15 Reasons to Get Married in Sydney, Australia
15 Reasons to Get Married in Sydney, Australia – all the more to have your wedding ceremony in Sydney. If I had a list of unexpected yet completely worth it and lovely places to have a wedding ceremony in, Sydney, Australia would be at the very top. Although it might be quite a journey wherever you are coming from (unless of course, you are already in Australia), as soon as you get there, I guarantee you won’t regret having such a memorable destination wedding. Sydney has a lot to offer for your wedding ceremony and wedding reception.
So whip out those pens and papers (or you know, just bookmark this page) as we go over the 15 reasons why you should have your wedding ceremony in Sydney.
#1: Experience Marriage Celebrant for Legalities
First things first, you have to make sure that your marriage is legal in Sydney, Australia. And that is with an authorized married celebrant. The legalities you have to go through are very simple and straightforward that you’d start thinking, “Why hasn’t everyone married in Sydney?” You just need a qualified registered civil marriage celebrant to help you through the legal steps. You’ll lodge with your celebrant a Notice of Intended Marriage. The only documents you need are your passports and any divorce/death papers if applicable. On the day of the wedding, you’ll just sign a Declaration of Marriage, which states that there aren’t any legal obstructions to the marriage, the marriage register, and will receive the wedding certificate. You’ll also need 2 witnesses. And that’s it! Yay! You are married.
#2: Easy Legal Requirements
There are no Government fees, no medical checkups, no pre-marriage education, no dress code, no pre-wedding interviews and no need to change your name. You can tie the knot anytime, anywhere. Since it is a civil wedding ceremony, we personalize it for you. You can be a resident, a citizen or a tourist. The only documentation you need is – either your passports or original birth certificates. Divorce/death papers and change of name if applicable.
Your wedding celebrant, Orna Binder, will take care of all the legal paperwork for you so that you can enjoy a stress-free journey to your wedding.
#3: Bridal Shower High Tea
Preceding the wedding ceremony is typically the bridal shower. Now’s the time to relax before the bride walks down the aisle. One of the recently more popular trends for bridal showers in Sydney is having high tea! So if you’re into tea, small cakes, and sandwiches, in a feminine and refined setting, this is it! The Tea Room has huge armchairs, intricate ceilings and luxurious teas and treats; the Tea Room Gunner’s Barrack’s gives you a magnificent view of the harbour; Sheraton on the Park has tea buffets during the weekends (when you just want to stuff yourself); and the Intercontinental Sydney has High Coffee (if you’re more of a coffee person, really), that perfectly matches your coffee with your chosen dishes (they even have a coffee martini!).
#4: Lovely, Lovely Weather
Sydney has wonderful weather most of the time, so even if you decide to have your wedding ceremony outdoors, there’s no stress! You don’t have to worry about your ceremony getting rained in or snowed in. Plus, there are those spectacular views and charming sceneries to make good use of!
#5: Theme Adaptability
If your wedding is a theme wedding—whether you’d like to go historical or modern, heritage or contemporary, you can mix and match it with the many wedding venues in Sydney to create the dreamiest wedding day possible for you. Check out numbers 6 and 7 below.
#6: Beach Weddings
So here we get to the crux of it: the venue for your wedding ceremony in Sydney. No matter what kind of venue you’re thinking of, Sydney has it in spades. If you’re more of a beach-y person (which you probably are, if you’re considering Sydney), there’s Balmoral Beach’s small white circular rotunda within its reserve garden; the Boathouse’s romantic ocean views; Bondi Beach’s idyllic and iconic setting; Shelly Beach’s picturesque space with sandy beaches and lush cabbage trees; and Whale Beach’s clear blue waters. Copes lookout overlooking Sydney harbour and Opera House. And many more amazing beach wedding locations recommended by the celebrant. More wedding beaches locations.
#7: Garden Weddings
If you want to go a bit quaint, Sydney has many gardens to choose from. There’s the Royal Botanic Gardens with its superb harbour views, historic pavilions, specialty gardens, huge fig trees, and rolling greens; the Observatory Hill Park on The Rocks Sydney with its expansive views of the Harbour Bridge and multitudes of shady trees; Copes lookout with the Opera House and Sydney bridge in the background ; the University of Sydney Grounds with its 72-hectare land filled with greenery; and the Vaucluse House in the Eastern suburbs with its native bush, pleasure gardens, and kitchen garden.
#8: Married Anywhere
If you’re already super excited by #6-#7, know that wherever you choose to have your ceremony, you’ll still be recognised as married. As long as you have the right experienced authorized marriage celebrant in Sydney and have the proper documents, you can get married anywhere, in a church, at the beach, or at a garden and your wedding will be very much valid anywhere in the world. Hurrah for that!
#9: Cruise Around Sydney Harbour
If you really can’t decide on a venue, how about going to all of the venues (well, not really all, maybe, most)? Sydney features a Sydney Harbour Wedding Cruise where you and your guests board a vessel from the Sydney Princess Cruises. You can go for a more formal dining affair or you can have cocktails alfresco style—it’s your choice. Even more awesome, their boats can be decorated with a big white bow!
#10: Gorgeous Sunsets
Wouldn’t it be wonderful (not to mention great for photo-ops) to have stupendous lights coming from the sun as it sets over the Sydney Harbour or one of Sydney’s beaches (and it’s free too)? Make sure to take advantage of this natural wonder and plan your wedding ceremony around the sunset times of Sydney.
#11: Creative Transportation Modes
Since Sydney is a water city, transporting yourself and your guests through waters is a wonderfully creative option. There are water ferries, taxies, and private boats that are available in Sydney. If you choose to marry in Parramatta, you can catch a ferry into the city with your guests. Party boat, anyone? To plan the best route for your purposes, check out the timetable of Sydney Ferries. Water Taxis Combined has packages meant for weddings. Their water taxis can pick you up from any of the hundred waterside venues in the city.
#12: Boundless Wedding Locations
Since a wedding day is a half ceremony and party and half photo-ops, it would be great to go to Sydney for its many picturesque scenes for you and your wedding entourage. Beautiful sceneries are all around so there’s always something breathtaking to see. Some of the favourite locations for photography in the East are at the city centre of Sydney, the Royal Botanic Gardens, the Observatory Park, the Rocks, and Hyde Park. By the West, there’s the Old Government House, Elizabeth Farm, Parramatta Park, and Lake Parramatta Reserve. In the North, we have Balmoral Beach, Little Manly Point, Shelly Beach, Clontarf Reserve, Turimetta Headland, Long Reef Headland, and Oxford Falls Peace Park. And finally, in the South, Sydney hosts La Perouse Jetty, Lilli Pilli Point, Darook Park, Sans Souci Park, and Seaforth Park. Your celebrant can advise you on so many wonderful wedding locations.
#13: Delicious Food Galore
One of the things that wedding guests remember is how good the food you served was. Sydney’s food, ranging from surf to turf, is both creative yet simple. Most of all—and what really counts —it’s completely delicious. It is a multicultural city. Make your wedding guests happy by making their stomachs happy as well!
#14: All Nationalities are Welcomed in Sydney
Whether you’re from Australia or overseas, there won’t be a problem getting married. If you were born in Australia, you just need either an original birth certificate OR your passport. If you were born overseas, it’s also those too! It is a multicultural society and all nationalities are welcome 🙂
#15: Wedding and Honeymoon in Australia
Once you’re married in Sydney, stay and honeymoon in this charming locale. Besides staying indoors, you can gape at the Sydney Opera House, climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge, swim at Bondi Beach, take a romantic walk from Bondi to Coogee, sip Australian wine at Hunter Valley, watch whale migrations, and so on and so forth.