Getting married in Aotearoa New Zealand
You asked, and we listened. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to legally get married in New Zealand.
Note: this is the legal process. All the other bits and bobs (nice venue, fancy dress, flowers and a swish hair do) are optional extras that can be added at any point.
They have to be consenting adults over 18 and can’t already be married or be a close relative to you. Sounds easy, right?
We can’t really help you too much with this step but we highly recommond such hunting grounds as Tinder, your workplace, university or mutual friends’ parties.
Here’s a list of the people you can’t marry
Aotearoa New Zealand has over 3000 Independent Celebrants throughout the motu, and we know for sure that there is a celebrant out there for every couple, and a couple out there for every celebrant.
You can search celebrants in your area through Celebrants Online or search through celebrant networks like The Celebrant Guide and vendor networks like Slay My Day.
Contact a few celebrants that you like the look of, chat with them and pick one that aligns with your vibe, your budget and whatever else you fancy.
In New Zealand there are two main types of wedding ceremonies - personalised and registry.
Personalised Ceremony
This is the most common type of wedding is a personalised ceremony - you pay for the marriage licence ($150) and then the fee for your celebrant is set by the celebrant themselves (and varies depending on a multitude of factors). The rules for this type of ceremony are pretty open and you work with your celebrant to create a ceremony for you.
Note: some celebrants so offer registry “style” ceremonies, these are perfectly legit and are not to be confused with “registry ceremonies” (see next point for info). If your celebrant is offering a simple ceremony, or registry style, or words to that effect, you will still apply for a personalised ceremony.
Registry Ceremony
These are in place of the old “court house” weddings from the 1900s (jk, they ended in New Zealand in about 2019). Only sone celebrants can conduct Registry Ceremonies, and these ceremonies have strict criteria including what can and cannot be said, who can be present and what days/times of the day your ceremony can take place - you can read more about the criteria here
Registry ceremonies cost $90 + $150 for the licence.
You can apply for your licence here not more than three months before your wedding day, and not less than three (business) days before. Hint: we suggest a great time to apply is about 4-6 weeks before your wedding, so you have some fallback room should you have to postpone your wedding for some reason.
If you are getting married between Christmas Day and the middle of January, we highly recommend you ensure that your licence is applied for well in advance so as not to get inadvertently tangled in the BDM shut down period over Christmas and New Years.
The licence application is entirely online (with some exceptions: see below) and you will be asked to select, from a drop-down menu, the name of your celebrant. Once you’ve completed the rest of the form, you will be asked if you want to receive the marriage licence or if you would like it to go to your celebrant. Note: you do not need to know your celebrant’s email for this, as they will cross reference it for you. Simply select either “myself” or “my celebrant”.
You will also get the option of an additional Marriage Certificate - this is separate to the paperwork that you will send on the day, it is proof that your marriage is registered and will be sent out to you once the ceremony has taken place (in hard copy). This costs $33 and is highly recommended as proof of your marriage.
International couples:
These rules and processes are exactly the same regardless of whether you live in New Zealand or not. Couples residing overseas (irrespective of whether you are a New Zealand citizen or not) can apply in the same way as couples living here, with the same online application form.
You can also have your Marriage Certificate posted to your home overseas after your wedding (though expect this to take a few weeks to get to you).
As long as you’re over 18, consenting and not directly related or already married, you can get married here!
And yes, your marriage is recognised all over the world, so you don’t have to also get married when you return to your home country. Simply contact your local authorities to find out what information they need in order to recognise your marriage.
when to use a paper application form:
You will need to use a paper application form (i.e. not online) if:
Either of you are 16 or 17 years old
You are getting a Civil Union
You are upgrading from a Civil Union to a Marriage (or vice versa)
Find more information about paper application forms here
Once your paperwork has been issued, you’re good to get married.
You can print your paperwork yourself, or you can ask your celebrant to print it for you and bring it along with them on the day. Most celebrants will do this for you as it makes your job easier and it’s one less thing for you to have to worry about.
Also, without the paperwork it’s just a big ol’ party so the celebrant really wants that paperwork to be there!
It’s up to your celebrant to register your marriage once the wedding has taken place, they have 10 working days in which to file the paperwork (in most cases this happens literally the day of the wedding).
The end.
If you have any questions, ask your celebrant - they’re there to support you! And if they don’t know the answer, they come to folks like us at The Celebrant Guide.