Two kinds of ceremony
The City’s wedding ceremony page describes two ways to hold a ceremony in one of its parks or public spaces.
Without approval. A simple ceremony or proposal, with no infrastructure or equipment and no expectation of having a facility such as a rotunda to itself, does not need to apply. The City’s page on small gatherings makes the same point from the other side: you need not book a small gathering so long as you bring no infrastructure into the park, and it counts furniture, equipment, marquees and jumping castles as infrastructure.
With a booking. A couple can apply to hold a wedding ceremony or a marriage proposal in one of the City’s parks and public spaces. A booked ceremony comes with special rules, set out below, and one of them is the photography rule.
The booking rules, in plain words
To book a ceremony or proposal, the City says you must meet these rules. They are its own list, put more briefly here:
| Rule | What the City’s page says |
|---|---|
| Fee | A fee applies, and the booking is not confirmed until it is paid. |
| Time | Bookings are approved in 3-hour blocks, with half an hour left between bookings. |
| Guests | No more than 35, and the wedding party counts among them. |
| What you can bring | Up to 30 chairs, a carpet and one table, in the booked space. |
| What you cannot bring | Catering, further event infrastructure, or vehicles. |
| Exclusive use | Only where an approval says so, such as a rotunda. Booking a park with a rotunda, Observatory Park among them, gives the rotunda to you for the booking, while the rest of the park stays open to everyone. |
| Paddington Reservoir Gardens | Ceremonies and proposals that need infrastructure, equipment and exclusive use are not permitted there. |
| Photos | No permit or approval for wedding photos taken on the ceremony’s own day. |
| Drones | Prohibited. |
Two more lines sit beside the list. Applications go in at least 4 weeks before the proposed booking date, and a wedding reception cannot be approved in an outdoor space. The page does not give the fee itself.
What the photo rule covers, and what it leaves open
The photo rule is written as one of the booking rules, so it is read here with them: it speaks to a booked ceremony, and to photos on that day. Three things it does not settle:
- Another day. An engagement shoot, or a portrait session the week after, is not on the ceremony day. The wedding and small gathering pages say nothing about a shoot on any other day.
- A ceremony with no booking. The rule sits among the booking rules. The pages do not say, in so many words, how it applies to the simple ceremony that needs no approval.
- The photographer’s kit. A ceremony without approval brings in no equipment. Neither page says whether a photographer’s own camera bag, tripod or light counts as equipment in that sense.
Each of these is a question for the City of Sydney before the day. Its pages do not answer them, and this guide does not guess.
Shared ground
The parks stay public: the City says its parks and public spaces are open for everyone to enjoy. The small gatherings page says you cannot reserve barbecues, playgrounds or other City furniture for a small gathering, and that park and open space signs are to be followed. It also reminds readers that the parks are shared, and that other gatherings and activities may be happening close by. Organised activities that bring in infrastructure may be treated as an outdoor event, which needs its own application and approval.
Land the City does not manage
The City’s own page notes that its area includes some precincts where permits come from other authorities. The other places in this guide each answer to a manager of their own, taken one at a time: the Royal Botanic Garden and The Domain, The Rocks, Circular Quay and Darling Harbour, and Centennial Parklands.