Signing
the Marriage Certificates
On your wedding
day, towards the end of the ceremony, and after you have
both said your vows, you, your two witnesses and your
celebrant will all sign the three documents that are
evidence that your marriage ceremony has taken place.
- Two copies of the Official Certificate of Marriage
- The Presentation Certificate (that's the pretty one. printed in colour on creamy/yellow paper, with the Commonwealth Coat of Arms on the top of it)
The celebrant keeps one copy of the Official Certificate and forwards the other to Births, Deaths, and Marriages so that your marriage can be registered. All celebrants and all clergy persons who are licensed to solemnise marriages have a Statutory Obligation to send off your marriage papers (Notice of Intended Marriage and Official Certificate) within 14 days to Births Deaths and Marriages in the state or territory in which your wedding took place. It's in the Marriage Act!
The celebrant will give you the Presentation
Certificate to keep.
You should sign using the same signatures you used on
the Notice of Intended Marriage.
In other words, your "usual" signature.
Oh, and all signatures should be in black ink.
Hints:
- If you are planning to change your name, that is optional and you do that after your marriage, so all documents relating to your marriage will have your current names on them. For women that can be your maiden (birth) name, or the name you adopted after a previous marriage. It will be the name on your current driver licence etc.
- You must sign using your current signature,
not your "married" name/signature
- If your first language is one that uses a different alphabet to the Roman alphabet used by the English language, or is one that uses characters, and your "usual" signature reflects that, that's perfectly all right.