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Australia · Marriage Act 1961

So you want to get married in Australia.

Good news — the legal part is genuinely simple. Ten steps, one month’s notice, two witnesses, and about sixty seconds of words the law insists on. Everything else is yours to invent.

Start at step one Just tell me who to call

The whole law, in five numbers.

Minimum notice before you can marry
1 month Minimum notice before you can marry
How far ahead that notice stays valid
18 months How far ahead that notice stays valid
Witnesses required, both over 18
2 Witnesses required, both over 18
For your celebrant to register it
14 days For your celebrant to register it
What the paperwork itself costs you
$0 What the paperwork itself costs you

Ten steps, start to finish.

In order, with nothing left out. Steps one to five are paperwork. Six is the interesting one. Seven to ten happen on and after the day.

  1. Step 1. Before anything else

    Check you can legally marry

    Both of you need to be 18 or older, free to marry — meaning not currently married to somebody else — and marrying each other freely and of your own choice.

    You can’t marry a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, or a sibling. That’s the entire list of forbidden relationships. Cousins are fine.

    Your gender, your citizenship, your visa, your religion and your postcode are all irrelevant to whether you can marry here. Marriage in Australia is the union of two people, full stop.

  2. Step 2. Your one non-negotiable supplier

    Find an authorised celebrant

    You cannot get married in Australia without an authorised celebrant. There is no self-marriage, no ship’s captain, no mate who got ordained on the internet last Tuesday.

    Your options are a Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant, a minister of religion from a recognised denomination, or a state or territory registry office.

    This is the one person who has to be there, so choose someone you actually like. They’ll handle every piece of paper on this page.

  3. Step 3. The big one

    Lodge your Notice of Intended Marriage

    The NOIM — Form 13 — is the document that starts the legal clock. Your celebrant must have it in their hands at least one full month before your wedding day, and no more than eighteen months before.

    One month is a hard floor. If you lodge on the 3rd of March, the earliest you can marry is the 3rd of April.

    You sign it in front of an authorised witness: your celebrant, a doctor, a lawyer, a JP, a police officer, or an Australian consular official if you’re overseas. Lodging it costs nothing.

  4. Step 4. Dig out the documents

    Show your celebrant your paperwork

    Each of you needs to produce evidence of your date and place of birth — an original birth certificate or a current passport. A driver’s licence doesn’t cut it, because it doesn’t show where you were born.

    You’ll also show photo ID so your celebrant can confirm you are who the notice says you are.

    Been married before? Bring proof it ended: a divorce order, or a death certificate. You can lodge your notice before a divorce is finalised, but you can’t actually marry until it is.

  5. Step 5. The bit nobody expects

    Accept the government pamphlet

    Once you’ve lodged your notice, your celebrant is legally required to give you a booklet called “Happily Ever Before and After”.

    It’s a short Commonwealth pamphlet about the nature of marriage and the relationship education and counselling services available to you.

    You don’t have to read it. Your celebrant does have to hand it over. Now you know why it turns up in your inbox.

  6. Step 6. The fun part

    Build the ceremony

    Here’s the secret nobody tells you: the law dictates roughly sixty seconds of your wedding ceremony. Everything else is a blank page.

    No required venue. No required day of the week. No required time of day. No required readings, rings, aisle, music, dress, or guest list.

    Which means the ceremony is the one part of the wedding you get to build entirely from scratch, around the two of you. Spend your energy here.

  7. Step 7. One more signature

    Sign the Declaration

    Before the wedding, both of you sign a Declaration of No Legal Impediment to Marriage — Form 14 — in front of your celebrant.

    You’re formally stating that you believe there’s no legal reason the two of you can’t marry: you’re of age, you’re free, you’re not closely related.

    It usually happens at your final catch-up, or in a quiet corner an hour before the ceremony.

  8. Step 8. The actual wedding

    Get married

    Two witnesses over the age of 18 have to be present and watching. They can be anyone — your best friends, your parents, two strangers off the beach.

    Your celebrant says the monitum, a short statement the law puts in their mouth about what marriage is.

    Then each of you says your legal vow to the other. Add your own words around it, as many as you like — but those legal words have to be in there somewhere.

  9. Step 9. Immediately after

    Sign three certificates

    The moment the ceremony ends, six signatures go onto three marriage certificates: both of you, both witnesses, and your celebrant.

    One is the decorative certificate your celebrant hands you on the day. The other two are the official ones that go to the government.

    That pretty one is a keepsake. It is not legal proof that you are married — which trips up more newlyweds than anything else on this page.

  10. Step 10. And it’s done

    Your marriage gets registered

    Within 14 days, your celebrant lodges the paperwork with Births, Deaths and Marriages in the state or territory where you married. That’s the moment your marriage enters the official record.

    Then you order your official marriage certificate from that BDM office. It costs a state fee, usually somewhere around $60, and turns up in the post.

    That’s the document banks, Services Australia and the Passport Office want to see. Order it early if you’re changing a name or heading overseas.

Step 6, expanded

The entire legal ceremony fits on a napkin.

People spend a year planning a wedding and assume the law is thick with rules. It is not. Here is the complete list of what the Marriage Act requires on the day — all four items.

  1. An authorised celebrant

    One human, registered by the Commonwealth, standing there doing the job.

  2. The monitum, said out loud

    Your celebrant must say these words, or words to that effect, in front of your witnesses.

    “Marriage, according to law in Australia, is the union of 2 people to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.”

  3. The legal vows

    Each of you says this to the other. You can wrap it in a hundred of your own words — it just has to be in there.

    “I call upon the persons here present to witness that I, [your name], take thee, [their name], to be my lawful wedded wife / husband / spouse.”

  4. Two witnesses over 18

    Present, watching, and willing to sign their names three times afterwards.

That is it. No aisle, no rings, no readings, no white dress, no Saturday, no venue, no guest list. Every single one of those is a tradition you are free to keep, bend or bin.

Six things that simply aren’t true.

Wedding folklore is stubborn stuff. Here’s what the law actually says.

Right. Now you need a human.

You know how it works. There are two sensible ways to go from here — pick whichever sounds more like you.

I just need a celebrant

Josh Withers

A full-time marriage celebrant since 2009, and roughly 2,900 weddings in 24 countries so far. He creates the ceremony with you from scratch, brings proper sound gear, and handles every form on this page.

  • Ceremony built around the two of you — no scripts
  • All ten steps above, managed for you
  • Available across Australia and further afield
Enquire with Josh

marriedbyjosh.com

I want the whole thing handled

The Elopement Collective

Josh and Britt curate complete elopements for couples who would rather have the day than the production. One package, one team, one very good day.

  • Location scouting, celebrant and paperwork
  • Photography, video and flowers arranged
  • Tasmania, mainland Australia and abroad
Get the elopement pack

elopementcollective.com

The questions everybody asks.

How much does getting married in Australia actually cost?

The legal paperwork is free to lodge. Your celebrant sets their own fee, and your official marriage certificate costs a state government fee of roughly $60. Everything else — the party, the flowers, the photos — is optional spending, not a legal requirement.

What is the absolute fastest we could get married?

One month and one day from the moment your celebrant receives your Notice of Intended Marriage. That month can only be shortened by a prescribed authority, and only for five specific reasons set out in the regulations.

Can we get legally married with nobody else there?

Almost. You need your celebrant and two witnesses over 18, so the smallest possible legal wedding is five people. Plenty of couples ask two passers-by or their photographer and planner to sign.

Do we need rings, a dress, or an aisle?

No. None of these appear anywhere in the Marriage Act. They are traditions, and traditions are optional.

We were married overseas. Are we married in Australia?

Generally yes — a marriage that was legally valid where it happened is recognised here, and you don’t re-marry or register it again. Keep your overseas certificate somewhere safe.

Can we write our own vows?

Absolutely, and you should. You just have to include the legal vow somewhere in what you say. Everything on either side of it is yours.

What if one of us is divorced?

You’ll need to show your celebrant the divorce order before the ceremony. You can lodge your Notice of Intended Marriage while a divorce is still being finalised — you simply can’t marry until it’s done.

How long until we get the real certificate?

Your celebrant has 14 days to register the marriage. Once it’s registered you order the certificate from your state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages office, and it usually arrives within a couple of weeks.