A Life Celebrant - Lou Szymkow

A Life Celebrant - Lou Szymkow

Yes of course. Most of my couples add in a bit of fun.

Whilst, you do have to use the legal wording for vows, which is words to the effect: "I call upon everyone here to witness that I (name) take you (name) to be my wedding wife/husband/spouse etc" ..there is absolutely nothing stopping you from adding to that your own words in whatever form just as long as you don't contradict the Marriage Act.

Another bit of fun can be in the "I Do's". In an Australian Civil ceremony, there is no requirement to say 'I Do' and so as a Celebrant, I like to throw in questions that the couple enjoy and get a laugh from e.g do you promise to laugh at his jokes, to dance around the house, share the remote control, to like each others' social media posts etc..

There are many more opportunities during the ceremony. Have some fun with it all.

A Life Celebrant - Lou Szymkow

Reading some of the responses, you might be confused and so let me try to clarify.

The Celebrant has nothing to do with your name change.

Once you exchange vows in Australia, you are legally married and either party can then immediately take the other's surname, or you can hyphenate surnames in either order but you still retain the right to use your pre-marriage legal name. 

The Marriage Certificate you receive from your Celebrant at your ceremony is proof of marriage but is NOT proof of identity.

You can start using your married name immediately but to then change your name on passports, banks accounts, licenses etc. the relevant institution will commonly ask for your BDM Certificate as that additional certificate is both proof of marriage and proof of identity. You can apply for that BDM certificate yourself from the BDM but in NSW it is much easier to ask your Celebrant to request the certificate for you when registering your marriage. 

It gets complicated for couple's who marry overseas because whilst the marriage is recognized in Australia, the institutions such as the passports' office don't recognise the name change by overseas marriage to be valid for Australian passports and so they insist those couples go through an official name change which is performed at any BDM (for a fee) however in doing so, you revoke the usage of your pre-married name and so the new name becomes your one and only official name.

A Life Celebrant - Lou Szymkow

In short, ‘NO’, it is not legal.

There are a number of concerns here in the description of events you have given.

1. The NOIM must be lodged 1-18 months before the marriage is solemnised unless a Shortening of Time in Notice (SOT) has been granted but a SOT requires the involvement of both parties to the marriage and is only granted by a Prescribed Authority in special circumstances. Clearly, from the description, there was no SOT approval.
2. As the NOIM must be lodged 1-18 months before the marriage is solemnised, it is illegal for the celebrant to fill the NOIM form, hear the vows and give the couple a marriage certificate, all in the same day. The marriage would be declared invalid and the Celebrant open to prosecution.
3. ‘Surprise weddings’ where one of the parties to the marriage is ‘surprised’ in the manner described, are illegal.
4. Consent MUST be active, informed and current and since June 2024, Celebrants must meet privately and individually with parties to a marriage to clarify & ensure that consent. The description of events indicates that was not done.
5. Where a party is ‘forced’ into marriage, the persons involved (other than the victim of course) have committed an offence that can carry a 7-9 years prison sentence.

You and/or your friend can report the matter to the Attorney General at 'Complain about a marriage celebrant | Attorney-General's Department', and to Federal Police as it appears from your description of events, that the marriage is invalid and that various crimes have been committed, even if the marriage is not registered.