Marriage Planning Checklist: The Legal Steps First

A marriage planning checklist splits into two documents most guides treat as one: the legal paperwork that makes a marriage valid, and the wedding checklist for the event built around it. Only one of them has a deadline set by federal law. The Notice of Intended Marriage must reach an authorised celebrant no earlier than 18 months and no later than one month before the wedding.¹² Most wedding checklists never mention that window, because they are built around venues and caterers, not the marriage itself.

Decision 1: how far out is the wedding?

That window decides when the legal half of the checklist starts, and it splits into three answers.

• More than 18 months out. Nothing to lodge yet. Use the runway for the venue and the date - the legal clock has not started, and the wedding planning checklist covers everything that can move forward on the event side in the meantime.
• Between 1 and 18 months out. The window is open. Lodge the Notice of Intended Marriage with the celebrant who will marry you.
• Less than 1 month out. The standard window has closed. A prescribed authority may allow shorter notice under section 42(5) of the Marriage Act, but it is not automatic, and it needs to be sorted before anything else on a short-notice checklist.¹

The 18-month legal maximum sits well inside the 24-month average Australian engagement, so most couples never brush against the earlier end of the window at all.¹⁸ In practice, most lodge it around the same time they book the celebrant: Australian celebrants are typically booked 9 months before the wedding, the same lead time as photographers and hair and makeup artists, comfortably inside the 18-month window.⁹ What catches people out is the other end - the one-month floor sits close enough to the wedding that a late-planned marriage can miss it before anyone realises, until the celebrant asks for the paperwork.

Decision 2: what does the law actually require on the day?

Less than a typical wedding checklist plans for. The law requires an authorised celebrant to be physically present to solemnise the marriage, at least two witnesses over 18 to be present, and allows the ceremony on any day, at any time, in any place.³ The words each of you has to say are short - the legislated form in section 45(2) is a single sentence, and a minister of religion is exempt from that specific wording.⁴ Everything else in a typical ceremony - the readings, the processional, the order the wedding party walks in - is choreography the law has no opinion on.

What the law does require paperwork for is the signing. Three marriage certificates get signed on the day, witnessed by the same two people over 18.² That signing is the one moment the legal checklist and the event checklist share a single line on the run sheet.

Why the legal side of the checklist has real numbers behind it

118,804 marriages were registered in Australia in 2025, 1.7% fewer than the 120,844 registered in 2024.⁵ Both years follow a rise from 2023's 118,439, itself below the post-pandemic high of 127,161 marriages registered in 2022.⁶

That volume is exactly why the legal side of the checklist has a queue behind it. Every one of those marriages went through the same authorised-celebrant and witness requirements, on top of whatever the couple built for the event itself.²

Decision 3: which day are you marrying on?

The date affects more than the venue's calendar. Saturday is the most common day for Australian weddings at 53%, against 20% on Friday and the remaining quarter spread across the rest of the week - a shape independently confirmed by the national marriage register itself.⁷⁵

That concentration is exactly why the celebrant end of the checklist matters as much as the paperwork end: a celebrant who marries multiple couples a Saturday is booked out the same way a photographer or a venue is, and the notice needs to be lodged with the specific celebrant who holds that date, not with a placeholder.

The checklist, split by track

Where the certificate meets the run sheet

The two tracks actually meet at the signing itself. PlannedBy's run sheet generator builds the whole day from one input - the ceremony time - and the signing sits inside that structure as a named row, not a gap between "ceremony" and "photos" that everyone assumes will sort itself out. Enter the ceremony time once and the generator places the signing, the witnesses and the photos that follow it in sequence, the same way it places everything else on the day.

PlannedBy carries both halves of this checklist next to each other - the run sheet for the day, and the guest list and budget for the lead-up - so the legal paperwork and the event plan are not tracked in two different apps.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a marriage planning checklist and a wedding planning checklist?

The marriage planning checklist covers the legal steps that make the marriage valid: the Notice of Intended Marriage, its timing window, and what the law requires on the day itself. The wedding planning checklist covers the event around it - venue, guests, suppliers, the day itself. Every couple needs both; only one of them has a deadline set in law.

How early can you lodge the Notice of Intended Marriage?

Up to 18 months before the ceremony, and no later than one month before it.¹ Filing at the earlier end of that window costs nothing and removes one deadline from a long engagement - the Australian average runs 24 months.⁸

Can you lodge the paperwork if you are marrying in under a month?

Only with approval from a prescribed authority to shorten the notice period under section 42(5) of the Marriage Act.¹ It is not automatic, and it belongs at the top of a short-notice checklist, not the bottom.

Does the celebrant have to meet us in person?

The celebrant must be physically present to solemnise the marriage - there is no remote or video-call option for the ceremony itself.³ Two witnesses over 18 also need to be present in person, to sign the certificates alongside you.²

What actually has to happen at the ceremony, legally?

Very little compared to what most couples plan. An authorised celebrant physically present, two witnesses over 18, and each of you saying a single legislated sentence - a minister of religion is exempt even from that wording.³⁴ Everything else on a typical wedding day is choreography, not law.

Why does the wedding day of the week matter to a marriage planning checklist?

Saturday weddings make up 53% of the Australian total, which makes the celebrants who work Saturdays the busiest people on this checklist to lock in.⁷ Confirming the date with the celebrant before lodging the notice avoids filing paperwork against a date that celebrant can no longer take.

The next decision

If the wedding is still more than a month away, the next decision is whether the venue and the celebrant are confirmed for the same date - the Notice of Intended Marriage is not worth lodging until they are. If it is inside a month, the next decision is calling a prescribed authority before anything else on this list moves forward.