Guide

The legal side of marrying in Australia

By Annie Cormack, founder of Rosel · Updated 19 October 2026

This page covers what makes a marriage legal in Australia: who can marry you, the notice you give before the day, what has to happen at the ceremony, and the paperwork after it. It’s for any couple marrying here, whoever leads the ceremony and wherever it’s held. Marriage law is Commonwealth law, so the rules are the same in every state and territory; what differs by state is the registry that records your marriage and issues the certificate.

Who can marry you

Only an authorised celebrant can marry you legally. There are three kinds:

Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrants. Civil celebrants registered with the Attorney-General’s Department. Some are registered as religious marriage celebrants, for faith groups that aren’t recognised denominations, and have to say so when they advertise.
Ministers of religion of a recognised denomination. Registered through their state or territory registry. They marry you in the form of their tradition, and can decline to marry a couple or set conditions of their own.
State and territory officers. Registry staff who marry couples at a registry office, in the states and territories that run registry ceremonies.

You can check anyone on the celebrant register at marriage.ag.gov.au, which lists Commonwealth celebrants and state and territory celebrants.

A friend or family member

A friend or relative can lead your ceremony, but can’t marry you legally unless they’re on the register. There’s no one-day licence in Australia, and an online ordination doesn’t count here. Becoming a celebrant takes a Certificate IV in Celebrancy, then an application to the Attorney-General’s Department that can take up to six months to assess.

What couples do instead:

A combined ceremony. Your person leads the ceremony, and an authorised celebrant says the set words, hears your legal vows and does the paperwork, on the day.
A legal ceremony on another day. You marry legally at the registry or with a celebrant’s legals-only service, and your person leads the celebration with no legal part in it.

Either way, the celebrant still takes your notice, meets each of you before the day and lodges the paperwork.

Who can marry

To marry in Australia, each of you has to be:

At least 18. A person aged 16 or 17 can marry only with a court order and parental consent, and two people under 18 can’t marry each other.
Not married to anyone else.
Not marrying a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother or sister.
Freely consenting. Consent obtained by duress or fraud isn’t real consent, and causing someone to enter a forced marriage is an offence.

You don’t need to be an Australian citizen or resident to marry here.

The notice of intended marriage

Every legal marriage starts with a notice of intended marriage (NOIM), a Commonwealth form you give to the celebrant who will marry you.

The window

The notice has to reach your celebrant at least one calendar month before the wedding, and no more than 18 months before. If you change celebrant, the notice can be transferred to the new one, so the month doesn’t start again.

Signing and witnessing

Each of you signs the notice in front of an authorised witness. You don’t have to sign together, or on the same day.

In Australia, the witness can be an authorised marriage celebrant, a Justice of the Peace, a lawyer, a doctor or a police officer.
Outside Australia, it can be an Australian diplomatic or consular officer, an authorised Commonwealth or Austrade employee, or a notary public. A celebrant can’t witness a notice signed overseas.
By video link. Since 12 June 2024, the notice can be witnessed over a live audio and video call, as well as in person. If you’re in Australia, the witness has to be in Australia too. If you’re overseas, the witness has to be overseas too. Signing in person on paper is still an option.

Documents

Your celebrant needs to see originals, not copies, of:

Evidence of date and place of birth for each of you: a birth certificate, an official extract from a birth register, or a passport from any country.
Photo identification, such as a passport or driver licence.
How any previous marriage ended, if either of you has been married: a divorce order, or the death certificate of your former spouse.

Any document not in English needs a translation by a NAATI-certified translator, shown with the original.

Shortening of time

If your date is less than a month after your notice, you can apply for a shortening of time. Your celebrant can’t grant it. A prescribed authority decides, usually an officer at your state’s registry or a local court.

It’s granted only on set grounds, listed in the Marriage Regulations 2017:

Employment-related or other travel commitments
Wedding or celebration arrangements, or religious considerations
Medical reasons
Legal proceedings
An error in giving notice

You need evidence that your situation fits one of them. The authority has no discretion outside these grounds, and approval isn’t automatic.

The separate meetings rule

Since 12 June 2024, every authorised celebrant has to meet each of you separately, in person, before they marry you. It applies to civil celebrants, ministers of religion and registry officers alike. The purpose is to confirm that each of you consents freely.

Separately doesn’t mean alone: someone else can be there with each of you, with your permission, except the person you’re marrying. The meeting can’t be done by video.

What must happen on the day

Beyond the legal minimum, the ceremony is yours to shape with whoever leads it.

The legal minimum

You’re both there in person. Australia has no marriage by video call and no marriage by proxy. The two of you, your celebrant and two witnesses all have to be physically present together.
Two witnesses over 18. They have to be there for the whole ceremony, not just the signing.
The set words. Before your vows, a civil celebrant has to say, in front of your witnesses, that they’re authorised to marry you, and remind you of the nature of marriage under Australian law: a voluntary union of two people, to the exclusion of all others, for life. A minister of a recognised denomination marries you in their own form instead.
The legal vows. In a civil ceremony, each of you declares to the other, by name, that you take them as your lawful husband, wife or spouse, and asks the people there to witness it, in front of the celebrant and your witnesses. The wording can be varied slightly, but its substance can’t. Anything you add, such as your own vows, goes alongside it.
An interpreter, if needed. If any of you, either witness or the celebrant doesn’t understand the language of the ceremony, the celebrant can use an interpreter, who gives a statutory declaration first.

The declaration

Before the ceremony, each of you signs a declaration of no legal impediment to marriage, saying you’re free to marry and believe there’s no legal reason you can’t. It’s signed in front of your celebrant, on the day or close to it.

The three certificates

After the vows, the two of you, your celebrant and both witnesses sign three documents:

Document	Who keeps it
The marriage register	Your celebrant
The official certificate of marriage	Your celebrant lodges it with your state’s registry
The commemorative certificate (Form 15)	You, on the day

The certificate you take home isn’t proof of marriage. It’s a keepsake. Check every name and detail on all three before you sign.

When you sign

The documents are signed straight after the vows, on the day, by everyone above. When and where is up to you:

During the ceremony. At a table in front of everyone, as a moment of its own, often with a song playing.
Just after it. At a table close by and a little out of the way, while guests start mingling.
On another day. You marry legally at a separate legal ceremony, and the day you celebrate has no paperwork in it.

Legal-only ceremonies, and marrying on a different day

A legal-only ceremony is the legal minimum and nothing else: the set words, your legal vows and the signing, with your celebrant and two witnesses. It takes about five minutes. Registries offer them where they run ceremonies, and many celebrants offer a legals-only service.

Couples use them to:

Marry legally before or after the day they celebrate.
Have a friend or family member lead the celebration.
Keep the legal part private, with only their witnesses there.

Everything else still applies: the notice a month ahead, the separate meetings and two witnesses over 18. Your marriage certificate shows the date of the legal ceremony, not the day you celebrate.

Registry ceremonies by state

State or territory	Registry ceremonies
NSW	Yes
Victoria	Yes
Queensland	Yes, at the Brisbane Registry
Western Australia	Yes, weekdays only
South Australia	Yes, weekdays only
Northern Territory	Yes, weekdays only
Tasmania	No: you marry with a celebrant
ACT	No: you marry with a celebrant

Registry ceremonies are civil, slots run 15 to 30 minutes, and some registries book out up to a year ahead. Room sizes set your guest numbers.

After the day

Lodgement

Your celebrant sends the official certificate of marriage, your notice, your declarations and any supporting documents to the registry of births, deaths and marriages in the state or territory where you married, within 14 days. The registry then registers your marriage.

The official certificate

The official marriage certificate comes from that registry once your marriage is registered, and you usually order it separately. There’s no national certificate: you order from the registry of the state where you married, wherever you live now.

State or territory	Order from
NSW	NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, online through Service NSW, in person at a Service NSW centre, or by post
Victoria	Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria, online, or by mail or in person
Queensland	Queensland Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, online, by post, or in person at a Magistrates Court, QGAP office or the Brisbane Registry
Western Australia	WA Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, online, in person in Perth or at a court location, or by post
South Australia	Consumer and Business Services (Births, Deaths and Marriages), by post or at a Service SA centre
Tasmania	Births, Deaths and Marriages Tasmania
ACT	Access Canberra
Northern Territory	NT Births, Deaths and Marriages, online or by other methods

Processing times vary by state and by the service level you choose.

Changing your name

Neither of you has to change your name. If one of you takes the other’s surname, you don’t need to register a change of name: the official marriage certificate from the registry is the proof most agencies accept. The commemorative certificate from the day isn’t. The usual order is driver licence first, then passport, then everything else, as the passport office may ask for the updated licence.

A surname that isn’t simply one of your existing surnames may need a registered change of name. Check with your state’s registry.

Marrying overseas

A marriage made overseas can’t be registered in Australia, but it’s generally recognised here if it was valid where it took place and would be valid under Australian law: both of you at least 18, neither married to anyone else, and not closely related.

Some countries ask for a Certificate of No Impediment to Marriage, issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to show you’re free to marry. Ask the authority in the country you’re marrying in whether they need one, and whether it needs an apostille. Keep the official marriage documents from that country, with NAATI translations if they aren’t in English.

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Australia since 9 December 2017. The process is the same for every couple: the same notice, meetings, witnesses, words and certificates. The legal vows let each of you use husband, wife or spouse. Same-sex marriages made legally overseas are recognised here, including those made before December 2017.

A minister of religion, or a registered religious marriage celebrant, can decline to marry a couple. A civil celebrant who isn’t registered as a religious marriage celebrant can’t decline on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation or relationship status.