What does a Marriage Celebrant do?
A Marriage Celebrant, as a qualified trained and professional person, is authorised to conduct your marriage ceremony in a manner that meets the legal requirements. This includes a range of matters – such as ensuring that your ceremony contains certain mandatory words; the correct completion of your Notice of Intended Marriage (NIM) and all other marriage documents; and the lodging of your marriage documents with the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages – is done in such a way that they comply with the Marriage Act 1961. Apart from ensuring that your ceremony contains the things that makes it legal, your Marriage Celebrant will also assist you in personalising your ceremony and, to this end, will offer some choices as to what you may like to consider for inclusion in your ceremony. Your Marriage Celebrant can also offer you a range of resources to assist you in this process. This is not to say that you cannot write your own vows and indeed, if you would prefer to write your own cer
It is the Marriage Celebrant’s job to ensure all legal requirements for marriage are met; to lodge all marriage documents; to inform couples about marriage education; to assist in the planning and design of wedding ceremonies; to officiate at the ceremony and to solemnise the marriage by identifying themselves; stating compulsory wording in Section 46 (1) of the Marriage Act and witnessing the couple’s vows. A Marriage Celebrant is appointed by the Commonwealth’s Attorney-General’s department in Canberra and is required law to undertake five hours of ongoing professional development (OPD) annually. Marriage Celebrants must adhere to a strict Code of Practice (Regulation 37L).
