ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GETTING LEGALLY MARRIED IN AUSTRALIA.
Step 1: Contact Me
We will check to see if I am available for your wedding date, and then we can set up an obligation-free meeting to see if I am the right celebrant for you.
Step 2: First Interview
Once you have decided that I am the celebrant for you we will arrange the first interview, either at my house, yours, or a cafe. At this interview we’ll get to know each other, I will record an interview with you both, asking how you met and what’s important in your relationship. I will also explain the composition of a ceremony and we’ll build an outline of how your ceremony will be structured.
This meeting needs to occur at least 31 days before your wedding and during it we will complete the necessary administration tasks. I will need to sight your original Birth Certificates or Passports.
(I will cover these requirements with you on the phone before the meeting as well.)
If you are from interstate or overseas, all of these interviews can happen over the phone or via email, and you can post me a witnessed Notice of Intended Marriage form at least 31 days before your wedding day.
Step 4: Wedding Rehearsal
If available and convenient, it is great to rehearse the ceremony at the wedding venue.
Your wedding party, and anyone with a role in the ceremony should be present, however, often people are travelling great distances to share your special day with you, so that can’t always be possible.
We’ll run through the shape of the ceremony, rehearse the logistics of the ceremony and organise cues for musicians or guests with a speaking role.
Step 5: The Big Day
I’ll arrive 30 minutes before the wedding is due to start.
I will make sure everything is ready to create the best atmosphere for your special day.
You will get married!
Step 6: Registering your Marriage with Birth, Deaths and Marriages
After the ceremony, I’ll send all of the paperwork to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registry in your State.
The Commemorative Marriage Certificate you sign in the ceremony can’t be used for anything official, like changing your name or applying for a shared Medicare card.
If you prefer I can apply for your Official Marriage Certificate, or that is something you can take care of.