Can you drink alcohol before your wedding ceremony?

I recently met with Stefan and Sarah who wanted to assure me that they wouldn’t drink before their wedding ceremony because another marriage celebrant at a different wedding had told all of those bridesmaids and bride at a different wedding that they weren’t allowed to have any alcohol in their system at the marriage system. This is bullocks.

The truth

Two people being married in Australia must be consenting and willing. That’s it. Nothing in the law says anything about a BAC or alcohol directly.

Under section 23B of the Marriage Act a person’s consent to a marriage is not accepted if one of them is incapable of understanding the nature and effect of the marriage ceremony. If the consent is obtained by duress or fraud, or one of the parties is mistaken as to the identity of the other party, or the nature of the ceremony performed, then I simply can’t marry them - and if I did I’ be in BIG TROUBLE and the marriage could be found invalid.

The Marriage Act Guidelines tells me:

Celebrants should be aware that issues of consent can arise at any time prior to the conclusion of the marriage ceremony. It is vital that a celebrant is satisfied that both parties genuinely consent to the marriage. If at any point a celebrant is unsure of the genuine consent of either party they should not proceed with solemnising the marriage.

And it goes on to say:

consent issues that arise on the day of the marriage ceremony can include, for example, duress or a party to the marriage who is drunk, intoxicated, under the influence of drugs, or otherwise appears to be in an altered mental state to an extent that this could impair their ability to consent to the marriage.

And it clarifies:

if alcohol or drugs are involved, the party should be displaying a reasonable level of comprehension or understanding of the nature and effect of marriage. A person who has had an alcoholic drink prior to the ceremony but is not inebriated is most likely to be able to be in a position to consent to the marriage. However, a person who is intoxicated is unlikely to be in a position to form the necessary understanding of the nature and effect of marriage.

So you can have a drink before your wedding ceremony, but if you’re in a state where you are unable to give your consent then you’re not getting married under my watch, or that of any authorised and law-abiding celebrant who doesn’t want to end up in jail.

What happens if we’re drunk?

If a party to the marriage ceremony is not able to give consent willingly, aka they are legless, blind drunk, then two things can happen:

1. The ceremony cannot go ahead as planned and all hell breaks loose and you end up in the news
2. We do the ceremony without the legal marriage bits, and a day or two later we get together and complete a marriage ceremony within the confines of the law. That way the day and it’s celebrations aren’t ruined.

So in conclusion, have a drink or two, but don’t arrive drunk to your marriage ceremony, your partner deserves better than that.