That’s you.

The licence is valid for 3 months, and you must have it more than 3 working days before your wedding.

• Only one of you needs to complete the application but both of your information must be on it.
• One of you must sign it personally before a Registrar of Marriages and make the required statutory declaration.
• It must include your celebrants full name, the venue details and back-up venue details

You can find the form online. Either the ‘Notice of Intended Marriage‘ (BDM60) or the ‘Notice of Intended Civil Union’ (BDM360)

The licence is $150

Nope. The license is the document that needs to be signed and lodged to make your marriage legal. The marriage certificate is an official record of your marriage. It’s $33 + shipping and can be ordered here.

Legally yes. Your celebrant has been appointed by the Registrar-General to perform legal weddings.

Technically no. However, if Uncle David is that important to you, we can discuss how he can be further involved in the ceremony (and I can perform the legal bits).

You will receive two copies issued by the Department of Internal Affairs. It is incredibly important you do not lose or damage these documents.

You need to give me (or your celebrant) the licence. I will check all the information is correct. I will bring them to the ceremony to be signed.

After the ceremony I will return one copy to the department of Births, Deaths and Marriages and give the other copy to you.

There’s 3 main ‘must haves’ to make it a legal marriage.

I must say your full names as they appear on the certificate. Once your full names have been used then your nickname can be used through the ceremonyEach partner must say “I Person A, take you Person B to be my legal wife/husband/partner”. In a civil union each partner must say “I Person A acknowledge that I am freely joining in a civil union with you Person B”

The wedding licence is signed by the couple, the celebrant and 2 witnesses.

They absolutely can! Anyone can be a witness as long as they understand what they are signing. We can also have a bit of fun with the signing of the paperwork, we can even hand out raffle tickets!

Not at all. You could choose to get matching tattoos. Or do a full Prince William and don’t wear a ring at all!

I don’t mind what you want to do on your wedding day. It’s your day. I even had a bride dress up as a T-Rex. I’ll work with you to make sure the legal parts are covered off, and we can have fun through the rest of the ceremony!

I’m super lucky that I get to work with some incredible vendors in Nelson. I’ve put together a full list you can see here. 

I have a handy guide right here! It’s actually pretty easy!