The wedding landscape has changed a little in the last year or so, with many couples tying the knot with a fuss-free Legals Only Melbourne Wedding Ceremony.
With the re-imagining of weddings in this time, this celebrant in Melbourne is conducting more ‘Legals Only’ wedding ceremonies. It’s an easy and simple way to marry the one you love, without all the fanfare. In only a couple of minutes, all the necessary aspects of conducting the wedding ceremony by your marriage celebrant are completed and you skip away as a married couple.
So, what does a Legals Only Melbourne wedding ceremony entail?
Before Your Legals Only Melbourne Wedding Ceremony
At least one month prior to your wedding date you need to fill in, sign and get witnessed the Notice of Intended Marriage and lodge it with your celebrant. A witness can be a celebrant, police officer, doctor, lawyer, or Justice of the Peace. The NOIM can be accessed here:
https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-08/notice-of-intended-marriage.PDF
This means you can legally marry the one you love. You will also need to provide your celebrant with the relevant identification such as passport or birth certificate and drivers licence and divorce evidence if applicable. These documents can be sent through digitally to your celebrant (thankfully, no more hard copies required!). Prior to the ceremony, you will also need to sign a Declaration of No Legal Impediment to Marriage (effectively confirming that all the details about you are correct!)
The Wedding Day
On the day of the signing, you will need two witnesses who are 18 years of age or over. You can supply the witnesses, or I can supply them for you. Let the ceremony begin!
My main part of the ceremony is the Monitum from the Marriage Act of Australia.
I introduce myself and my full name and state, “I am duly authorised by law to solemnise marriages according to law,” and I introduce your full names (or you can also do this during the vows).
“Before you are joined in marriage in my presence and in the presence of these witnesses, I am to remind you of the solemn and binding nature of the relationship into which you are now about to enter. Marriage, according to the law in Australia, is the union of two people to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.”
You also need to recite or repeat after me the legal component of wedding vows:
I ask everyone here present, to witness that I, Name, take you, Name
to be my wedded wife/ husband / wife / spouse / partner in marriage.
(Please note, you can also say lawful or lawful wedded if you wish, but I suggest wedded. If you have seen Rowan Atkinson’s skit, you will know what I mean!).
I declare you newlyweds! And then, you sign, the witnesses sign and I seal the deal. That’s it, you are officially married! Congrats. You get to take home a decorative certificate (which isn’t worth a pinch of salt legally, but very pretty to look at!) whilst I send in your documents to Births, Deaths and Marriages for you to receive your official certificate. Be prepared, this takes time to receive in your snail-mail box. You’re looking at anywhere from 4-8 weeks for it to arrive. This is the certificate to use to change your name.
Check out the Pricing here:
https://melbournecelebrantjulie.com.au/legals-only/
If you would like to add in your own personal vows, ring exchange and a couple of more guests, the Elope package might be better for you:
https://melbournecelebrantjulie.com.au/elope/
Where can you hold a Legals Only Ceremony?
You can have your Legals Only Ceremony anywhere. Many couples have come to my home office in Mt Evelyn and headed out to a Yarra Valley Winery with their witnesses for a lunch. You can choose your house or that of a friend, a local park, the beach, a place with a special meaning, hire accommodation, your fave restaurant or wherever you like.
What can you wear?
Anything! Being a smaller wedding, you have a lot more flexibility with your outfits. Some couples still dress in wedding attire or formal wear before they head out to celebrate or a smart casual look. For others, it’s shorts and a t-shirt at home with a couple of beers and a wine or rocking up to my place in jeans and a jumper with 2 members of my family witnesses. You can wear what you like, as long as you let me know so I don’t turn up to your place in a formal dress and you’re in thongs and boardies!
There you have it, how easy it is to get the paperwork signed and, boom, you’re married.
So, what are you waiting for? Want to talk to me about your wedding?
Contact me here: https://melbournecelebrantjulie.com.au/contact/
