What you need to know when planning your ceremony.
Here are a few things you need to know when arranging to get married.
First things first: Get a marriage certificate.
Before you get married, you need to apply for a marriage licence. This confirms it’s legal for you to marry. A marriage license costs $150. What you need to know:
- You need to arrange your licence at least 3 working days before you get married.
- It expires after 3 months.
- Only one of you needs to complete the application, but you need information about both of you.
- You need to give your celebrant 2 copies of the ‘Copy of Particulars of Marriage’ or ‘Copy of Particulars of Civil Union’. You must also show the marriage licence to your celebrant before they marry you. Note: This isn’t the same as the marriage license.
Apply for your marriage license here.
What do you need to know when applying for your marriage cert? Decide what type of ceremony are you planning and where.
A registry ceremony:
This is limited to 20 guests, and you must check with the celebrant.
Cost:
- $150 for the licence (as arranged by you), and
- $90 for the ceremony — this is a set fee and is paid to the celebrant on the day of the ceremony.
- Note: The ceremony must take place Monday – Friday 8.30 am – 5.00 pm – Please check with me on availability as I am seldom available these hours, but you never know your luck.
- It will be performed with standard vows.
- Your ceremony has to be with a registry celebrant at an agreed-on location.
- You must have two witnesses to sign the wedding certificate.
A personalised ceremony:
Cost:
- $150 for the licence (as arranged by you), and
- the amount the celebrant charges for the ceremony — I charge my own fees – please request a quote.
- It can be performed with standard or bespoke vows.
- Your ceremony can be anywhere you agree with your celebrant.
- You must have two witnesses to sign the wedding certificate.
You can be your witnesses.
Your 2 witnesses must understand what’s happening during the ceremony. They must be able to clearly identify both of you and be satisfied you both consent to the marriage.
They:
- don’t need to have known you for any specific length of time and
- can be children of any age, as long as they understand the nature of the ceremony and are able to demonstrate that understanding in court if required.
If the witnesses speak a different language to you, you’ll need an interpreter. The interpreter has to sign a declaration before the ceremony to say they’ll interpret what you say accurately. Find that declaration here.
Vows:
Depending on the ceremony you choose you to have, there is a choice of vows.
Your vows must meet the requirements for a marriage or civil union.
In a marriage ceremony, couples can write their own vows as long as they say “I [name] take you [partner’s name], to be my legal [wife/husband/partner]”, or something similar, to each other at some point in the ceremony.
Here is an example of standard vows.
In a civil union ceremony, the couple must make a statement to each other that names both people and acknowledges they are freely joining in a civil union with each other.
Here is an example of Civil Union vows.
I am an experienced copywriter so am well versed to assist you with writing your vows – have a chat with me if you need a few tips or just a friendly chat on what will work. I am absolutely happy to help.
After your vows.
You both sign the “Copy of particulars of marriage” with your pre-marriage names
Your witnesses sign the same document.
Your celebrant will give you one “Copy of particulars of marriage” and use the other copy to register your marriage with the NZ government.