The date is written multiple times on the various documents required for a legal marriage in Australia. But nowhere is there any instruction or guidance about what form that date should be written in. Not in the Marriage Act. Not in the Guidelines for Celebrants. Not in the Instructions attached to the Notice of Intended Marriage. Not on the forms themselves.

However, common sense should rule. The best choice is therefore the least ambiguous form and the form that most people will automatically recognise and interpret correctly

Dates required on your marriage papers

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On the Notice of Intended Marriage

• Dates of Birth for each of you
  
• Dates on which each of you signed the Notice
  
• Date on which your celebrant received the Notice (the lodgement date that starts the clock ticking on your one month's notice)
• Date(s) your previous marriage ended (if applicable)
• Date on which your marriage was solemnised (written by celebrant after your marriage to confirm it took place)
  

Declaration of No Legal Impediment to Marriage

• Date(s) on which you made and signed this declaration

Marriage Certificates (3 of them)

• Date on which your marriage took place
  

Which means writing a date between 11 and 13 times!

Using Numbers

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The most common way for people to write a date, thanks to the convenience of keyboards, tends to be in numbers. Most forms will have instructions as to whether that should be DD/MM/YY or DD/MM/YYYY. Simple enough. But the NOIM does not. So first thing to be aware of is that

• the NOIM is an Australian legal form, therefore it is assumed that the Australian form of date followed by month is used.
• using the American form MM/DD/YYYY will result in a serious error of interpretation

Dot, Dash, or Slash?

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While the standard example uses a forward slash DD/MM/YYYY, on the Marriage Papers you are free to choose and use

• a dot  DD.MM.YYYY
• a dash DD-MM-YYYY, or 
• an underline DD_MM_YYYY instead

It really doesn't matter. What matter is the clear demarcation between the day, the month, and the year

Can Are Roman Numerals allowed?

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There is nothing to stop you using Roman rather an Arabic numerals, except, I would argue, inclusivity and common sense!

Today's date in Roman numerals is XII/XI/MMXXV - broken down as 12 (XII), 11 (XI), and 2025 (MMXXV).

In Arabic numerals is is 11-12-2025

Most people can't read Roman numerals, and many who think they can get them wrong, so common sense suggests that we should stick to what people are familiar with.

What about writing the date in numbers and words?

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As in 12 November 2025.

Definitely my preferred option, for a number of reasons:

• It is unambiguous
• It neatly gets over the US/Philippines vs Rest of the World confusion about date/month or month/date order
• If the end result is that the form of date on the Official Marriage Certificate issued by Births, Deaths, and Marriages, (the one that proves your marriage has been registered) differs, it is easy for their system to convert.
  

Thanks for reading!