What's the legal process for getting married by a civil celebrant in Australia?

As you can imagine.. there’s bit of paperwork

A good celebrant will explain it, have you sign it and lodge it. Too easy.

Firstly, you need to lodge a Notice of Intent to Marry (NOIM) at least one clear calendar month prior to the marriage date.

With this you must provide proof of identity and place of birth.

The easiest way to do this is use your passport. It doesn’t matter if it’s expired either.

If you don’t have a passport you can use your Birth Certificate/ Birth Cert Extract as well as photo ID- ie your licence.

If you’ve been married before you need to provide evidence of divorce or death of previous spouse (ie Divorce Order or Death Certificate).

The celebrant then lodges the NOIM with Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Next you need to sign a Declaration of No Impediment, prepared by your celebrant as close to the marriage date as possible. It must occur before the marriage, even if it is 5 mins prior.

It basically says you aren’t currently married to anyone else, you’re not under 18 and you’re not related to each other.

“Fun fact: You can legally marry your cousin, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew.”

During the ceremony or legals only marriage your Celebrant must state their name and authorization. They must also recite the Monitum- a stiff paragraph about marriage in Australia.

Thankfully, we no longer say ‘between a man and a woman’

The wording is now: ‘between two people’ YAY!

Note: it is illegal for your celebrant to still use the old wording and if you’re asking for that you need to take a good hard look at yourself anyhow.

To fulfill the legal requirements of the marriage during the ceremony or legals only marriage your full names must be used at some point prior to or during your legal vows.

What? There’s legal vows too?

Yep! They’re as you imagine, stiff as a board:

“I ask everyone here to witness that I, (full name) take you (full name) to be my a) lawfully wedded husband or wife OR lawful partner in marriage.

“
You do not legally have to exchange personal vows or even rings.
”

— Nat

You’ll also need your marriage certificates witnessed by someone who is 18 or over who understands what they’re signing.

What if they cannot read English? Nope

What if they live overseas? Yep, fine

Do we need one each? Nope. If you want two relatives from one partner’s side that’s fine. You don’t need one each. You just need two.

Can we just pluck someone off the street to witness? Yep. Done many times.

Both partners, the witnesses and celebrant all sign two copies of a marriage certificate (one goes to BDM, one is a copy for the celebrant just in case).

You will also sign a Form 15 which is purely commemorative. It is your copy for you to frame (lol) or stash in your filing cabinet.

It’s just a memento. It is not a legal document.

You cannot take this to BDM to change your name or provide it as proof of marriage.

That hoo ha comes later once your marriage has been processed.

There’s three steps:

1. Your celebrant lodges everything via Births, Deaths and Marriages.

2. When the marriage has been processed, your celebrant will let you know and should provide a link for you to now apply for your official certificate (this is a very boring formal looking document that can be used to prove marriage).

3. Lastly, if relevant you apply for a name change, using said formal certificate. It is also what companies will want to see when you change your name on all your accounts/ cards/ passport/ bloody everything. Good times.

I highly recommend using one of the many name change sites to facilitate this being less of an epic pain in the ass for you.

Ie: https://www.easynamechange.com/au/

Well worth the 160 odd bucks.

AND THAT IS it to be legit. You’ll find the NOIM here on the AG site, RIGHT HERE if you’re up for some light reading.

HEY THERE LEGENDS! I’M NAT SPROAL, MELBOURNE WEDDING CELEBRANT, AND AFICIONADO OF ALL THINGS HITCHING-RELATED.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog! You’ll find loads of no-BS advice and tips on how to create the day of your dreams - without the wedstress and the drama.

I’m your wing woman and captain of your ship when it comes to having a cruisy, loved-up and utterly memorable and joyous day. Enjoy!