Electronic registration of marriages

As of 4 May 2021, electronic marriage registers replaced paper marriage registers. This applies to all marriages, both civil ceremonies and ceremonies taking place at churches and places of worship.

What the changes mean for your ceremony

The changes provide a more secure system for keeping marriage records. There are a number of changes that you need to be aware of:

• you can now include more than one person, as mother, father or parent, to be recorded in the marriage entry and on marriage certificates, instead of only fathers' names, as was previously the case
• you and your partner will sign a schedule, along with your witnesses and the superintendent registrar and registrar, replacing the handwritten marriage registers
• you won't be handed a certificate at the ceremony 

After your ceremony

After you sign the schedule:

• it will be returned to the local registration service where the details will be inputted into the electronic register as a record of the event
• we will return the schedule for you, if you are having a civil wedding, or a ceremony in a religious building where a civil registrar is present
• it will need to be returned to the local registration service as soon as possible so it can be registered if you are having a wedding in a religious building without the presence of a registrar

How to buy copies of the official certificates of marriage

After your ceremony you can order certificates online.