What You Need To Know About Registering A Civil Ceremony Held Overseas
Please note: Couples marrying overseas will have their marriage registered in the country of their wedding, rather than Australia, UNLESS the legal formalities are completed in Australia before their ceremony overseas.
This means all of your legal paperwork, marriage registration and history will not be accessible by the Australian Government if you have a wedding overseas under local law.
Therefore, if the bride wishes to take her husbands name, she will need to do so by Deed Poll / State Name Change in Australia, rather than using her Marriage Certificate, which will not be recognised as an authority to use her married name in Australia.
However, by completing all of the legal marriage requirements in Australia before they go, couples will have their marriage registered in Australia and all of their paperwork and duplicates of their Marriage Certificate will be available in the State in which they registered their marraige.
Also, using a local priest or celebrant can often be a challenging and very costly process and involves certain procedures and payments to local officials which still do not always guarantee that your wedding will be recognised by Australian authorities.
For couples who are having, or have already had a civil ceremony overseas (Not an official ceremony) and require their marriage registered in Australia, the Perth Marriage Office can assist with this paperwork.
