15 April 2025

The BDM45 and BDM45A are almost exactly the same so it is ok to use two BDM45s for the signing.

Intentions to marry are same every year

This chart records the month when couples apply for their marriage licence to get married. With the exception of the years affected by COVID-19, intentions to marry follow the same pattern each year. January is the most popular month for couples to give notice of their intention to marry. Marriages licences are valid for 3 months.

The must haves – celebrants and ceremonies

An approved celebrant must take an active role by officiating over the legal aspects of the ceremony.

The celebrant must formally identify the couple, ensuring that the people standing in front of them at the wedding are the same people named on the marriage licence. That may be achieved by simply asking each party their name.

The marriage ceremony must be in New Zealand, which includes the Ross Dependency and up to our territorial boundary both at sea and in our airspace.

The couple must say their vows in front of an approved celebrant and before at least two other witnesses.

The full names of the couple as written on the marriage licence must be used at some point during the ceremony. Abbreviations and nicknames can be used in other parts of the ceremony.

Couples can write their own vows. For a wedding, they must say to each other “I take you [partner’s name], to be my legal [wife/husband/partner]” or something similar during the ceremony. In a civil union, each party may say both names and acknowledge that they are freely joining in a civil union with each other. The couple should say the words to each other rather than answering a question you ask — although the marriage or civil union is still valid if you have asked the couple a question.

After you have married the couple and the Copy of Particulars of Marriage/Civil Union are fully completed (date, a specific place, couples signed, witnesses signed and addresses, celebrant's name and signed and registration number/denomination) email a scan or photo to bdmtoregister@dia.govt.nz. Include the surname of both parties in the subject line.

Retain the Copy of Particulars of Marriage/Civil Union for 4 weeks in case the photo or scan needs to be redone. After four weeks the Copy of Particulars must be destroyed along with any emails that include personal information.

Customer courtesy and privacy

While this deals with isolated occurrences, it is a timely remainder on the important matters of being respectful and courteous to your couples and maintaining a no surprises approach to protecting their privacy.

Customer courtesy 

A complaint was received from a couple after they were replied to by several celebrants in what they considered to be an offensive manner. The issue seems to have been that the couple were asking questions about how they get married, and because the couple did not fully understand the process, it appears that a handful of celebrants responded harshly.

Couples may only get married once in their lifetimes and will not be as familiar with the process as celebrants. Celebrants need to patiently and respectfully guide couples on the correct process.

Privacy

A separate complaint was received relating to a couple seeking a suitable celebrant for their intended date and location. What we understand is that the couple contacted their chosen celebrant, and the celebrant shared the couples personal information and intended marriage details in an online chat room with other celebrants. The couple were then surprised to be contacted by a different celebrant that they had not engaged with, and someone they did not want to marry them.

Make sure "that the disclosure is authorised by the individual concerned" before sharing anyone's personal information and intended marriage details, even if it is with another celebrant. This also supports a 'no surprises' approach to working with your couples.

We are looking for people to take part in an online activity where you’ll be asked to organise topics into groups that make sense to you. The results from this will allow us to refine the layout for our website, ensuring users can find the information they need.

The activity will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.  Any information you provide is anonymous and will only be used for research purposes.

You can complete the activity at any time until Thursday 17 April.

Here’s the link to take part.

Any questions please contact Webmaster@dia.govt.nz.

The Celebrant School - Te Wānanga Korowai Aroha offers training, professional development, and support services for celebrants throughout the country. More information is available at www.celebrant.school.nz or phone 021 681 958.

The Celebrants Training College offers a variety of training and professional development, for new or experienced celebrants throughout New Zealand. More information is available by ringing our office on 021 027 896 96 or at www.celebranttraining.co.nz .

The National Executive are proud to present the CANZ Conference 2025 details. We hope you can join us.

• Secure your tickets here
• View the Conference programme
• View the speaker profiles

CANZ members and non members are welcome to register for all Conference events. We welcome non members to subscribe to a CANZ annual membership to take advantage of member prices. Event registrations are available until 1 August 2025.