About Us – The Planning Team behind Hitched in Paradise

Your Journey to a Fulfilling Life

Elopement and Wedding Experts est. 2013

About Us – The planning team behind Hitched in Paradise.

About Us – Meet the lovely planning team behind Hitched in Paradise.

Elopement and Wedding Experts est. 2013

Our Story – Hitched in Paradise

About Us Weddings and Elopements Byron Bay, Gold Coast & Tweed Coast.

Born From a Love of Love (and a dislike of Big Weddings 😅)

Since 2013, Hitched in Paradise has crafted intimate, stylish, and stress-free elopements and micro weddings for couples who want something more personal than a big, traditional event.

At the heart of it all are co-founders Benjamin & Tarnie Carlyle, a real-life couple with a passion for celebrating love.

Together, they live on the Tweed Coast with their two teenage boys (and Panda the wonder dog 🐾).

About Us | AboutUsBt1
  • The Team at Hitched In Paradise, create gorgeous and intimate Elopement & Micro Weddings.
  • Our tailored packages are stress-free, stylish, and full of heart. We have a list of exclusive venues that our couples love!

  • Tarnie is the Master Planner & the Wedding Dream Weaver, supporting you from first contact to the post ceremony champagne.🥂
  • Our Team of professional Vendors ensures your every detail runs smoothly.

  • Benjamin is a sought-after Byron Bay marriage celebrant who crafts authentic ceremonies, takes care of all legalities, and helps perfect your vows.

About Us | AboutUsTarnie

Meet Tarnie Carlyle

  • From the moment you make your first enquiry, Tarnie Carlyle will be your go-to guide—bringing your wedding vision to life with care, creativity, and precision.

  • Aligns you with a trusted team of professional vendors

  • Offers reception/restaurant recommendations & answers all your planning questions

  • Welcomes you on the day with calm, confident energy to keep things flowing

  • Brings her history in Film & TV industry-level organisation and an eye for style

  • Handpicks ceremony locations — from beaches to hinterland escapes — to match your vibe

  • The steady hand behind every effortlessly beautiful Hitched in Paradise wedding

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Meet Benjamin Carlyle

  • Highly sought-after celebrant with 1,500+ ceremonies from big weddings to intimate elopements

  • Launches marriages with authenticity, energy, and style

  • Crafts one-of-a-kind ceremonies that reflect your vibe & personality

  • Guides you through vows + takes care of all legal requirements

  • Surfer’s eye: expert knowledge of local weather, tides & swell 🌊

  • Uses a top-tier Bose Pro PA system — perfect for beach & outdoor weddings

  • With Ben, your ceremony is more than legalities — it’s an uplifting, unforgettable moment ✨

Our Wedding Vendor Team

We work with the most trusted local professionals who are all dedicated to making your day unforgettable:

  • Photographers
  • Florists
  • Hair & makeup
  • Stylists
  • Musicians
  • Transport
  • Videography

Why Couples Choose Us

  • 20+ years’ combined experience
  • Local knowledge of Byron, Tweed & Gold Coast venues
  • Personalised, genuine celebrations every step of the way

We’ve got your Bouquet, your Bag and your Back!!

Benjamin & Tarnie have you completely covered – with heart, humour, and hands-on help. They are:

  • Your Bridal Party Hype Team, official witnesses when needed, and even your bag holders
  • They’ll hold your dog leads and keep your champagne on ice
  • From the very first message to the post-wedding follow-up, they’re by your side
  • Often mistaken for old friends – that’s how warm and genuine they are!

It’s these thoughtful touches that make your Hitched In Paradise wedding feel effortless, meaningful, and truly yours

> Read Real Reviews from our lovely Couples >

Ness & Will, Fingal Heads Micro Wedding, Tweed Coast

Gosh, where to begin?! Our elopement / micro wedding with Hitched in Paradise really was the best day of our lives. From the initial contact to the post-wedding catch-up, Tarnie and Ben were wonderful; they are so skilled and professional in what they do, whilst making it feel easy, stress-free and just a bunch of fun.

Our ceremony was everything we had dreamed of and more… a relaxed, intimate and joyful celebration in a stunning beach location and a place that is really special to us. Ben and Tarnie made everything run seamlessly, and our guests commented on how our wedding was so special, personalised and heartfelt.

The vendors they suggested for us were all perfect. We are over-the-moon with how our day turned out, and we cannot recommend HIP highly enough. Our heartfelt thanks for everything!
Will Ness Testimonial | Ness Will 27

Nick & Maddie, Mavis Kitchen Wedding, Tweed Hinterland

” I would absolutely recommend Hitched in Paradise to anyone thinking of getting married. “

The whole process was seamless and stress fee, and our special day was beyond what we could have ever imagined.

My husband and I will be forever grateful for the wonderful work of Tarnie and her team of wedding ninjas!

[ Check out their amazing Real Elopement here > ]

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Chloe & Chad, Forget Me Not Wedding, Byron Bay

We had our intimate micro wedding in Byron Bay through Hitched In Paradise, and we can’t thank them enough! We had the most perfect day, all made possible through this amazing husband and wife Team!

From my first communication with Tarnie, I knew that I was in great hands. She made the whole process simple and easy, and the vendors we were given to choose from were incredible – photographer, stylist, flowers, hair and make up; it was all perfect. Ben brought such a fun vibe to the wedding as our celebrant and made us feel so relaxed.

We highly recommend them, you will not be disappointed!

[ Check out their amazing Real Elopement here > ]

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Prue & Robbie, Froggy Beach Elopement, Gold Coast

WOW! What an experience that we couldn’t change for the word. We couldn’t have done it without those from Hitched in Paradise. Throughout the planning process they were great with communication and keeping us up to date. The best team you could have planning an elopement wedding.

Benjamin our celebrant was super cool, funny and made us feel at ease on the day, along with his lovely wife Tarnie. The floral arrangements blew my mind by Lolas Wildflowers. We had the most amazing photographer and videographer!! The whole day was like a fairy tale, so intimate and special.

Thank you all so much, we will never forget this special day!! WHAT A TEAM! Prue & Robbie xox

[ Check out their amazing Real Elopement here >]

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Alex & Crystal, Long Tan Park Wedding, Gold Coast

Dear Tarnie & Ben, Alex and I would like to thank you both for the best wedding day ever! We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to become husband and wife. Your flexibility and responsiveness throughout the planning made the process a stress free and exciting time for us. Your attention to detail and passion for celebrating love really shows and we couldn’t have done it without you.

Both yourself and Ben had such a welcoming and calming presence, we absolutely loved every minute of our day at the beautiful Long Tan Park and so did our guests.

We can’t thank you enough for your hard work in creating such an absolutely stunning and seamless wedding day. We are truly grateful we found your service on Instagram and will not hesitate to recommend Hitched in Paradise to others in the future.

Kind Regards, Crystal & Alex Parker x

Alex Crystal Testimonial | Long.Tan .Park .Wedidng.AC .38

Hannah & Daniel, Family Farm Wedding, Byron Bay

We found the Hitched in Paradise company via Instagram. And after looking through their Insta & website we decided that eloping with HIP would be a great decision. The whole wedding process with Tarnie from HIP exceeded anything we could have ever imagined.

Hitched in Paradise have the most amazing list of vendors to choose from and Tarnie, the wedding coordinator is fantastic. Tarnie made the whole process so easy by booking our vendors, organising payments, creating timelines, communicating between us and our Team, etc.

We got married on a family property in Byron Bay and Ben Carlyle our Celebrant organised a very authentic, relaxed and personalised ceremony for my partner and I.

The whole process of planning a wedding can be very stressful, however, Hitched In Paradise took away all of the stress and allowed us to have the most perfect day!

I highly recommend this company and their incredible list of vendors! Thank you again!

Hannah Daniel Testimonial | HD scaled

Jacinta Brad, Little Wategos Elopement, Byron Bay

My husband (eeek!!) and I eloped in beautiful Byron Bay in February. From the moment we enquired about the elopement package, Ben and Tarnie went above and beyond to ensure that every detail was taken care of, they made the entire experience simple and stress-free.

The planning was incredibly easy! Every part of the day was organized with such care, and we felt completely at ease knowing they had everything under control.

The location itself was breathtaking— Little Wategos was the perfect place for our intimate ceremony. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and it couldn’t have been a more perfect day.

We couldn’t have asked for a better team to make our elopement a reality.

If you’re looking for a stress-free, beautiful, and memorable way to tie the knot, Ben and Tarnie are the team to trust. Thank you for making our day so perfect—we’ll treasure these memories forever!

Jacinta Brad Testimonial | Wategos.Elopement.Byron .JB36

Michelle & Tom, Wategos Micro Wedding, Byron Bay

I could not recommend Hitched in Paradise enough and if we did it all over again (and honestly, we want to because it was amazing) we would always come back. Tarnie was great to deal with from the beginning, fielding many of my never ending queries, as well as providing a great list of vendors to choose from.

We were originally booked when Covid all kicked off and Tarnie was patient and accommodating in my stress, to get everything rebooked. 1 year later and rain was forecast for our day and Tarnie was pre-empting my worries by suggesting alternative arrangements and thankfully we still got to play outside, it was magical!

Each and every vendor was everything we expected and more and we highly recommend all of them. The final piece of the puzzle was Ben the Celebrant, putting us and our guests both at ease and really allowing us to relax and the moment. The day, in short, was perfect!

Michelle & Tom, Testimonial | MT 90

Kellimay & Jo, Belongil Beach, Byron Bay

I honestly can’t recommend HIP enough! Our elopement was perfect and more than anything we could have asked for.

Tarnie was an absolute gem and her communication throughout the process made it so easy.

Her hubby Ben is the nicest man you could meet and his personality brought such a warm sense to the ceremony. The HIP vendors are also next Level!! Genuinely lovely, warm, talented people.

If you’re planning an elopement (or anything to with marriage actually) you’d be crazy not to consider, better yet, use HIP! Xx

[ Check out their Real Elopement > ]

Byron Bay Elopement on Belongil Beach

David & Chantelle, Hastings Point, Tweed Coast

We recently used Hitched In Paradise for our Elopement. It was the most stress-free experience. Tarnie is super responsive and very organised. She gave us her personal recommendations of a location for our ceremony, which we were very appreciate of, given we are not from the are. We were so happy when we arrived, such a gorgeous spot.

Ben the Celebrant is so warm. With his chilled out nature we were married without any nerves getting the better of us. We ran into Ben the following day at the local takeaway, it was like running into an old friend.

Lastly, every vendor we used were so fantastic. It was hard to choose in the beginning, you couldn’t go wrong. HIP have a selection of vendors with unbelievable talent and different styles to suit everyone.

Thank you so much Tarnie and Ben for being so amazing. Much Love. David, Chantelle, Layla & Corby. xx

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Ruth & David, Little Wategos Elopement, Byron Bay

Ben and Tarnie were amazing! They made the whole planning process for our elopement so easy and took all of the stress out of it for us.

The vendors they work with – flowers, photography and beauty were also great.We were so, so happy with everything.

They are two of the loveliest people we have met and we could feel that they really cared about making our day perfect for us!

Ruth & David Testimonial | RD 15

Gemma & Brendan, Wategos Elopement, Byron Bay

I cannot recommend HIP enough! If you are considering an elopement or micro wedding in the Byron are, you should absolutely book with Tarnie and Ben. They work tirelessly to ensure everything is peachie perfect.

Tarnie was super organised and an absolute ninja on the email; she has solutions of everything which was a massive blessing since we are not from the area and didn’t have any idea where to start with our wedding.

Ben is super energetic and fun, and was always thinking on his feet to add magical touches to our beautiful beach ceremony. The vendors they work with are equally amazing. We barely had to do anything but show up on the day!

Please support this incredible family business, they are absolute super stars!

Gemma & Brendan Testimonial | 3Y2A0429 scaled

🌿 Your Dream Elopement & Micro Wedding Team

At Hitched in Paradise, you’ll be guided by Tarnie & Ben Carlyle – the creative planner and the celebrant, A real-life couple who bring care, expertise, and heart to every celebration.

Together, they make sure your elopement or micro wedding is seamless, stylish, and unforgettable. ✨