Getting Married in Less Than a Month? Here's How the Shortening of Time Works

Most couples I marry have given me their Notice of Intended Marriage, the NOIM at least a month before their wedding day. That’s the law in Australia—you need to give me, your celebrant, at least one month’s notice before you can legally marry.

But sometimes life throws you a curveball. Your partner gets posted overseas for work, someone’s seriously ill, or you’ve already booked the venue and sent the invitations before realising you haven’t sorted the legal paperwork.

If you find yourself in this situation, you might be able to get what’s called a “shortening of time”—basically permission from the government to marry with less than a month’s notice.

When You Can Apply for a Shortening of Time

The federal government has set out five specific circumstances in two pieces of legislation:

• the Marriage Act of 1961, and
• the Marriage Regulations 2017,

on where you might be granted a shortening of time.

These aren’t suggestions—they’re the only circumstances where it can even be considered, there’s no vibes or feelings going on here, just laws.

These reasons are described in the marriage regulations law here.

✈️ Employment-related or travel commitments

Your partner’s being posted overseas for work, or you’re both relocating and the timing’s tight. This is about genuine employment situations where the timing can’t be shifted.

💒 Wedding or celebration arrangements, or religious considerations

You’ve already booked the venue, sent invitations, or there are specific religious dates that matter. The key here is that you need to show you’d already committed to these arrangements before realising the notice period was an issue. They’ll need invoices and contracts, lots of evidence.

🩺 Medical reasons

Someone’s seriously ill, or there’s a medical situation that makes waiting impractical. You’ll need a letter from a doctor for this one. And that person will need to be close to one of you, and be expected to pass in less than a month.

👮🏼 Legal proceedings

There are legal matters where being married affects the outcome or timing. This usually means someone’s going to jail, but even then you can marry in jail. To be honest I’ve not personally witnessed this reason be successfully used.

😢 An error in giving notice

This one’s important: it only covers errors made by the celebrant, not the couple. If your celebrant stuffed up explaining the notice requirements, or if they lost your paperwork, that counts. If you just forgot to submit it on time, that doesn’t.

I did this once about eight years ago when my cloud storage lost my NOIMs folder. I had to make a statutory declaration about it all.

How to Apply

Here’s what you actually need to do:

1. Complete your NOIM with me first. You need to fill out all the paperwork properly before you can apply for shortening of time. We can do this over a video call if you’re in australia too.

2. Gather your evidence. Depending on why you’re applying:

   • Medical reasons: Letter from your GP or specialist
   • Employment relocation: Letter from your employer showing when you were told about the move (not when you’re moving—when you found out)
   • Wedding arrangements: Receipts for deposits, venue bookings, invitations (with dates showing when you committed to them)
   • Travel: Flight bookings, visa requirements, itineraries

3. Find your nearest prescribed authority. These are specific people authorised to grant shortenings of time. There’s a list on the Attorney-General’s Department website here.

4. Book an appointment. Ring them first—ask if they charge a fee (some do) and what you need to bring.

5. Take your NOIM and evidence to the appointment. The prescribed authority will review everything and decide whether your situation fits one of the five categories above.

What Happens at the Appointment

The prescribed authority will look at your situation and decide whether it’s genuinely exceptional enough to warrant shortening the time. They have no discretion to approve applications that don’t fit the five circumstances—even if your reason sounds reasonable, if it doesn’t fit the categories, they can’t approve it.

If they approve it, they’ll write a note on page five of your NOIM, sign it, add their title, and date it. You then take that back to me (or your celebrant) and you’re good to go instantly. You could marry that afternoon.

The approval isn’t automatic. These people take their jobs seriously because the one-month notice period exists for good reasons—it’s there to prevent rushed decisions and ensure both people genuinely want to marry.

What Won’t Work

A few things I’ve seen that don’t qualify:

• “We just really want to get married sooner”—Not one of the five circumstances
• “We didn’t realise there was a waiting period”—That’s not an error on the celebrant’s part
• “It would be more convenient”—Convenience alone isn’t enough
• “We’ve been together for years”—Lovely, but not one of the qualifying reasons
• “Our visa is expiring”—If you’re in Australia already your visa situation is very very different to your marriage situation. Marriage does not grant citizenship or a right to stay in Australia.

The Practical Reality

Most prescribed authorities are pretty reasonable. If you’ve got genuine circumstances that fit one of those five categories and you can prove it, you’ll likely get approved. But you need actual evidence—don’t just turn up with a story.

The medical reasons one gets used fairly often for terminal illnesses or serious health situations. The employment one works well if you can show a sudden posting or relocation that wasn’t in your control. The wedding arrangements one requires proof you’d committed money and made bookings before you realised you needed a shortening of time.

My Role as Your Celebrant

If you come to me asking about shortening of time, here’s what I’ll do:

1. Make sure your NOIM is completed properly
2. Explain the five circumstances and whether I think your situation fits
3. Point you to the nearest prescribed authority
4. Give you the NOIM to take to your appointment (this is the only time you get to carry your own NOIM around)
5. Wait for you to bring back the approved NOIM before we proceed with your wedding

I can’t grant the shortening of time myself—that’s not my job. And I can’t give you legal advice about whether you’ll definitely get approved. But I can make sure the paperwork’s right and point you in the right direction.

If you’re in a genuine bind and need to marry in less than a month, shortening of time exists for exactly this reason. But it’s not a loophole to skip the waiting period just because you feel like it. You need to fit one of those five specific circumstances, and you need to prove it.

If you’re not sure whether your situation qualifies, get in touch. I’ll tell you straight whether I think you’ve got a case or whether you’re better off just waiting the month.

And honestly? If you can wait the month, wait the month. It’s less stress, less running around, and you know everything’s sorted properly.