For your legal wedding in New Zealand, New Zealand Dream Weddings works in with the New Zealand Government Department ‘Internal Affairs’. With this working relationship we’re able to lodge your marriage licence here in New Zealand on your behalf. New Zealand law states that all couples who are being married in New Zealand are required to lodge a ‘Notice of Intended Marriage’ form.
What does this all mean?
Simply put, once you have decided for New Zealand Dream Weddings to assist you with your wedding in New Zealand you will be sent a form to fill out. This form will request information from you: for example full names, dates of births, place of birth, address and occupation. Once we have this form it will be transferred onto New Zealand’s legal form ‘Notice of Intended Marriage’ we will then lodge on your behalf with Internal Affairs, all this is done before you even enter the country.
Our New Zealand law requires that you will need to make a statutory declaration in person; this is to state that there is no lawful impediment to your marriage. You must also state that the details on your application (which are details which I will obtain from you) are true, and that there is no reason why you should not be married.
– You are not married already (or if you have been married, the marriage has been dissolved by a court of law)
– You are old enough (16 or over, although parental consent is required if either party is under 20 years old).
– You are not closely related by blood, marriage or adoption. – Details of these “prohibited” marriages appear on the form “Notice of Intended Marriage”, which is used to apply for a marriage licence.
You do not require copies of passports or birth certificates nor do you need blood tests as in some countries. The only documents you need to provide is a Decree Absolute or equivalent proof of the dissolution of marriage if you have been divorced. This documentation must be in English. This will need to be faxed to New Zealand Dream Weddings so that the document can be attached to your Notice of Intended Marriage form. You will also need to bring original documents with you to New Zealand.
Your marriage in New Zealand is performed by a New Zealand registered Marriage Celebrant or religious Minister and is legally binding. All marriages in New Zealand are recognized worldwide.
When you arrive into New Zealand at least the bride or groom is by New Zealand law required to sign a statutory declaration in person at the Internal Affairs office. This is done in the presence of a registered government official. Once this is completed you will be handed 2 identical papers, ‘your marriage licence’. During your ceremony after you have been pronounced husband and wife you will sign both of these papers. (You will also require 2 witnesses as required by New Zealand law, if you have no guests do not worry as the staff of New Zealand Dream Weddings staff would be honored to step in as your witnesses). Of the 2 papers that you sign, one you will get to keep as a legal record of your marriage, the other New Zealand Dream Weddings will lodge with ‘Internal Affairs’ so that your marriage can be officially registered.
Once your New Zealand marriage has been officially registered, New Zealand Dream Weddings will apply for your New Zealand Marriage Certificate this takes approx 3 weeks. When New Zealand Dream Weddings receives this we will then send your New Zealand Marriage Certificate to another New Zealand Government Office to have a official Apostle Seal or Authentication Stamp depending what country you reside in. This Apostle Seal/Authentication Stamp is recognized all over the world. I highly recommend this Seal/Stamp as you may find when you present just a New Zealand Marriage Certificate in your country; they will not register your wedding. Especially if you live in Austria, Norway, France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, China, Denmark, Thailand and some other countries your Marriage Certificate will require further verification (Apostle). If you live Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Indonesia and Singapore the Standard New Zealand Marriage Certificate normally is enough proof, but with the Apostle then you know that the documentation will be a safe guard and you would not need any other forms of proof. Time frame for lodging your New Zealand Marriage Certificate for Apostle is a future 14 days. Once New Zealand Dream Weddings receives this your Certificate will be registered post to your home postal address. When planning your New Zealand wedding please note that uplifting your New Zealand Marriage Licence can only be done on a week day (Monday to Friday) and must be done at least 1 day before your wedding day. New Zealand Government Offices are only open weekdays (closed public holidays and weekends) the normal working hours are 9am – 4.30pm.
Our Government Office is closed over Christmas and New Year. (Normally from 23rd December to the 3th January) therefore if you should be looking at a wedding date during this time frame, I would highly recommend that you arrive in NZ prior to the 21st December. Or alternatively, you can sign the statutory declaration section of the license application in the presence of a Commonwealth Representative in your own country. This must be done no earlier than 3 mths before the wedding date.
<h3>Where to go from here…</h3>
Once you have decided you would like New Zealand Dream Weddings to coordinate your wedding, you will be sent an email with questions required for your Notice of Intended Marriage Form. Once we have this we will lodge on your behalf to our Government Internal Affairs Department.
If either one or both of you are under 20 years of age we will require Consent of Marriage of a Minor Form this will need to be signed by your parents or caregivers. This form will need to be either posted to our postal address or scanned and email to us. The procedure is very straight-forward.
Ok… now all the legal talk is completed. When you arrive into Christchurch, New Zealand Dream Weddings will personally assist you with the signing of your licence. This procedure would only take at the most 30 minutes in the Government Office.
Pricing for your New Zealand Marriage and all documentation is included in the wedding packages.