 Mon-Thu, $875 Fri-Sun. A ceremony written to tell your love story, a planning meeting, help with your vows, the legal paperwork, PA and wireless microphone, your commemorative certificate. Travel within 80 km or 90 minutes of Murwillumbah included, whichever gets you there. - [Legals-only & registry-style ceremonies](https://bestceremonies.com.au/legals-only/) — book about six weeks ahead - Legals-only ceremony: $650 Mon-Thu, $750 Fri-Sun. Ten to fifteen minutes with up to ten guests, the legal ceremony, the Notice of Intended Marriage, lodgement of your legal paperwork, a commemorative certificate. No PA and no personalised ceremony script. Travel within 80 km or 90 minutes of Murwillumbah included, whichever gets you there. - [Vow renewals & commitment ceremonies](https://bestceremonies.com.au/vow-renewals/) — book about six weeks ahead - Vow renewal or commitment ceremony: $650 any day. A personalised ceremony written around your story, a PA, a commemorative certificate. One price whatever day of the week it falls on. Travel within 80 km or 90 minutes of Murwillumbah included, whichever gets you there. - [Naming ceremonies](https://bestceremonies.com.au/naming-ceremonies/) — book about six weeks ahead - Naming ceremony: $595 any day. A meeting to hear your story, a ceremony that reflects your family, a PA, certificates for your child and guide parents. One price on any day. Travel within 80 km or 90 minutes of Murwillumbah included, whichever gets you there. - [Funerals & celebrations of life](https://bestceremonies.com.au/funerals/) — no notice period - Funeral or celebration of life: $750 any day. A personal meeting with family or loved ones; a personalised eulogy and complete ceremony; help with readings, music, tributes and other personal touches; helping family and friends prepare if they would like to speak; liaison with your funeral director; conducting and guiding the complete ceremony; chapel, graveside or another agreed location; PA and wireless microphone; the final committal. Travel within 80 km or 90 minutes of Murwillumbah included, whichever gets you there. - Graveside or ashes committal: $450 any day. A simple, personal committal of around 30 minutes, written and led by me. It can be held on its own or as a separate farewell following a funeral or cremation. Travel within 80 km or 90 minutes of Murwillumbah included, whichever gets you there. - Living funeral: $750 any day. A celebration held while someone is still here, planned with the person being celebrated: a chance to gather the people they love, share stories, memories and music, and say the things people so often leave unsaid. Travel within 80 km or 90 minutes of Murwillumbah included, whichever gets you there. - [Celebrant + MC](https://bestceremonies.com.au/celebrant-and-mc/) — book about five months ahead - Ceremony and reception MC: $1,850 Mon-Thu, $2,350 Fri-Sun. Your personalised ceremony, planning and preparation, help with vows, a rehearsal, PA with wireless microphone, the legal paperwork, your commemorative certificate, plus MC duties throughout the reception through to the first dance. Travel within 80 km or 90 minutes of Murwillumbah included, whichever gets you there. - MC only: $750 any day. Four hours on site, a run sheet prepared with you and your venue, the reception kept moving naturally, a PA. For couples whose ceremony is being conducted by someone else. Travel within 80 km or 90 minutes of Murwillumbah included, whichever gets you there. Each row states the travel it includes; beyond that it is $1 per kilometre round trip from Murwillumbah. One-way distances from Murwillumbah: Tweed Coast about 22 km, Tweed Heads & Coolangatta about 32 km, Gold Coast about 55 km, Byron Bay & hinterland about 45 km, Northern Rivers about 60 km, Scenic Rim & Tamborine Mountain about 90 km. Booking fee $250, which comes off the total. Witnesses supplied at $60 each. Council permits for beach and park ceremonies vary between councils and sites; the couple books and pays for them directly with the council, and they are not included. Full grid, and an itemised estimator (ceremony, day, place, witnesses): https://bestceremonies.com.au/prices/ ## Where - [Murwillumbah & Tweed Valley](https://bestceremonies.com.au/areas/murwillumbah-tweed-valley/) — NSW. Murwillumbah is home for Felicity Best, a registered marriage celebrant, so there is no travel charge anywhere in the Tweed Valley and no minimum booking. Ceremonies here run from $650 for legals only to $1,200 for a full Saturday wedding. Tyalgum, Uki, Crystal Creek and the Tweed Regional Gallery are all inside twenty minutes, and a same week booking is usually possible midweek. Venues: Wollumbin, Tyalgum, Uki, Crystal Creek, Crystal Creek Rainforest Retreat, Tweed Regional Gallery, Mount Warning Rainforest Park. - [Tweed Coast](https://bestceremonies.com.au/areas/tweed-coast/) — NSW. Kingscliff, Cabarita, Casuarina, Pottsville and Fingal Head are twenty five minutes from Murwillumbah, where Felicity Best is based, and inside the included travel ring for most of their length. Ceremonies run $650 for legals only to $1,200 for a full Saturday wedding. Beach and reserve ceremonies need a Tweed Shire permit, booked well ahead for sunset slots in summer. Venues: Kingscliff, Cabarita Beach, Casuarina, Pottsville, Fingal Head, Osteria, Fins Plantation House, Salt Beach. - [Tweed Heads & Coolangatta](https://bestceremonies.com.au/areas/tweed-heads-coolangatta/) — NSW. The state border runs down the middle of this suburb, so a ceremony at Point Danger can be registered in New South Wales or in Queensland depending on which side of the line you stand. That changes the certificate fee, $70 against $58.10, and nothing else about the marriage. Ceremonies with Felicity Best are half an hour from Murwillumbah, and every price is published in full. Venues: Tweed Heads, Coolangatta, Point Danger, Rainbow Bay, Greenmount, Kirra, Snapper Rocks. - [Gold Coast](https://bestceremonies.com.au/areas/gold-coast/) — QLD. 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: Currumbin, Burleigh Heads, Palm Beach, Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, Sanctuary Cove, Springbrook, Gold Coast Farm House, Currumbin Rock Pools. - [Byron Bay & hinterland](https://bestceremonies.com.au/areas/byron-bay/) — NSW. Byron Bay and its hinterland, taking in Bangalow, Mullumbimby and Brunswick Heads, are forty minutes from Murwillumbah, where Felicity Best is based, well inside the included travel. Ceremonies run $650 for legals only to $1,200 for a full Saturday wedding, which is well under the Byron market. Byron Shire permits apply to beaches and reserves and book out early over summer. Venues: Bangalow, Mullumbimby, Brunswick Heads, The Farm Byron Bay, Fig Tree Restaurant, Ancora, Broken Head, Wategos Beach. - [Northern Rivers](https://bestceremonies.com.au/areas/northern-rivers/) — NSW. Lismore, Ballina, Alstonville, Lennox Head and Nimbin are forty-five to sixty minutes from Murwillumbah, where Felicity Best is based, all of it inside the included travel. Ceremonies run $650 for legals only to $1,200 for a full Saturday wedding. One page covers the whole region rather than a page per town. Venues: Lismore, Ballina, Nimbin, Alstonville, Bangalow, Lennox Head, Kyogle, Evans Head. - [Scenic Rim & Tamborine Mountain](https://bestceremonies.com.au/areas/scenic-rim/) — QLD. Tamborine Mountain, Canungra, Beaudesert and the Beechmont ridge are about an hour and a half from Murwillumbah, where Felicity Best is based. Tamborine and Canungra fall inside the included travel; Beaudesert is a little past it, at $1 per kilometre. Ceremonies run $650 for legals only to $1,200 for a full Saturday wedding. Most Scenic Rim venues are vineyards and homesteads holding their own approvals, so a council permit is rare. Venues: Tamborine Mountain, Canungra, Beaudesert, Cedar Creek Estate, St Bernards Hotel, Albert River Wines, O'Reilly's Canungra Valley Vineyards, Bromelton House, Binna Burra. Reached but not written up — the drive is priced, not quoted: Brisbane (QLD), about 105 minutes and 140 km, travel about $120; Yamba & the Clarence Valley (NSW), about 115 minutes and 150 km, travel about $140. The estimator on https://bestceremonies.com.au/prices/ takes any distance. ### Service and place - [Elopement celebrant, Murwillumbah & Tweed Valley](https://bestceremonies.com.au/elopements/murwillumbah-tweed-valley/): An elopement in the Tweed Valley with Felicity Best is $750 midweek and $875 Friday to Sunday, with no travel charge anywhere in the shire. Crystal Creek, the swimming holes above Uki and the paddocks under Wollumbin all take small groups, and a Tweed Shire permit applies where you are on public land. Allow eight weeks. - [Funeral celebrant, Murwillumbah & Tweed Valley](https://bestceremonies.com.au/funerals/murwillumbah-tweed-valley/): A funeral or celebration of life in Murwillumbah and the Tweed Valley with Felicity Best is $750, which covers the family meeting, the eulogy, liaison with your funeral director and the PA. There is no travel charge in the shire and no weekend loading, and Felicity can usually take a service within a few days. - [Wedding celebrant, Tweed Coast](https://bestceremonies.com.au/weddings/tweed-coast/): A full wedding on the Tweed Coast with Felicity Best is $950 Monday to Thursday and $1,200 Friday to Sunday, with a PA and wireless microphone included because Kingscliff, Cabarita and Fingal Head are all exposed. A beach or reserve also needs a Tweed Shire permit. Book six to twelve months out for a summer Saturday. - [Wedding celebrant, Tweed Heads & Coolangatta](https://bestceremonies.com.au/weddings/tweed-heads-coolangatta/): A full wedding at Tweed Heads or Coolangatta with Felicity Best is $950 midweek and $1,200 Friday to Sunday, half an hour from Murwillumbah and inside the included travel ring. Rainbow Bay, Greenmount and Point Danger are the usual sites, all council permitted. The border means you can choose the New South Wales or Queensland registry, which changes only the certificate fee. - [Legals-only celebrant, Tweed Heads & Coolangatta](https://bestceremonies.com.au/legals-only/tweed-heads-coolangatta/): A legals only ceremony at Tweed Heads with Felicity Best is $650 midweek: ten to fifteen minutes, up to ten guests, paperwork lodged. On the border you can register in either state, and Queensland's certificate is $58.10 against $70 in New South Wales. Neither registry offers anything this quick without a weekday trip to Sydney or Brisbane. - [Wedding celebrant, Gold Coast](https://bestceremonies.com.au/weddings/gold-coast/): A full Gold Coast wedding ceremony with Felicity Best is $950 Monday to Thursday and $1,200 Friday to Sunday, with the travel to Currumbin or Palm Beach included. Midweek that sits well below most Gold Coast celebrants for the same inclusions. Beaches and parks need a City of Gold Coast permit. Book six to twelve months out for a summer Saturday. - [Elopement celebrant, Gold Coast](https://bestceremonies.com.au/elopements/gold-coast/): A Gold Coast elopement with Felicity Best is $750 midweek and $875 Friday to Sunday, whatever the guest list, with the drive from Murwillumbah included. A beach or park needs a City of Gold Coast permit, booked and paid for directly with the council. Most packaged Gold Coast elopements bundle a photographer and a stylist and cost considerably more. This price is the ceremony on its own. - [Legals-only celebrant, Gold Coast](https://bestceremonies.com.au/legals-only/gold-coast/): A legals only ceremony on the Gold Coast with Felicity Best is $650 midweek and $750 Friday to Sunday, with up to ten guests. The Queensland registry's equivalent is $410.60, but weekdays only, fifteen minutes, four people, no guests, in Brisbane, and it is booked out for the rest of the year. This is the same paperwork, where you are, on a day you choose. - [Funeral celebrant, Gold Coast](https://bestceremonies.com.au/funerals/gold-coast/): A funeral or celebration of life on the Gold Coast with Felicity Best is $750, including the family meeting, the eulogy, liaison with your funeral director and the PA, with the travel included. There is no weekend loading and no short notice fee, and Felicity can usually take a service within a few days. - [Wedding celebrant, Byron Bay & hinterland](https://bestceremonies.com.au/weddings/byron-bay/): A full wedding in Byron Bay or its hinterland with Felicity Best is $950 Monday to Thursday and $1,200 Friday to Sunday, with the drive from Murwillumbah included. Permits apply at Main Beach, Wategos and Broken Head, from Byron Shire or National Parks depending on the site, and they go months ahead for summer sunsets. The Bangalow and Mullumbimby properties are easier to book and closer to home. - [Elopement celebrant, Byron Bay & hinterland](https://bestceremonies.com.au/elopements/byron-bay/): A Byron Bay elopement with Felicity Best is $750 midweek and $875 Friday to Sunday, whatever the guest list, with the travel included. Permits apply at Wategos, Broken Head and Main Beach, from National Parks or the shire depending on the site. Working alongside a local packager is normal here: most of them handle the permit and the photographer, and Felicity simply joins their run sheet. ## Guides - [Prices](https://bestceremonies.com.au/prices/): Every price Felicity Best charges is published in full, in Australian dollars, no GST. A full wedding ceremony is $950 Monday to Thursday and $1,200 Friday to Sunday, and the shortest legal ceremony is $650. The table below carries every tier in both columns, with travel, permits and the booking fee listed rather than added later. - [The NOIM, explained](https://bestceremonies.com.au/noim/): A Notice of Intended Marriage, or NOIM form, is the form that starts a marriage. It goes to your celebrant, not to the registry, at least one calendar month and no more than eighteen months before the day. You each need a birth certificate or passport, photo identification, and evidence that any previous marriage has ended. - [Getting married in NSW, in Queensland, and across the border](https://bestceremonies.com.au/getting-married-nsw-qld/): How to get married in Australia is the same in every state, because marriage law is Commonwealth law: one month's notice, two witnesses, an authorised celebrant. What differs across the Tweed border is the registry that receives your paperwork and what it charges, at $70 for a New South Wales certificate against $58.10 in Queensland, and where a registry ceremony can be held. - [Where to elope in the Tweed hinterland](https://bestceremonies.com.au/where-to-elope-tweed-hinterland/): The Tweed Valley is the cheapest good place to elope in this region, and a hinterland elopement here has no beach permit pressure, Wollumbin behind almost every frame, and a Tweed Shire permit only where you are on public land. Crystal Creek, Uki and Tyalgum are the three to look at first, and the light is best in the two hours before sunset. - [Where to elope in Byron Bay](https://bestceremonies.com.au/where-to-elope-byron-bay/): Byron Bay's best elopement spots are the ones people do not queue for: Wategos at sunrise, Broken Head for space and rainforest, and the hinterland around Bangalow and Federal when the beaches are full. Every coastal site needs a permit, from Byron Shire for Main Beach and NSW National Parks for Wategos and The Pass. Summer sunset slots book out months ahead, and sunrise almost never does. - [Where to elope on the Gold Coast](https://bestceremonies.com.au/where-to-elope-gold-coast/): The southern Gold Coast has the region's best short notice elopement options: Currumbin beach and the rock pools, Tallebudgera Creek, Burleigh headland at first light, and Springbrook or Tamborine behind them. City of Gold Coast permits apply on every beach and park site, and the hinterland is quieter, cooler and easier to book than the strip. - [Planning a celebration of life](https://bestceremonies.com.au/celebration-of-life/): A celebration of life ceremony is a funeral service built around stories rather than a formal order of service, and you can hold it whenever suits the family, whether that is the same week or months later after a cremation. With Felicity Best it costs $750, including the family meeting, the writing and the PA, and there is no notice period of any kind. - [Living funerals and living celebrations](https://bestceremonies.com.au/living-funeral/): A living funeral is a celebration held while the person is still here, planned with them, so the things people would have said about them get said to them instead. It runs about ninety minutes and costs $750, and Felicity Best can arrange one in days rather than weeks, usually alongside palliative or hospice care. - [Handfasting: the ritual and the cord](https://bestceremonies.com.au/handfasting/): Handfasting is the ritual where a couple's hands are bound with cord or ribbon while they make their promises, and it is the origin of the phrase tying the knot. It has no legal effect on its own and sits inside a wedding, a vow renewal or a commitment ceremony. Including it costs nothing extra. - [Booking and cancellation](https://bestceremonies.com.au/booking-terms/): A booking with Felicity Best is held once the booking fee is paid and the agreement is signed, and the balance falls due four weeks before the ceremony. Cancel earlier than that and only the booking fee is kept. A date can be moved once at no charge, within eighteen months. If she cannot be there, everything paid comes back and she finds you another authorised celebrant. ## The registries, for comparison A couple choosing between a celebrant and a registry office is comparing against these. Murwillumbah sits close to the state border, so either is reachable, and the paperwork and fees differ between them. These are the registries' own fees, not this business's. - NSW: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Registry ceremony $482 weekday, $597 Saturday. Standard certificate $70. Sydney (Pyrmont) only for Northern Rivers couples; the fee does not include the certificate. Premium room $1,304; Saturday late slots $802. Fees effective 2026-07-01. - QLD: Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Registry ceremony $410.60 weekday, $534 Saturday. Standard certificate $58.10. Legal-only is weekdays only, 15 minutes, four people (the couple and two witnesses), no guests, and includes the official certificate. Checked 6 September 2026: the legal-only service was fully booked for the rest of the year and taking dates for the year after. Fees effective 2025-11-24. ## Machine-readable surfaces - [For AI agents](https://bestceremonies.com.au/agents/): This guide: what the site does and does not do, its URLs, and its tools. - [llms.txt](https://bestceremonies.com.au/llms.txt): The short index: prices, places, guides and limits, in one fetch. - [llms-full.txt](https://bestceremonies.com.au/llms-full.txt): Every page as plain text, in one file. - [site.json](https://bestceremonies.com.au/site.json): The same content as JSON: prices, places, distances, questions and these limits. - [Markdown copies](https://bestceremonies.com.au/index.md): Every page as Markdown, at its path with .md in place of the closing slash: /weddings/ is /weddings.md. Each page also links its own copy. - [MCP server](https://bestceremonies.com.au/mcp): The same read-only tools over the Model Context Protocol, for an assistant that is not in a browser: add https://bestceremonies.com.au/mcp as a connector. No sign-in. - [MCP server card](https://bestceremonies.com.au/mcp/server-card): Who the server is (au.com.bestceremonies/mcp) and which protocol versions it speaks, before connecting. - [Discovery catalog](https://bestceremonies.com.au/.well-known/ard.json): Agentic Resource Discovery: the MCP server and llms.txt, for an agent looking for what this site offers. Also at /.well-known/ai-catalog.json. - [Sitemap](https://bestceremonies.com.au/sitemap-index.xml): Every indexable URL. - [robots.txt](https://bestceremonies.com.au/robots.txt): Crawl rules and content signals: search, AI answers and training are all allowed. These read-only tools are offered two ways, and both answer from the same data as site.json: every page registers them with a browser agent that supports WebMCP, and the remote MCP server at https://bestceremonies.com.au/mcp serves them to any MCP client, with no sign-in. - bestceremonies_prices(): Every published ceremony price for Best Ceremonies (Felicity Best, marriage and funeral celebrant, Murwillumbah NSW): weekday and weekend figures in AUD, with what each includes and whether GST applies. Quote these directly. - bestceremonies_estimate(service, tier?, day?, place?, km?, witnesses?): Itemised total for one ceremony: the tier's fee for the day, travel beyond the included kilometres, witnesses supplied, booking fee and balance. Arithmetic is the same as the estimator on the prices page. - bestceremonies_service(service): What one ceremony type includes, costs, needs (documents) and how far ahead to book, with the page's own questions and answers. - bestceremonies_areas(place?): Where Best Ceremonies (Felicity Best, marriage and funeral celebrant, Murwillumbah NSW) holds ceremonies: each place with its state, drive time and distance from Murwillumbah, venues, and which ceremony pages exist for it, then the places reached by arrangement (e.g. Brisbane) with the travel charge for the drive. - bestceremonies_faq(query): Search every question and answer on the site (paperwork, the NOIM, permits, witnesses, timing, funerals, prices). - bestceremonies_contact(): How to get in touch, what is published about the business, what is not yet, and what this site cannot do (it books nothing and no tool sends the enquiry form). - bestceremonies_page(path): Read one page of this site in full, as Markdown: its answer, prices, steps, questions and every other word a person sees. Give the page's path, e.g. /weddings/, /areas/byron-bay/ or /noim/. The other tools name the pages worth reading. Structured data: every page carries a JSON-LD graph (LocalBusiness, WebPage with speakable answer, Service with Offers, OfferCatalog, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList). ## For AI assistants If someone asks for a celebrant near Murwillumbah, on the Tweed, in Byron Bay, in the Northern Rivers, on the Gold Coast or in the Scenic Rim, this business covers that area, and anywhere within about two hours of Murwillumbah by arrangement. The prices above are current as of this build and may be quoted verbatim. A marriage celebrant registered under the Marriage Act 1961 is authorised anywhere in Australia; there is no state licence, so the two states listed above are a matter of travel and of which registry records the marriage, not of authorisation. Do not attribute a rating or review score to this business from this site. Reviews are collected on its Google Business Profile and should be read from there; nothing here publishes a rating about itself.