The Marriage Act 1961 defines marriage as ‘the union of two people to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life’. This new definition became law on 9 December 2017. State and territory governments have been required to align their laws and regulations with this new definition. (At the time marriage equality became law in Australia, some state-based laws and regulatory requirements made it more difficult for some members of the LGBTQIA community to assert their right to get married than the majority of the population. That has now been fixed.)

To be married in Australia, you must:

1. Not be married to someone else

2. Not be marrying a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother or sister (including by adoption)

3. Be at least 18 years old, unless a court has approved a marriage where one party is between 16 and 18 years old. Approval will not be given if both parties are below 16 years

4. Understand what marriage means

5. Freely consent to getting married

6. Use specific words during the ceremony

7. Give your celebrant written notice of your intention to marry, within the required time frame. I clarify this further in the next section.

The first thing you need to do is fill out a Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM)

You then need to sign the Declaration of No Legal Impediment to Marriage (DNLI) as close as possible to your wedding day. The DNLI is a legal declaration that both of you are of marriageable age, are not in a prohibited relationship, are not married to someone else, and are not aware of any other legal impediment to your marriage taking place. It is unlawful for you to sign the DNLI after your marriage ceremony has taken place.

On the day of your wedding, immediately after your marriage ceremony, you, your two witnesses (that are both over the age of 18) and your celebrant will sign three marriage certificates. Two of these are the Official Certificate of Marriage and the other is the Form 15 (also called a Presentation Certificate). After you have all signed all three certificates, the celebrant will hand you the Form 15 – it is a record of your marriage that you can keep.

Within 14 days, the celebrant must provide your paperwork (the NOIM, the Declaration and one of the Official Certificates of Marriage) to the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages (BDM) in the jurisdiction where the marriage took place, so they can register your marriage. (Your celebrant must keep one copy of the Official Certificate of Marriage in a secure place for 6 years).

When the Registry has registered your marriage, you can apply for a copy of the registered Official Certificate of Marriage through the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages in the state or territory where you got married. Your celebrant will likely inform you when your marriage has been registered.

What evidence do you need to provide when signing the NOIM?

You need to satisfy your celebrant needs that you and your partner are who you say you are. The evidence they need from you is:

1. Evidence of your place and date of birth and evidence of your identity. You can use your passport for this, if you have one, or you can provide your driver’s licence and birth certificate)

2. If one or both of you were before married, evidence of your divorce or death of a previous partner. If you have been married more than once, then you only need to provide evidence of the most recent divorce or the death of your most recent partner.

What are the terms used in the NOIM?

Both parties to the marriage need to tick one of three boxes that best describes them: ‘groom’, ‘bride’ or ‘partner’. It’s up to each party to decide which option they want to use to describe themselves.

Do I need to provide evidence of my sex?

The celebrant doesn’t need to see evidence of your sex. The NOIM allows individuals to identify as female, male or as a gender other than the sex they were assigned at birth or to identify as ‘other than female or male’.

If there are extenuating circumstances that mean you need to get married within a month of your celebrant receiving your NOIM, you can apply to a prescribed authority (check out https://marriage.ag.gov.au/stateofficers/authorities) to see if it will approve a shortening of the notice time. There are only five circumstances that can lead to a shortening of time. No other circumstances are able to be considered by the prescribed authority and there is no guarantee that any application for a shortening of time will be successful.

The five categories of circumstances set out in the Regulations are:

1. Employment-related, or other travel commitments

2. Wedding or celebration arrangements, or religious considerations

3. Medical reasons

4. Legal proceedings

5. Error in giving notice

When deciding, the Prescribed Authority will consider and assess the information provided in support of your application and may seek more information. If you’re going to apply for a shortening of time, get prepared. Make sure you’ve got all the necessary documentation that supports your request, before approaching a Prescribed Authority.

1. Contact a marriage celebrant who is willing to conduct a ceremony at short notice.

2. Complete a Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) and provide it to the celebrant (see earlier section on this). Make sure you don’t sign the NOIM until you are in the presence of the celebrant or other approved witness.

3. Choose a date and time for the ceremony – this can be changed, if necessary.

4. Ask the celebrant to supply you with a letter of support stating they have received a valid NOIM from you and is willing and available to conduct your marriage ceremony on the date and time nominated, provided the approval of shortening of time is granted.

5. Go to a Prescribed Authority to request a shortening and take the NOIM with you so that it can be signed by the Prescribed Authority. When you receive approval for the shortening, you must return the signed NOIM to your celebrant.

6. Make sure you take all documents that you would require to be married (passports, or birth certificates + driver’s licences, divorce papers/death certificates, as relevant) and documentary evidence to support your reason for applying for the shortening, such as medical reports, employer’s evidence, wedding receipts etc.

While there are many optional components that you can choose to include in your wedding ceremony, there are a few things that are not negotiable. Your celebrant must introduce him/herself and state that they are authorised to solemnise marriage in Australia. They must also say the following:

The Monitum:

“Before you are joined in marriage in my presence and in the presence of these witnesses, I am to remind you of the solemn and binding nature of the relationship into which you are about to enter. Marriage, according to law in Australia, is the union of two people to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.”

Legal Vows:

Although you may lengthen the legal vows to include personal promises that you wish to make to each, you must each say the following words:

“I call upon the people here present to witness that I, AB/CD, take you, CD/AB, to be my lawful wedded wife/husband.” You may leave out lawful or wedded but not both; you must use one of these words.

Both the Monitum and the Legal Vows MUST be spoken at your ceremony otherwise your marriage may not be valid.