Wedding Legal FAQs in Australia for Couples and Celebrants

If you want to get married in Australia, the law is not trying to ruin your day. It is just quietly sitting in the corner saying, “Please do these few things properly so your marriage is valid.”

The official source is the Marriage Act 1961 and the Attorney-General’s Department’s Get married page. This guide is my plain-English version as a Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant.

Last reviewed: 2 July 2026.

The short version

To get legally married in Australia, you need to:

be legally free to marry
give a Notice of Intended Marriage to an authorised celebrant at least one month and no more than 18 months before the wedding
prove your identity, date and place of birth, and the end of any previous marriage
be married by an authorised marriage celebrant
have the celebrant, both parties, and two adult witnesses physically present for the ceremony
hear the celebrant’s legal words, say the minimum legal vows, and sign the marriage certificates

That is the skeleton. The actual ceremony can still feel warm, personal, funny, sacred, weird, elegant, or whatever else is true to you.

Who can get married in Australia?

You can generally marry in Australia if you:

are not already married
are not marrying a close prohibited relative, like a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, sibling, half-sibling, or adopted sibling
are at least 18, unless a court has approved a marriage where one person is 16 or 17
understand what marriage means and freely agree to marry
use the required legal words in the ceremony
give the required notice to an authorised celebrant

You do not have to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident to marry in Australia. If you are planning to live in Australia after the wedding, that is a visa question, not a celebrant question.

You need an authorised celebrant

For the marriage to be legal, it must be solemnised by or in the presence of an authorised celebrant. In normal civil wedding language, that means a Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant like me.

There are different types of authorised celebrants in Australia, including Commonwealth-registered civil celebrants, Commonwealth-registered religious celebrants, ministers of recognised denominations, and state or territory officers. The official register is managed by the Attorney-General’s Department, and you can check a celebrant’s authorisation here.

Your friend can absolutely read a poem, tell a story, MC part of the ceremony, or stand beside you. They cannot legally marry you unless they are authorised. The celebrant is the person responsible for making sure the marriage is valid.

The Notice of Intended Marriage

The Notice of Intended Marriage, or NOIM, is the form that starts the legal clock.

Your celebrant must receive it:

at least one month before the wedding
no more than 18 months before the wedding

If there is less than one month before your wedding, you need a shortening of time from a prescribed authority. The five general categories are employment or travel commitments, wedding or celebration arrangements, medical reasons, legal proceedings, or an error in giving notice. It is not a “my celebrant seems chill” exemption.

Can the NOIM be witnessed over video?

Yes. One of the June 12, 2024 changes to the Marriage Act gave couples the option to have the NOIM witnessed remotely by audio-visual link.

That means the paperwork can often be handled over a video call. I have a full guide here: Do your NOIM over a video call?

But the wedding itself cannot be fully online. The celebrant, both people getting married, and two witnesses must be physically present together when the marriage is solemnised.

What documents will your celebrant need?

Before the wedding, your celebrant needs to be satisfied about identity and eligibility.

Usually that means:

evidence of your date and place of birth, such as a birth certificate or passport
photo identity, such as a passport or driver licence
evidence that any previous marriage has ended, such as a divorce order or death certificate
a signed declaration that you believe there is no legal impediment to the marriage

Names matter. The name on the NOIM and marriage certificates should line up with the documents that establish your identity. If your name history is complicated, talk to your celebrant early.

Separate in-person meetings

Another June 12, 2024 change is that an authorised celebrant must meet separately and in person with each party before the marriage is solemnised.

That meeting exists for a serious reason: the celebrant needs to be satisfied that each person is freely consenting to the marriage. It is not just admin. It is one of the ways Australian law guards against forced marriage.

The legal words in the ceremony

In a civil ceremony, the celebrant must say the legal explanation of marriage, often called the Monitum. Then each person must say the required legal vow to the other.

The famous “I do” is not the bit that legally marries you in Australia. The required vow is the important bit. Your personal vows can be beautiful and wild and poetic, but they sit around the legal vow rather than replacing it.

I unpack this properly here: Minimum legal marriage vows

Do you need witnesses?

Yes. You need two witnesses who are, or appear to the celebrant to be, over 18.

They do not have to be Australian citizens. They do not have to be family. They just need to be physically present, witness the ceremony, and sign the certificates.

What gets signed on the day?

On the wedding day, three marriage certificates are signed by:

both people getting married
the celebrant
the two witnesses

The celebrant gives you the ceremonial certificate on the day. That certificate is beautiful and important, but for many official life-admin tasks, such as changing your name, you will usually need the official marriage certificate from the state or territory registry of births, deaths and marriages.

Start here after the wedding: What to do after your wedding and How to change your name after marriage.

Can you get married anywhere in Australia?

Yes. The Marriage Act allows a marriage to be solemnised on any day, at any time, and at any place, as long as the legal requirements are met.

Beach, backyard, restaurant, registry office style, Tasmania, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, or your parents’ farm. The law is more interested in valid consent, notice, authorised celebrant, legal words, witnesses, and paperwork than whether the chairs match.

What if someone objects?

Movie objections are mostly nonsense.

If someone raises a real legal impediment, the celebrant has to pause and deal with it. Examples might include one person already being married, a prohibited relationship, lack of real consent, or a serious issue with identity.

If the objection is just “I do not approve”, that is not a legal reason to stop the marriage.

The useful legal links

Official sources

Your celebrant should be across this stuff so you do not have to become a marriage lawyer just to get married. But knowing the shape of it helps you plan calmly, ask better questions, and avoid last-minute paperwork drama.