If you’re looking at getting legally married in Bali, you’ll both need to state that you belong to one of the five religions recognized in Indonesia, which are Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist, with Protestant being the most popular and easiest choice. Catholic weddings need to take place inside a Catholic Church for it to be recognized by that body.
Legal Wedding Formalities in Bali - Documentation Requirements: What the Civil Registry Office in Bali require is a legally binding document stating that you’re both free to marry. This document is typically known as a Certificate of No Impediment to Marry (CNI). Australian citizens can obtain their CNI by appointment from the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, which we will book for you as a part of our service.
Our legal Protestant wedding package includes document processing, the attendance of a Protestant Church Minister at the ceremony + a marriage certificate issued by the Protestant Church, the attendance of a Civil Registrar + a civil marriage certificate, a return courier service to collect you from your hotel and drive you to the Consulate to pick up your CNI (the cost of the CNI isn’t included but, at the time of writing, the cost was IDR. 1,600,000, payable direct to the Australian Consul-General), a pre-wedding meeting and the attendance of a specialist ceremony coordinator at the ceremony.
In order to register a Protestant wedding, we’ll require the following scanned documents in advance to pass on to the Civil Registry Office in Bali:- Copies of both birth certificates, copies of divorce or death certificates relating to any past marriages, copies of the details pages of both passports, along with the passport details pages of two independent witnesses (who cannot be family members). Birth, divorce and death certificates will need to be translated into Bahasa by an official translator. Baptism certificates will usually only be required for Catholic ceremonies. The original documents should be taken to Bali with you in case they’re needed.
Eight 4 x 6 cm photographs of the couple in the same photo are also required, but it's best to arrange this in Bali. The photos must be of the head and shoulders only with the couple standing side by side, looking straight ahead and with a red background. The groom must be on the right side of bride. These photos will be attached to the wedding certificate.
In a nutshell, this is the process. Once you have your CNI, we’ll deliver the translated copy to the Civil Registry Office in the province where the ceremony will take place, and arrange for a Civil Registrar to attend the ceremony. Typically, a legal wedding in Indonesia consists of two ceremonies that follow each other, with the first being a religious ceremony conducted by the Protestant Church Minister and the second a civil ceremony conducted by the Civil Registrar. Actually, in some cases the Civil Registrar doesn’t speak but he needs to be there to witness the religious ceremony. After the ceremony, you’ll receive two signed marriage certificates, one issued by the Protestant Church and the other issued by the Civil Registry Office, which is the legalizing document.
The religious ceremony doesn’t necessarily need to be overly religious in content, with our ceremonies following along similar lines to a typical civil ceremony in Australia.
As you can see, there are procedures that need to be followed. If you feel the above is too onerous for you, your other option would be to book a non-legal commitment ceremonies and arrange your legal paperwork in Australia.
Our commitment ceremonies have all the trappings of a legal wedding but without the legal implications.
Comments