Getting married is a long process, but it’s also fun and incredibly rewarding. From the moment you get engaged, you’ll think about venues, food, attire, entertainers, music, cakes, vows, transport… the list goes on.
But how does it all work? With so much to figure out, where’s the right place to start? Who do you speak to first? And how do you keep on top of everything so nothing gets forgotten and your wedding goes ahead exactly as you dreamed it would? It’s also important to remember that, as well as being a great gesture is love, getting married is also a legal process – which means there are critical steps to follow if you want to make sure everything is by the book.
But, organizing your wedding doesn’t need to be a complicated process, so long as you know what you have to do and how you should go about doing it. That’s where we come in! So, in this guide, we’ll tell you all about how to get married and provide you with the steps to follow so nothing gets left behind. We’ll cover the whats, whens, whys, wheres and hows, so all you need to worry about is making those all-important decisions.
What are the main wedding legalities?
Whatever venue you’re getting married in, whether registry office, place of worship, restaurant or outdoor space, there are certain non-negotiables: giving notice, hiring a registrar, saying your vows, and enlisting two people to witness the all-important signing of the register.
What are the stages to getting married?
When it comes to just getting married in the legal sense, there are only a few simple steps to be taken, which we’ve summarized below. The process is the same for both heterosexual and same-sex weddings, and regardless of whether it’s your first or fiftieth marriage or anything in between!
- Choose your wedding date and venue
- Give notice to marry
- Book your registrar
- Choose your vows
- Choose two people to be witnesses
- Finalize your plans and payments
- Attend your wedding ceremony
We’ve set out those steps in the handy quick reference infographic above.
However, for most couples, the journey from getting engaged to saying ‘I do’ is a little more complex, and will involve planning a fabulous wedding celebration alongside sorting out the essential legalities. Follow our comprehensive step-by-step guide so you don’t miss a thing, and can get married with peace of mind.
1. Start with the perfect proposal
Of course, every marriage starts with a proposal. How you do that is entirely up to you. Will you make a huge romantic gesture, like getting down on one knee at midnight for the perfect New Year’s Eve proposal as fireworks explode, or go for something a little more intimate, like at your favourite woodland spot or as you finish a romantic meal?
However you choose to propose, just make sure it’s true to you and your relationship, paying close attention to what you think your partner will appreciate.
2. Check your eligibility to marry
From the moment you get engaged, it’s easy to get excited and rush straight into planning your wedding. But, unless you’re especially keen to get married on a specific date, try not to go too hard too fast. Enjoy your new-found status as an engaged couple and ease into wedding planning gently. Why not take a trip to celebrate your amazing news? Or, throw an engagement party so you can celebrate while surrounded by your loved ones.
Once you’ve fully soaked in the excitement of your engagement, it’s time to check your eligibility to get married, as there are legal requirements in Canada. To get married in Canada, you must:
- Be at least 18 years old (or 16 with parental consent, depending on the province or territory).
- Not already be married.
- Not be closely related to your partner.
- Have the legal right to be in Canada (if you’re not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you may need a visa to marry, depending on your status).
Marriage laws vary by province, so be sure to check the specific requirements where you plan to tie the knot!
3. Work out your budget
Every couple planning a wedding needs to figure out their budget. Whether you’re working with a small budget, a modest budget, or a sky’s-the-limit budget, it’s essential to know exactly how much you have to spend. After all, there’s a big difference between the cost of a simple city hall ceremony and a 200-guest wedding at a luxury venue.
It may not be the most exciting part of wedding planning, but it’s one of the most important. Take a look at your current finances, along with what you expect to save between now and your big day. Only once you have a clear idea of your total budget can you start seriously considering venues and other vendors. To help you map things out, check out our handy wedding budget calculator!
For more information, read our ultimate wedding budget breakdown.
4. Talk to your parents about money
It’s common for couples to seek financial assistance from family members to help cover wedding expenses. If you’re considering this route, it’s advisable to have these discussions early in your planning process. This approach ensures clarity on contributions and helps prevent potential misunderstandings later on.
5. Think about your wedding ceremony
You should decide early on what type of wedding ceremony you’d like to have. If you have religious beliefs, you might prefer to have a Catholic wedding ceremony, Jewish wedding ceremony, Muslim wedding ceremony or Hindu wedding ceremony. If not, you could have a non-denominational wedding ceremony or traditional wedding ceremony.
If you have a strict budget or you’re not interested in having a big wedding, you may choose to have a registry office wedding ceremony instead.
The type of ceremony you go for depends entirely on your beliefs, preferences and budget. Remember, there’s no right or wrong answer – only what’s right for you.
To find out more about the different types of wedding ceremonies, read our ultimate wedding ceremony order guide.
6. Think about your wedding breakfast and evening reception
With your budget more or less set, you’ll also be in a great position to decide whether you’d like to have a wedding breakfast, including a three- or four-course meal, or head straight into the evening reception. Or, you may choose to have neither – or both. Again, it all depends on your budget and what your perfect wedding day looks like.
Once you know what you’d like out of your big day, you can start thinking about planning it!
7. Choose your wedding date
There are a thousand different reasons why you might choose to have your wedding on a particular date. Perhaps you’d like to choose a date for symbolic reasons, like the date you first met. Or, maybe it’s for religious or spiritual reasons. Or, maybe it’s even for budgeting reasons – for example, Tuesday is the cheapest day of the week to get married.
Once you have a date in mind, you can start looking at venues. But, if you find the perfect venue and it’s within your budget, just be prepared to negotiate or have a little wiggle room. If it’s a popular wedding venue, there’s every chance other couples will have got there first and your chosen date might not be available.
8. Decide whether you want to hire a wedding planner
Before you book your venue or throw down a deposit on a single vendor, make sure you and your partner have decided whether or not you’d like to hire a wedding planner.
Wedding planners can be rather pricey – around 10% of your overall wedding budget. But, the cost is often more than worth it, thanks to their ability to spend time searching and negotiating, as well as the relationships they’ve already established thanks to years of working with popular venues and vendors within the industry.
Half the fun of getting married is planning your wedding, but if you don’t have the time, patience or inclination, a wedding planner can make it a heck of a lot easier. Just make sure you decide early on if it’s the right choice for you, because you’ll only see their true value if you haven’t already booked everything beforehand.
9. Think about your theme and color scheme
As part of the vision you have for your wedding, before making any kind of bookings you’ll need to have a clear idea of your theme and color scheme. That could be something rustic and natural, sleek and modern, floral and elegant… you might even have something super unique and massively personal to you, like a book theme or subtly nerdy fantasy theme. The theme and colors you decide on can then have a huge influence over the venue, decor, stationery, food and more.
10. Put your wedding checklist together
Only you (or your wedding planner if you have one) will know exactly what you want from your wedding, from vendors to color schemes and everything in between. But even then, with so many things to keep on top of, there’s every chance that one or two things will get left behind, or – worst case scenario – forgotten about completely.
That’s why it’s important to put together a wedding checklist early, which you can add to and check off as you go. To make things easier, we have a wedding planning checklist tool that you can access for free and make changes to whenever you need.
11. Be open and honest with each other
A big part of getting married is always being open and honest with your partner. Agree to talk to each other about everything and anything, no matter how big or small they might be. Like with a marriage, wedding planning is also about communication, so make sure you do plenty of it. It’s a fun process, but it’s also long and might get a little tricky at times – most of the time, though, it’s nothing that can’t be overcome with a few frank chats about what’s really on your mind.
12. Find your perfect venue
Once you know what you want from your wedding and how much money you have to help make that happen, you can start making reservations, signing agreements and throwing down money on deposits.
The biggest single cost of your entire wedding day will be your venue. And without it, the rest of your wedding day can’t happen, so make it your priority to find and secure your dream venue as soon as possible. Whether it’s a hotel, registry office, place of worship, stately home, castle, restaurant, golf club, garden or anything else you might think of, get your name down for your chosen date and secure it for yourselves. The more popular the venue is, the more likely it is that it’ll be snapped up quickly – sometimes, you might need to book it up to two years in advance.
If you’re choosing to get married in a place of worship, it’s unlikely that you’ll also be able to host the wedding breakfast and/or reception there, too. So, if you’re having multiple venues, you’ll need to make sure they’re all available on the same date.
For help making one of the trickiest decisions you’ll come across when getting married, read our article about the cost of a wedding venue in Canada.
13. Put your guest list together
With your venue secured, you’ll know how many guests it can accommodate, so you can start thinking about your guest list. If you’ve gone with a smaller venue, this might mean making a few tough calls on those distant cousins you only see every few years, or restricting the number of plus ones you dish out.
14. Hire the rest of your vendors
It’s time to start researching, meeting with and booking the rest of your wedding day vendors, who’ll all come together to create the overall vision you have for your big day. These include:
- Photographer
- Videographer
- Caterers
- Cake makers
- Entertainers
- Musicians
- Florists
- Decor
- Hair and beauty
- Attire
- Stationery
- Celebrants
- Transport
- Tent rent
And that’s not even all of them. Make sure you leave yourself with plenty of time, because you’re going to be browsing a lot of wedding supplier profiles, sending a lot of messages, and meeting with a lot of people.
Check our advice section to find out about the cost of each supplier.
15. Choose your wedding attire
Many couples choose to get married in traditional wedding attire, whether it be a suit, bridal gown or something specific to their culture or background. But, you might choose something else that’s in keeping with where you’re getting married and the theme. For example, if you’re getting married in the middle of a forest, a bridal gown with a long train might not be the best choice – just think of all the leaves and twigs!
16. Give notice to marry
When your wedding is less than a year away, an important step in the process is officially declaring your intent to marry. In Canada, this means applying for a marriage licence, which must be obtained before your wedding ceremony. The timing varies by province, but most require you to apply at least a few weeks before your wedding date, while some allow applications up to three months in advance.
To apply, both you and your partner must visit a municipal office, city hall, or designated service location in person. You’ll need to bring:
- A valid form of government-issued ID, such as a passport or driver’s licence
- Proof of address, if required by your province
- Details about your wedding date and location
- If either of you has been married before, you’ll need to provide divorce papers or a death certificate for a deceased spouse
There is a non-refundable fee for the marriage licence, which varies depending on the province or municipality but typically ranges between $100 and $160. Be sure to check the specific requirements for the province where you plan to get married, as rules and timelines can differ.
17. Book your registrar
In Canada, religious weddings are legally recognized, but you must ensure that the officiant performing the ceremony is authorized to do so under provincial law. Each province and territory has its own list of registered religious officials who can legally perform marriages, so it’s important to confirm that your chosen officiant is authorized.
Many religious wedding ceremonies follow a set structure and include cultural or religious traditions, which may impact the legal process. If your officiant is not legally recognized by the province, you will need to have a separate civil ceremony at a municipal office or city hall with a licensed officiant. This can be done either before or after your religious ceremony.
If you’re unsure about the legal requirements for your wedding, check with your place of worship or speak to the religious leader officiating the ceremony. You may also need to contact your local vital statistics office to ensure your marriage will be legally binding.
18. Choose your vows
As well as being a promise to your partner and a hugely symbolic gesture, a wedding ceremony is also a legal process. That means, like with any legal process, there are certain steps that must be followed – if they’re not, your marriage won’t be valid.
There are two crucial parts to the words you say at your wedding: the declaratory words and the contracting words.
The declaratory words tell the registrar, witnesses and guests that you don’t know of any reason why you can’t legally get married. The contracting words are the words you speak or agree to that finalize your marriage – a popular response to the contracting words are I do.
But, if the type of ceremony you’ve chosen allows for personalization, you may choose to write your own vows. Writing your own vows can be tough, but the only person who can express how you truly feel is… well, you. If you feel confident enough, this may be something you choose to do, but if it’s not, that’s fine too. There’s no right or wrong option.
19. Choose two people to be witnesses
We’ve already touched on this, but as part of the legal process, you need to have two adult witnesses at your wedding who are happy to sign the marriage register to say they were there to witness the two of you get married.
It’s a symbolic gesture and super easy to do, but it’s not something you’ll want to spring on someone the morning of the wedding, so make sure you ask them in plenty of time. The only prerequisites are that they must be capable of understanding what’s taking place, which also means they have to have a solid understanding of English.
20. Book your dream honeymoon
Whether it’s immediately after the wedding or a few months down the line, a honeymoon is a non-negotiable for the majority of couples. If it’s something you plan to do a couple of days after the wedding and your budget allows for it, make sure you don’t book it too late. Yes, it’s another cost, but you’ll avoid possible disappointment if you get it booked sooner rather than later.
21. Finalize your wedding plans and payments
Use your wedding planning checklist tool to track invoices and payments so you don’t miss any deadlines. The last thing you want during the last few remaining weeks and days before your wedding is for a vendor to cancel your booking because you forgot to pay your final invoice.
Just like Santa Claus, you’ll want to check your list twice (or even three or four times), so nothing gets forgotten or overlooked.
22. Enjoy the build-up to your marriage
Planning your wedding is a lot of work, and with so many things to keep on top of, you might feel a little stressed or under pressure at times. But, it’s important to savour the moment and enjoy yourself. You’re probably never going to throw a party of quite the same magnitude again, so make sure you take a little time for yourself, and lap up the love and attention you’ll get from your family and friends.
23. Attend your wedding ceremony
By the day of the wedding, there should be nothing else left to organize, and the professionals you’ve hired to help make your day special will know exactly what to do.
The most important part of the day is the ceremony itself, specifically the declaratory and contracting words. Don’t be tempted to say ‘no’ as a joke – it’s a legal declaration so you have to follow the instructions given to you by the registrar if you want everything to go ahead and be valid.
Then, once you’ve signed your marriage licence (along with your officiant and witnesses), it’s official — you’re married!
That’s really all there is to it. Your wedding day will fly by in the blink of an eye, so soak in every moment, take plenty of mental (and actual) pictures, and most importantly — enjoy it!
24. Make your marriage known
Once you’re married, it’s time to enjoy life as newlyweds! The legal part is done, but if you’ve changed your last name, you’ll need to update your information with various institutions, including your bank, insurance providers, and provincial driver’s licence authority.
You should also notify the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and other government agencies, as marriage can impact your taxes and benefits. Updating your status promptly helps avoid any surprises, like an unexpected tax bill down the road.
Plan your perfect wedding with Bridebook
Are you wondering how to get married and plan your ideal wedding? Sign up to Bridebook today to access all the tools, tips and information you might need to make it happen.
Browse other similar articles…
- How to Save Money on your Wedding: The Ultimate Cost-Cutting Guide
- The Ultimate Wedding Ceremony Order
- The Ultimate Canadian Wedding Budget Breakdown
Happy Planning!
Related articles
