Before getting married

Before you get married, you need to:

• organise an authorised marriage celebrant to conduct your marriage ceremony
• give notice of your intent to marry
• produce evidence of your identity to the marriage celebrant
• produce evidence of your eligibility to marry to the marriage celebrant
• be of marriageable age.

Authorised celebrant

An authorised celebrant is required to conduct a marriage. If you are not marrying at our registry office, check the Australian Government - Attorney-General's Department - List of all Authorised Marriage Celebrants for all religious and civil celebrants.

Notice of intended marriage

You must complete a Notice of Intended Marriage (PDF, 79.4 KB) and both sign it in the presence of a qualified witness, which is defined on the form.

You must lodge the notice with your celebrant, a minimum of one month prior to the date you wish to get married. For example, if you lodged the notice on 25 June, the earliest date you could get married would be 25 July. The notice is valid for 18 months from the date it is lodged.

If you are getting married at our Brisbane marriage room, you must lodge the notice directly with our registry.

Documents you will require

To comply with all of the legal requirements of the Notice of Intended Marriage, your celebrant must sight the following documents:

• evidence of the date and place of birth (birth certificate) of both partners (for people born outside Australia, a current passport is also required)
• evidence of any previous divorce or death of any previous spouse, if applicable (e.g. divorce papers, death certificate).

Originals of these documents must be presented. Photocopies will not be accepted. If a document is not in English, an official translation, in addition to the original, is required. For translating services, contact the Australian Government - Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) - Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) .

Marriageable age

You can get married if you are 18 years or older.

There are however provisions permitting a marriage to occur if one partner is 16 or 17 years old. If you or your partner is 16 or 17 you should contact us for advice on the documentation and permissions required for the marriage to occur.

The ceremony

Two witnesses over the age of 18 must be present at the marriage ceremony.

If either partner can’t speak English, you will need to have an interpreter present at the ceremony. The interpreter must sign a statutory declaration to certify their faithful performance in the role. For interpreting services, contact the Australian Government - Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) - Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS) .

If you are getting married overseas, you may need to provide proof that you are not currently married in Queensland.