Everything, answered properly

The Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) must be given to your celebrant at least one calendar month before your wedding, and no more than eighteen months before it. One month is the legal floor, not a target — most couples lodge theirs as soon as they book. If you are inside the month, a prescribed authority can shorten the time in limited circumstances, so ask rather than assume.

Each of you needs to show evidence of date and place of birth — an original birth certificate or a current passport — plus photo identification. If either of you has been married before, you will also need the divorce order or the death certificate of your former spouse. Sharon checks all of it well before the day, so nothing surfaces at the last minute.

Two, and both must be aged eighteen or over. They need to be able to understand what is happening and sign their names. If you are eloping and it is genuinely just the two of you, Sharon can arrange witnesses.

Yes, and it is mercifully short. Your celebrant must say the monitum — "Marriage, according to law in Australia, is the union of two people to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life." Each of you must then say a legal vow identifying yourselves and taking the other as your lawful wedded spouse. Everything else in the ceremony is entirely yours.

The moment you have both said your legal vows in the presence of your celebrant and two witnesses. The signing afterwards records it. Sharon then registers the marriage with NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages within fourteen days, and you can order your official certificate from the registry once it is lodged.

No. Nothing about marrying obliges either of you to change a name. If you choose to, your official NSW marriage certificate from Births, Deaths and Marriages is the document you will need — not the decorative one you sign on the day.

Most book between nine and eighteen months out, and Saturdays in the Hunter between October and April go first. That said, Sharon keeps room for short-notice elopements, so it is always worth asking about a date even if it is close.

Throughout the Hunter Valley, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Maitland and Port Stephens, with travel included in the full ceremony packages. Further afield — the Central Coast, the Upper Hunter, or somewhere that means something to you — is very possible, with a travel fee quoted honestly up front.

A full wedding ceremony usually runs between twenty and thirty minutes. An elopement can be ten. A legals-only ceremony takes about five. Longer is not better — the right length is the one that holds the room.

You will have a wet-weather plan agreed well before the day, and Sharon will carry the ceremony to it without a word of fuss. The PA is weather-rated, the paperwork lives in a dry folder, and nobody will be able to tell it was the backup.

Please do. Sharon will give you prompts if the blank page is intimidating, read drafts if you want a second pair of eyes, and keep them secret from each other until the day. The legal vow still needs to be said as well, but it takes nine seconds.

Gladly — it is where the name came from. Handfasting is the old Celtic ritual of binding a couple’s hands with cord or tartan while they make their promises, and it is the origin of the phrase "tying the knot". It sits beautifully inside a modern ceremony, takes about three minutes, and gives your photographer something extraordinary.

Absolutely, and it is one of the best parts of the job. Children can carry rings, speak a line, join a sand or candle ritual, or simply be named and welcomed. Sharon will pitch it to their age and their appetite for attention.

Yes — a professional battery-powered PA with a lapel microphone and a handheld for readings, included in the full ceremony and vow renewal packages. Everyone in the back row hears every word, including the quiet ones.

Yes, warmly and without qualification. Marriage equality has been Australian law since December 2017, and every couple is written for with exactly the same care.

Packages start at $550 for legals only, $790 for an elopement, $690 for a vow renewal and $1,150 for a full bespoke ceremony. All prices include GST and there are no surprises added later. See the investment page for what sits inside each one.

A deposit, and then the date is yours — it comes straight out of the diary and nobody else can book it. The balance is due in the month before the wedding.