THINGS TO CONSIDER
THE CEREMONY
I will provide you with some sample ceremonies prior to the wedding so you can choose your preferred type of ceremony.
The ceremonies are sample only. You can cut and paste , join a few together, change the words, or throw the lot in the bin and get one from somewhere else. It’s your wedding, your big day, I’ll do whatever you like as your Cairns marriage celebrant.
The most important part of the wedding ceremony are the vows. There are some legal requirements in the vows, however the rest is entirely up to your imagination and preferences.
THE LOCATION
Under Australian law, you can be married by a Civil Marriage Celebrant anywhere within the Commonwealth of Australia, which means you can marry in a park, on a beach, in a chapel, in a Hot Air Balloon, or under the water. The only place Civil Marriage Celebrants do no perform weddings is in recognized churches. We leave that to the priests.
Tropical North Queensland has a wide variety of beautiful places to get married, including beaches, rainforests, chapels, coral atolls, parks, gardens, wherever you want. Some places do require bookings and a fee is payable.
THE PAPERWORK
As a wedding celebrant in Cairns, and before I can marry anyone in Australia, I must receive a Notice of Intended Marriage form. The “Notice of Intended Marriage” form needs to be filled in, signed and witnessed by either a J.P, Marriage Celebrant, Solicitor, Doctor or Police Officer if you are in Australia. If you are overseas, it must be signed in front of, and witnessed by, either an Australian Consular Official or a Notary Public. The form can be downloaded from the web at www.ag.gov.au. The form must be back in my hands at least 1 month before the wedding.
l would also need to sight your “original” Birth Certificates and if you’ve been married previously, your “original” divorce papers. If you are coming from overseas to get married in Australia, you will also need to show your passport.
It’s best if you could post, fax, or email me a photocopy of the Birth Certificates, Passports and Divorce papers before the wedding, and then bring the originals with you when you travel to North Queensland.