MEDIA RELEASE 19 August 2013
15 same sex marriages today
Births Death and Marriages has been notified of 15 same sex couples who have married today, nine registry office
weddings and six weddings by marriage celebrants.
The marriages included a number of high profile same sex weddings, organised by Tourism New Zealand, ZMFM, The Edge and
Air New Zealand, says Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Jeff Montgomery.
“We have had same-sex couples all over New Zealand notify us that they want to get married and we have also had couples
from overseas show interest. We’re working with all of our customers to make sure they are fully informed of what they
need to do so they can get married as early as possible.
Couples need to fill out a notice of intended marriage form and then one of the couple needs to bring the form to a
Registry Office, make a statutory declaration in front of a Registrar of Marriages and pay the fee. The form includes
the terms ‘bride’, ‘bridegroom’ and ‘partner’. Three days later we will issue the couple a marriage licence.”
Updated figures show 37 same sex couples intended to marry today, Jeff Montgomery says.
“We expect that most of these couples will have got married today. Couples who marry in locations other than marriage
registries e.g. churches, have 10 days to return their papers to us for registration. So final figures for the numbers
of same sex couples who married on Monday 19 August will be available in a couple of weeks.”
In addition, five further same sex couples have notified Births, Deaths and Marriages today that they intend to get
married. These five marriages can occur on or after Thursday 22 August when the couples receive their marriage licence.
Mr Montgomery says there has been a consistent level of demand from same-sex couples to get married.
“We will regularly update figures on our website, www.dia.govt.nz.
Same-sex couples in a civil union may also decide to change their civil union to a marriage. It’s really important that
same-sex couples read up on the process so they know what they have to do.”
“I’m pleased that the hard work by all our staff to deliver the changes required to support the requirements of the
Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Act 2013 has been completed.
Regional figures for same sex marriage
Note: Births, Deaths and Marriages will regularly update national and regional figures on the Department of Internal
Affairs website, www.dia.govt.nz .
Same sex marriages which have occurred on 19 August 2013 (final figures available in two weeks)Registry office weddings (9)Auckland: 2Christchurch: 2Dunedin: 2Nelson: 0Queenstown: 0Rotorua: 0Wellington: 3Total
Notices of intended same sex marriage receivedReceived on 16 August 2013 for marriages occurring on 19 August or afterAlexandra: 1
Auckland: 14
Christchurch: 6
Dunedin: 2
Hastings: 2
Nelson: 2
Queenstown: 0
Rotorua: 4
Wellington: 6
Total: 37
Notices of intended same sex marriage receivedReceived on 19 August 2013 for marriages occurring on 22 August or afterNelson: 1
Palmerston North: 1
Queenstown: 1
Wellington: 2
Total: 5
ENDS