Important things to know when wanting to marry in Australia

This post is about what you need to do to legally get married in Australia. It is important to know the forms that need to be filled out, signed and lodged with your celebrant or clergy in order for a wedding to take place.

A Notice of Intended Marriage - must be lodged NO LATER than one month prior to your wedding taking place. The NOIM does have a validity of 18 months. This is set out in Section 42 of The Marriage Act 1961 which all celebrants must adhere to. ( click on the link to download a blank notice of intent)

On the NOIM are details of both parties to the marriage. Full names, dates of birth, occupations, usual place of residence, parents names both now and at birth and conjugal status. Your celebrant will also need to sight evidence of your date and place of birth. This can be in the form of a birth certificate or passport. Your celebrant will also need to see photo identification - this can be your drivers licence or passport.

There are five very strict criteria set down by the Attorney Generals Department in relation to what is called a "shortening of time" to marry ( which is without giving one months notice) as per Schedule 3 to the Marriage Regulations.

These are limited to:

1. employment-related or other travel commitments

2. wedding or celebration arrangements, or religious considerations

3. medical reasons

4. legal proceedings,

5. an error in giving notice.

Should you feel that your circumstances fall into one of the criteria above, then reach out to your celebrant. There is a process that needs to be undertaken, whereby your celebrant will receive the completed, signed NOIM from you, write a letter to support your application for shortening of time, and collect other evidence from you to back up your application.

You then need to take all of these documents to what is known as a "prescribed authority" - ( click on the link to find one near you) They are generally located at local courthouses and depending on your state, they may be at your BDM.

It is then at their discretion as to whether the shortening of time is granted or not.

As always, Samantha is on hand to answer any questions and assist where possible.