Getting Married in Perth – the Ultimate Guide

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GETTING MARRIED IN PERTH

This post has all you need to know about getting married in Perth and planning a location wedding on a budget. It includes how to get legally married, how to choose your Perth wedding celebrant, where to get married in Perth and local businesses that you can use to make your special day one to remember

We are all unique individuals and all have our own image of what will make our wedding day special. Living in Australia, and in particular, in Perth, we are blessed with many beautiful surroundings to choose from.

Getting married in Perth means that you have a plethora of outdoor wedding venues to choose from, as well as options for a Registry Office wedding, and other wedding reception venues such as wineries, and waterfront venues.

STEPS TO TAKE WHEN GETTING MARRIED IN PERTH, AUSTRALIA

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1. CHOOSE YOUR PERTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANT

First of all, you need to decide what type of wedding you would like, a religious ceremony, or a civil marriage.

PERTH RELIGIOUS WEDDING CEREMONY CELEBRANT/MINISTER

A list of Religious Marriage Celebrants can be found here or Ministers of Religion for various denominations, here.

PERTH CIVIL MARRIAGE CEREMONY

If you would like to have a civil ceremony in Perth then you can either choose to get married at a Registry Office or choose an independent civil celebrant who can perform your wedding ceremony at a destination of your choice.

PERTH MARRIAGE CELEBRANTS

It is important that you feel relaxed and comfortable with your chosen marriage celebrant. You will be working together to design your unique wedding ceremony, so need to be happy that they will be taking your wishes into account and helping you craft your perfect day.

We highly recommend our Perth wedding celebrant, Jill Kennedy.
74B Stockdale Crescent
WEMBLEY DOWNS WA, 6019,
Tel. 0407 174 570,  [email protected] 

Or you can get a list of other registered civil marriage celebrants here.

Services that a Marriage Celebrant celebrant may provide include:

• Lodging your Notice of Intended Marriage
• Complete all the necessary legal paperwork
• Helping you with regards to the type of ceremony you would like, readings, symbolic rituals and music.
• Wedding Ceremony Rehearsal
• Provide a sound system and microphone for the day
• Providing a signing table and chairs

PERTH REGISTRY OPTIONS

Perth’s main government Registry Office: 

Only available weekdays 9 am-4 pm. Wedding Rooms accommodate 20 -35 guests.

Level 10, Westralia Square, 141 St Georges Terrace, Perth (Tel. 1300 305 021)

The Perth Marriage office:

The Perth Marriage Office is open 7 days a week to perform wedding ceremonies. Prices vary depending on the number of guests. There are four different rooms and the largest can accommodate 50 guests. Visit their Website here. 

Level 1, 115 Francis Street, Perth, (Tel. 1300 024 024),

Dianella Marriage Office, Perth:  

Available 7 days a week and prices vary depending on your requirements

Level 1 /285 Alexander Drive, Dianella (08 6245 8412)

HOW MUCH WILL A CIVIL CELEBRANT COST?

On average the cost of a simple registry office marriage is $400.

Independent Civil Celebrants are mainly individuals running small businesses. There is no set fee, so it depends on the celebrant that you choose and the services that they provide. However, you can probably expect to pay $600 and upwards.

Our celebrant, Jill Kennedy,  wrote an individual ceremony script just for us – personally preparing it to suit our unique story. We had meetings and many emails back and forth as she guided us on our ceremony format options and choices of readings, music and vows.

2. LODGE A NOTICE OF INTENDED MARRIAGE

Once you have chosen your celebrant or Register Office, you need to lodge your Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM).

All couples must lodge a Notice of Intended Marriage form, at least one month before getting married in Perth, with your chosen Marriage Celebrant. This form needs to be signed in front of your celebrant or an official witness and lodged with your celebrant.

Additionally, each party will need to show a passport or original birth certificate as proof of ID and, if relevant, any divorce/ death certificates, before the marriage takes place. 

The NOIM cannot be lodged more than 18 months before your intended marriage date.

It can usually be lodged online, but you will still need to print it and get it witnessed by a police officer, doctor, lawyer or Justice of the Peace before returning it to your celebrant.

If you are overseas you will need to get the NOIM witnessed by a Notary Public.

3. DECIDE WHERE TO GET MARRIED IN PERTH

Getting married in Perth means that you have so many beautiful locations to choose from. We are lucky because, in Australia, you can get married almost anywhere.

Popular locations include:

• The beach
• Private gardens
• Public gardens/parks
• Reception venues
• Bushland settings
• Riverside

WHERE CAN I GET MARRIED IN PERTH?

Popular outdoor park/garden/beach locations that are chosen for Perth wedding venues are:

• Kings Park and Botanic Gardens
• Perth City Gardens – Harold Boas Gardens and Queens Garden
• Locations on the Swan River, Matilda Bay Reserve
• Cottesloe Beach – three locations available
• City Beach 

Most parks, gardens and beaches need to be booked, and a booking fee is charged.

Prices vary, but the most popular tend to be the most expensive.

An exception to this rule includes the parks and beaches in Fremantle. Fremantle council doesn’t charge for its parks or beaches but they do have certain limitations and you are not able to ensure that there will not be another public or private event happening at the same time as you are getting married.

For more wedding venue ideas check out Visit Perth’s highlights and Easyweddings top ten Perth wedding venues.

We chose to get married at Jackadder Lake, Woodlands, Perth.  This is a beautiful lakeside park full of birdlife. We opted for a simple relaxed picnic wedding and the local council rate was only $30 per hour.

4. SEND OUT WEDDING INVITATIONS

Again, how you decide to do this is a personal choice. We bucked tradition and made use of social media apps and email to send our invitations which meant that it cost nothing.

However, there are plenty of beautiful stationery options to choose from if your budget allows it.

We made a save the date, and another invitation with further details once we knew them.

Both were easily and quickly made using the free version of Canva.

5. PLAN YOUR PERTH WEDDING CEREMONY

This is based on planning a civil marriage ceremony — a religious ceremony will have its own rules and regulations.

THE CEREMONY

There are certain legal requirements that must be included in a marriage ceremony, which your celebrant will advise on,  but you can then add any other inclusions that you wish.

For example, you can write your own vows, add a symbolic ritual and choose your own music. You don’t even have to exchange rings if you don’t want to.

YOUR WEDDING VOWS

The legal script you must say includes;

“I call upon the persons here present to witness that I, (Name), take thee, (partners name) to be my lawful wedded wife (or husband, or spouse )”,

Other than those words, you can create your own vows so that your words really reflect who you are and your relationship. We tried to include a little bit of humour too.

Here are our vows to give you an idea. 

WEDDING READINGS/POEMS

We chose to use an excerpt from “Oh the Places You’ll Go”, by Dr Seuss. We altered some of the words to fit with our own story.

Many couples choose their favourite verses or poems and again, a quick look online will offer up plenty of suggestions that you may like.

Here is the excerpt – with alterations that we used, that fit with our travel lifestyle.

WEDDING MUSIC

Choose tunes that mean something to you and you can be as traditional or non-traditional as you like.

We chose to have the following music:

• Processional music (arrival of the bride) – Here Comes the Sun (Beatles)
• Register Signing Music – Africa (Toto)
• Music after we were announced, husband and wife –  Walking on Sunshine (Katrina and the Waves)

Just google ‘wedding music’ and you’ll have lots of ideas to choose from.

6. ORGANISE YOUR PERTH WEDDING DAY REQUIREMENTS

Whether you want a simple, budget-friendly or no expense spared wedding, getting married in Perth offers you a multitude of options.

We wanted a relaxed Perth wedding. And, as we are road tripping around the world, we were on a tight budget. Therefore we chose to do away with some wedding traditions that we didn’t feel were important to us.

We had a simple afternoon tea picnic wedding and asked guests to bring their own drinks. We didn’t have official speeches or a wedding cake.

What we did have was a beautiful afternoon surrounded by family and friends, relaxing in an absolutely gorgeous setting.

For us … it was perfect.

Whatever wedding day you plan, make sure it is the kind of day that is going to be special for you.

LOCAL BUSINESS RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GETTING MARRIED IN PERTH

We used local businesses for our Perth Picnic wedding, and we can highly recommend all of the businesses mentioned.

Note: We are NOT affiliated with any of them and we paid for all of their services.    

Perth Civil Celebrant

Perth Photographer

Perth Wedding Design/Styler

Perth Florist

Perth Events

Perth Hairdresser

Perth Wedding Makeup

Perth Bridal Wear

7. HAVE A WEDDING REHEARSAL

We were a little unsure as to whether we really needed a wedding rehearsal, but it was so worth it and prevented any bumbling around on the day.

It also limited nerves on the day, knowing exactly how the ceremony would go.

Before your wedding ceremony, you will need to sign a legal declaration that there is no legal impediment to you getting married. This can be signed when you meet with your celebrant for a rehearsal or walkthrough a week or two before the marriage ceremony.

Under Australian law you may not get married in any of the following circumstances:

• You are under 18 years of age (except with special permission) OR
• You are already married OR
• You and your proposed spouse are close relatives by birth or legal adoption – siblings, parent/child, grandparent/grandchild OR
• Due to mental impairment, you are not able to give informed consent

Both parties to the marriage must freely and knowingly give their informed consent to the marriage.

8. COMPLETE LEGAL DOCUMENTATION AFTER YOUR WEDDING

You will be issued with a Marriage Certificate at your wedding, but this isn’t an official marriage document.

You will need to apply to the Perth  Department of Justice, Births, Deaths and Marriages for an official copy.  You can do this by post or in person but need to complete the Marriage Certification Application Form .

If you are changing your name to your partner’s surname you will need to notify relevant entities and change relevant documents such as:

• Passport (https://www.passports.gov.au/have-you-changed-your-name)
• Drivers Licence
• Bank
• Employer
• Medicare
• Utilities
• Last Will and Testament

9. ENJOY A HONEYMOON

As a travel writer, it would be remiss of me not to mention some ideas as to where you could take a honeymoon;)

For our honeymoon, we’ll be road-tripping through Africa with a four-wheel drive and a tent on top.

It’ll be an open-ended honeymoon of about two years. Well, that’s the plan at the moment 🙂

PERFECT HONEYMOON DESTINATIONS: 

♥  A self-drive safari in Kruger National Park, South Africa

♥  Santorini in the European winter to avoid the crowds and save money – which is perfect if you are getting married in Perth in the summer)

♥  Stay in an ice hotel in Sweden – again you could combine this with a Christmas experience in Lapland.

♥  Perth to Melbourne road trip – if you are the adventurous type perhaps a road trip across the Nullabor might take your fancy

♥  Skiing trip in the Swiss Alps – very romantic

♥  Marrakech, Morocco -for a warmer destination and one full of intriguing eastern mystery

♥  Explore the romantic and scenic Isles of Scotland

GETTING MARRIED IN PERTH … THAT’S A WRAP

I wrote this post because I thought having all these ideas and information in one place would be an excellent resource for Perth brides to be. Especially for those who want simple, more relaxed and budget-friendly options. 

Please let me know if you found this post helpful and let me know your ideas for your own perfect Perth Wedding.

Don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions you may have.

Shelley x

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