Marriage celebrants

The Registry cannot provide marriage celebrants with advice on the application of the Marriage Act 1961. This includes providing legal advice or confirming the validity of marriage documents.  

For information on your responsibilities as a Commonwealth-registered marriage celebrant, please visit the Attorney General's department. 

Celebrants may apply for certificates on behalf of the couple after they perform the ceremony.

To apply for a marriage certificate:

• online - order online when using eRegistry online portal. This must be done within two months of the date the registration was submitted in eRegistry.
• by post - mail the application form (PDF 309.25KB) to the Registry along with marriage registration paperwork. 

If you are submitting the marriage registration via eRegistry, you do not need to post the marriage documents to us. The documents must be scanned and attached to the notification in eRegistry before being submitted online.

If you submit the record before you add the documents, or you cannot attach them, you must email the documents to us at bdm-online-celebrants@customerservice.nsw.gov.au.

As the celebrant, you can apply for a correction on behalf of the couple within 60 days of the marriage registration.

You must complete the application to correct an entry by marriage celebrants (PDF 621.7KB) form and submit it by email to bdmamendments@customerservice.nsw.gov.au.

If more than two months have passed, or if the couple want to handle the correction, they’ll need to complete a different correct an entry form. This form is submitted via Service NSW or by post.

The amendments team will process the request. You can view current processing times on the correct an entry page.

If you've ordered a marriage certificate but the couple has not received it, you can track delivery using the Certificate Tracker in eRegistry. If the certificate has been posted, there will be an Australia Post tracking number in this field.

Certificates are sent by Registered Post and must be signed for upon delivery. To avoid delays, ensure the postal address is correct when ordering a certificate.

You can view current processing times on the correct an entry page. 

If the minimum one month’s notice to get married has not been provided, a marriage celebrant needs authorisation to solemnise the marriage by applying for a shortening of time.

The NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages is a prescribed authority that can approve these requests. You can also apply to any NSW prescribed authority listed by the Attorney General’s Department.  

To apply with the NSW Registry, the celebrant or the couple can email bdm-marriages-syd@customerservice.nsw.gov.au, with:

• a letter from the couple asking for a shortening of time including:
  • full names of both parties to the marriage
  • the intended date of the ceremony
  • the reason the Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) was not lodged earlier or why the ceremony cannot be delayed
• a signed and completed Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) lodged with an authorised celebrant
• a written statement from the celebrant including their full name, phone number, email address, and registration number
• evidence showing why the wedding needs to be held earlier (such as plane tickets, employment letters with commencement dates, receipts, letters from medical specialists).

The Registry aims to finalise requests within 2 business days. Your request may be rejected or delayed if you do not supply sufficient evidence.  

Learn how to use eRegistry by watching these easy-to-follow video tutorials.

The Registry now requires multi-factor authentication to be enabled on your eRegistry account. Detailed instructions and video tutorials are available to enable multi-factor authentication for eRegistry users.

These terms will appear in your drafts list and statements list for a marriage registration:

• In progress – marriage notification is being assessed.  
• Cancelled - marriage notification has been cancelled.  
• Registered - marriage has been registered.
• Ready for upload - necessary details in the notification have been entered and the notification is ready to be submitted.
• Incomplete - details are missing or do not comply with system business rules. You will need to view the notification and check for any errors. 

These terms will appear in your statements list for a marriage certificate application:

• Draft - certificate application has been created and saved only.
• Ready for upload – certificate application has been saved, but not submitted. This is linked to a marriage notification that's been submitted in eRegistry.  
• In progress – certificate application is being assessed.  
• Cancelled - certificate application has been cancelled.  
• Submitted - certificate application has been created, saved, and submitted only.
• Paid - certificate application has been created, saved, submitted, and paid.
• Complete - certificate has been printed and is being posted. 

A draft notification can be created in eRegistry up to 18 months before a marriage is solemnised.

This column shows whether a marriage certificate application has been created and linked. You will see a ‘Y’ or an ‘N’:

• Y - a marriage certificate application has been created and linked.
• N - no marriage certificate application has been created.

If you encounter an error while making the payment for a certificate or exit the payment process before finishing, you’ll need to complete the payment using the transaction that was already created. You cannot use the Make Payment button in your Statements List.

Follow these steps to finalise your payment:

1. Go to your Statements List.
2. Find the relevant certificate application in the list. The first row is the marriage notification, and any rows below that for the same couple are related to certificate applications.
3. Click View on the row for the certificate application you want to pay for.
4. When the view opens, you will see Linked Transaction with a long transaction number listed on the very left of the screen in the long bookmark shaped section of the screen. Click on this hyperlink.
5. You can proceed to start payment. From there, follow the prompts until you reach the pop-up screen where you’ll enter your payment details and submit.

You can transfer the NOIM to another celebrant by following the steps below. Ensure you scan and attach the existing NOIM to the application.

1. From your Drafts List, tick the box on the left of the couple’s details of the notice you wish to transfer.
2. Click the Transfer to Another Celebrant button at the bottom of your Drafts List.
3. Enter the celebrant number for the celebrant you are transferring the notification to. Start with the alphabetical character in the drop-down menu on the left, and the numerical characters in the text box on the right.  
4. Click on the Transfer Notifications button.  

You can use an Australia Post tracking number to track the marriage certificate after it has been posted. Follow the below steps to find your tracking number in eRegistry:

1. Click on your Statements List
2. View the Registered Post Tracking Number column.
3. To see the tracking numbers for multiple certificates ordered under one application, click View Certificate Tracker.  
4. Copy and paste the tracking number into the Australia Post website

Marriage certificates are only printed and assigned a tracking number for dispatch if the payment status is showing as Paid. 

A completed marriage notification remains in the statements list for 2 months after registration.