I've discovered a lot of weird things about Canberra over the years. The pronunciation of Monaro. That malls refer to indoor shopping centres and not outdoor pedestrian-only strips. That the Telstra Tower actually boasts very little Telstra coverage. That we're a long way from the ocean but still have a ''nudist beach''. That ''college'' is just year 11 and 12. All those acronyms.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But for some reason, none of them left me as befuddled as a little fact I found out last week.
It turns out, Canberra doesn't have a marriage registry office. You know, that place you go if you want to make things official without the fuss.
As someone who is currently planning a wedding, I assumed this was an option. Although when I say ''planning'', in six months all I've done is Google how much it cost to lodge the forms, thought that alone seemed like a lot, then promptly gave the wedding no further thought. So it's safe to say I'm not your average bride.
But I assumed that if I wanted to, I could pop on down in my lunch break to some government office, fiancé and witnesses in tow, say ''I do'' and sign a form.
It turns out in Canberra, you're staring down a slightly more complex process.
And no - it's not what you're thinking. Canberra didn't have a high occurrence of people heading to Mooseheads of a night, then thinking shacking up sounded like a top notch idea, only to regret it in the morning. In fact, as anyone who's been married knows, in Australia you have to register your intention to marry a minimum of 30 days before the big day (and the notice remains valid for 18 months). So shotgun weddings like you see in the movies aren't a thing here.
But in many other places throughout the country, particularly capital cities but also plenty of rural locations, you can lodge your form and then say your vows at a registry office for a fairly low fee. If you want to do that from Canberra, the closest options are to head to Sydney or Wollongong.
So what's a minimal-effort Canberra bride-to-be to do?
It seems that like myself, plenty of others are opting away from the big wedding with all the bells and whistles and going with something more intimate and budget-friendly.
Photographer Michael Conlin started his business Canberra Small Weddings back in 2016, offering an alternative to a registry wedding or elopement. Together with celebrant Michael Bower, they offer a package starting from $1400, which gets you a celebrant, photography, and all the paperwork looked after, which has proved a popular option - you can even invite up to 30 people.
For an even more basic do, Bower said he, like many other celebrants, offers a ''legals only'' package.
"I get them to fill out all the paperwork in advance. And then it's a fairly simple format for the ceremony," he says. "I meet up with the couple, I have the legal requirement of what I have to say, they have a legal line each of them have to say, you can exchange rings if you want, then we sign the paperwork and you're married.
"The couple just has to pick a time and a location that suits, and bring along two witnesses. I even did a ceremony recently where I provided the witnesses."
Having been a celebrant for four years, Bower says full ceremonies seem to still make up the majority of the weddings, but there does appear to be a trend towards more simple options.
"The simpler, quicker marriages are on the increase, for a whole raft of reasons - it's usually money or family, they're usually the two main ones. I think people are looking for simpler, not necessarily smaller, but simpler," he says. "I recently did four marriages in four days, and three of them were legals-only ceremonies."
So yes, provided you fill out the form far enough in advance and choose a celebrant, you can elope in Canberra. You could technically get married on your lunch break on a Tuesday at your local cafe, as long as you bring your two witnesses or rope in the people sitting near you.
And surprisingly, it's a similar case if you're opting for a religious ceremony.
The Honorable Gordon Ramsay is not only a minister in the Canberra legislative assembly, but also a minister of the Uniting Church. While these days he spends more time as a political minister, he still officiates weddings from time to time.
He says the same legal requirements apply for religious ceremonies - giving at least 30 days notice of intention to marry and a registered minister of religion must perform the ceremony sticking to the rites dictated by their denomination.
While it's different for each religion, Ramsay says the Uniting Church marriage ceremony can be completed in less than 10 minutes.
"You can always add more into a wedding service, as people do," he says. "But the minimum for me is ballpark six or seven minutes. The typical wedding I would do is about 30-35 minutes, and if you do the full-blown traditional stuff it takes [about] an hour.
"ACT doesn't have the registry office where people go to get married, but people can literally get married just about anywhere in the ACT. Legally there's no obligation for it to be inside a building or there's no legal obligation for a religious one to be inside a church."
So, depending on the religion, you could technically have a very similar elopement-style ceremony to a civil version.
So while Canberra doesn't have a registry office, it seems it's not all bad news. Not having to sit in a line and wait my turn at a government office on my wedding day? To that I can say I do.
