Vow renewals & commitment ceremonies · Tweed, Byron & Gold Coast
Vow renewals & commitment ceremonies
A wedding vow renewal or commitment ceremony with Felicity Best, a celebrant based in Murwillumbah, is $650 on any day of the week. It includes a script written around your story, a PA and a commemorative certificate. Neither ceremony changes anyone's legal status, so there is no paperwork and no notice period. Six weeks is plenty of warning, and rituals such as a handfasting or a candle lighting can go in.
What's included
It is all in the one price.
- A personalised ceremony written around your story
- A PA
- A commemorative certificate
One price whatever day of the week it falls on.
What it costs
| What you get | Mon–Thu | Fri–Sun |
|---|---|---|
| Vow renewal or commitment ceremony A personalised ceremony written around your story, a PA, a commemorative certificate. One price whatever day of the week it falls on. | $650 | same |
Australian dollars, no GST. Travel within 80 km or an hour and a half of Murwillumbah is included, whichever gets you there; beyond both it is $1 per kilometre, round trip. Booking fee $250, which comes off the total. Council permits for beach and park ceremonies are booked and paid for directly with the council, and are not included.
Work out your total: the day and the place, itemised.
How it works
Four steps, start to finish.
Allow about six weeks for a weekend date in season. Midweek and winter dates are often free at much shorter notice.
- 1
Check the date
Send the date, or just the season, and where. I will tell you whether it is free and exactly what it costs, because every price is already on this site.
- 2
Meet, and talk it through
A first conversation, in person or on a call, about what you want the ceremony to be. There is no notice period and nothing to lodge, because nothing about this changes anyone's legal status, so about six weeks is comfortable rather than required.
- 3
The words
I write the script from that conversation and send it to you in draft, to change as much as you like.
- 4
The day
I'll arrive well before your guests and have a word beforehand with your photographer, your venue and anyone else working to the same run sheet. Nothing is lodged afterwards, and your certificate is yours to keep.
What a renewal looks like on the day
There are no legal words in a vow renewal, and that changes the ceremony more than it sounds like it would. At a wedding a minute or two is fixed by the Marriage Act and I cannot reword it. Here nothing at all is compulsory, so the whole half hour is yours: an account of the years since, promises rewritten for the people you are now, and whatever you want to do with your children, your friends or a cord.
Most renewals run twenty to thirty minutes, and most are held wherever the party already is: a backyard, a beach, a restaurant's private room, the same hall as the first time. I lodge nothing afterwards and you do not have to organise witnesses, so the only real deadline is when people can get there.
After an elopement, or a wedding nobody could come to
A lot of the renewals I write are for couples who eloped, or who married in 2020 or 2021 with a handful of people and a cap on the guest list, and never had the day their families expected. A renewal is the cleanest way to have it. You are already married, so there is no notice, no paperwork and no month to wait out, and you can set the date around whoever has to fly.
It also lets the ceremony be honest about what it is. Nobody has to pretend to be surprised, the story of the first one is usually the best material I have to work with, and the people who missed it get told what happened instead of watching a re-enactment.
Questions
Questions people ask
- Is a vow renewal legally binding?
- No, and that is the point of it. You are already married, so nothing about your status changes and I lodge no forms anywhere. It also means there is no Notice of Intended Marriage, no one month wait and no witnesses required, so you can hold the ceremony whenever it suits you.
- What is a commitment ceremony?
- A ceremony for two people who want to make promises publicly without marrying, or who cannot marry for a reason of their own. It looks like a wedding and I write it like one, with no legal effect and no paperwork. I price it the same as a vow renewal.
- Can we include a handfasting?
- Yes. Handfasting is the ritual where I bind your hands with cord or ribbon while you make your promises, and it sits naturally inside a vow renewal, a commitment ceremony or a wedding. Bring your own cords or I will provide them. I do not charge extra for including a ritual.
- When do people renew their vows?
- Most often on a tenth, twentieth or fiftieth anniversary, after coming through something difficult, or when children who were too young the first time are old enough to take part. Some couples renew because they eloped and never had the day with family in it.
Get in touch
Check my date
Send the date, or the season, and where for vow renewals & commitment ceremonies. I will tell you whether it is free and exactly what it costs. No obligation.
Most days, 9am to 7pm.