Help! We forgot to file our NOIM
Will our wedding date be off now officially and we'll have to have it dated after our actual wedding which is in two weeks?
Question Asked: 29/05/2025
Wedding Date: 28/02/2025
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Answered by: 8 Experts
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The NoIM must be signed before you can be legally married. If you meet the criteria for special circumstances, it is possible to have the month rule reduced in time. Speak to your celebrant as he or she will have to complete the application for shortening the NoIM time for you.
How would this have happened? Surely your celebrant would have been on top of this. You need to have the witnessed NOIM to a celebrant at least one month before your ceremony date. You could apply for a shortening of time. If this fails you could have a commitment ceremony and do the wedding at a later date.
You legally have to file your NOIM with your celebrant - and 1 month from that date you can legally marry, so if you havnt filed it yet - and your wedding is in two weeks you legally can't marry on that day. Hope this helps!
Your wedding celebrant should have been responsible for this and ensure he/she had that paperwork. By law you need to lodge this with your celebrant one month prior to your wedding. You may be able to apply for a Shortening of Notice, however this may not be successful. You might need to have a committment ceremony on your day with your legal wedding completed one month after your NOIM date has been filed to your celebrant. I hope this all works out for you.
Hi, do you have a wedding celebrant? If so, you're celebrant should be aware of this and will lodge the NOIM to BDM along with the other official documents after your wedding.
(55) · Cairns, Port Douglas, Mission Beach and the Tablelands but I am prepared to travel nationally
Posted: 30/05/2025
In this situation I would suggest lodging your NOIM with your Celebrant (who should have been on top of this, by the way) and conducting a commitment ceremony on the date of your wedding. You then meet with your Celebrant one month from the date the NOIM was lodged and you just do the legal parts.
(21) · Melbourne, Yarra Valley & Dandenong Ranges & Surrounds, Mornington Peninsula
Posted: 30/05/2025
You cannot get legally married without having lodged your NOIM with your celebrant so you must contact your celebrant immediately. This is a document that you should have lodged with them at least one clear month prior to your wedding day. You may be able to apply for a Shortening of Notice. If your application for a Shortening of Notice is unsuccessful then your celebrant can conduct a commitment ceremony (not legally binding) and you can have a simple legally binding ceremony at a later date. So, no you don't need to cancel any plans, but adjustments need to be made to your ceremony to comply with marriage law.
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Under the Marriage Act (1961), for a Marriage to occur in Australia, the couple must lodge a Notice Of Intended Marriage (NOIM) with the authorised celebrant no earlier than 18 months, and no later than one month, before the date of the marriage.
Usually, a couple will sign the NOIM when they book their celebrant and so the NOIM may have actually been lodged. You need to talk to your celebrant.
Situations arise, however, from time to time where a couple has a need to shorten the One Month notice period before marriage, and following application, under specific extraordinary circumstances, a Prescribed Authority may, under the Marriage Act (1961), authorise the marriage to occur even if the notice was lodged later than a month before the Ceremony. Interestingly, NSW has 150 Prescribed Authorities while Queensland has only 7. I am based in NSW South Coast, and the nearest PA is at Milton Local Court, just 30 minutes away, the next is Nowra, about 50 minutes away.
A Shortening Of Time is only granted in 5 extraordinary circumstances, and there is no guarantee your application will be approved unless you clearly satisfy the criteria and have sufficient evidence in support:
What are the circumstances where a Shortening Of Time may be granted?
If your Celebrant did not advise you about completing a NOIM, there may be grounds under 'Celebrant Error' to have the time shortened but as the wedding is meant to be in two weeks and all arrangements are made, if you have all the evidence, 'wedding or celebration arrangements' might satisfy the criteria