Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM): How to Lodge It in Australia
What the Notice of Intended Marriage is, when to raise it with your celebrant, the ID questions to ask and the mistakes to avoid, explained simply.
In short
Before you can legally marry in Australia, you need to lodge a Notice of Intended Marriage — usually called the NOIM — with your celebrant (still looking for one? See how to choose a wedding celebrant). It's the most important piece of wedding paperwork, and there's a set window for when it has to reach your celebrant, so it pays to start the conversation early.
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General guide only. This isn't legal advice, and the rules can change. Check the details with your celebrant, and read the Attorney-General's Department's Notice of Intended Marriage page and Get married page. For your marriage certificate, check with the Births, Deaths and Marriages registry in your state or territory.
When to lodge your NOIM
The Marriage Act sets both an earliest and a latest date for your celebrant to receive your NOIM, counted back from your wedding day. Ask your celebrant for both dates as soon as you book them, and write them down.
If your notice arrives too late, your wedding can't legally go ahead on that date unless a prescribed authority agrees to shorten the time, and that's only allowed in limited circumstances. Most couples sort out their NOIM when they book their celebrant, which leaves plenty of room.
Who can witness your NOIM
You both sign the NOIM in front of an authorised witness. Ask your celebrant who can witness it for you. If one of you is overseas when you sign, ask about the options for that too: they're different.
What to ask about documents
Your celebrant needs to see evidence of who you both are before your wedding. Questions worth asking at your first meeting:
- Which documents do you need to see as evidence of our birth and identity?
- Do you need originals, or will certified copies do?
- One of us has been married before. What do you need to see about how that marriage ended?
- Our names differ across our documents. What should we do about it?
Ask early, so there's time to order anything you're missing from your state or territory's registry.
After you lodge it
Your celebrant keeps the NOIM and walks you through the rest of the legal steps, including the paperwork you sign before and on the day and who can act as your witnesses. After the ceremony your celebrant registers the marriage with your state or territory's Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, and you can then apply to that registry for your official marriage certificate. If you're working out what the whole day will cost, including the celebrant's fee, see the average wedding cost in Australia.
Common mistakes
- Leaving it too late. Ask your celebrant for your NOIM due date the day you book them, and put it in your calendar. Our month-by-month planning checklist shows where it falls among everything else.
- Guessing at documents. Ask what your celebrant needs to see rather than assuming a photocopy or a photo on your phone will do.
- Name mismatches. Sort out differences between your documents early.
Keep track of it
Add your wedding date to Online Wedding Invitation and your checklist includes a reminder to ask your celebrant about your NOIM, timed to your date.
Quick questions
What is a NOIM?
The Notice of Intended Marriage is the form you both sign and give your celebrant before you can legally marry in Australia. It has to reach them within a window set by the Marriage Act.
Who can witness our NOIM?
An authorised witness. Ask your celebrant who that can be for you, and ask about the different options if one of you is overseas when you sign.
What if the NOIM is late?
The wedding can't legally go ahead on that date unless a prescribed authority shortens the time, which is only allowed in limited circumstances. Ask for your dates the day you book your celebrant.