Not so soon, as always, there are conditions!

Before a Hindu couple can get their marriage

registered, they need to satisfy the following conditions:

1. at the time of marriage, the bridegroom must be at least 21 years of age and the bride must be
at least 18 years of age.

2. both the bride and bridegroom must be Hindus. Note: for the purposes of law, the word
"Hindus" includes Buddhists, Jains or Sikhs or anyone else who has converted into any of
these religions. So, for example, if you are Hindu and your wife is Sikh, it would still be covered
by the Hindu Marriage Act and your marriage would be registered in the same way as if you
were both HIndus.

3. either the bride or bridegroom must be a resident of Tehsil (District) in whose jurisdiction the
marriage is to be registered.

4. the marriage should have been solemnized as per the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

What you need to do

Once you are satisfied that you have met the above conditions, you need to go to the Registrar of
Marriage along with the following documents:

1. a complete application for registration of marriage. The application form can be obtained from
vendors usually hanging around the Marriage Registrar’s office. The application form should be:

a. duly attested by an oath commissioner or notary

b. signed by the bride, bridegroom and by two witnesses. The witnesses must be either set of
parents of both the bride and the bride groom. Unfortunately, you need to arrange for the
witnesses to sign the application and be present even if they live in another town or city.

2. An affidavit signed by both the bride and the bridegroom. The affidavit must be made on
stamp paper of Rs. 5 and can easily be obtained from any notary. The notary will also know
exactly what to write on the affidavit but just so you have an idea, this is what your marriage
registration affidavit will look like.

3. Proof of age of both the bride and the bridegroom. (This could be a matriculation certificate/
passport/ voter’s identity card or any other valid document which contains your age.) This must
be attested by a gazetted officer or notarized by a notary.

4. Address proof of either bride or bridegroom in whose district the marriage is to be registered
(valid address proof could be a ration card/ voter’s identity card/ passport). This must be attested
by a gazetted officer or notarized by a notary. To be on the safe side, also keep a copy of the
address proof for the other party to the marriage as you never know when they can ask for it.

5. Four passport size photographs of bride and the bridegroom snapped together in one passport
photo.
6. Two passport size photograph each of the bride and the bridegroom taken individually.

7. Photographs of marriage ceremony – you need to submit 3-4 different photographs of the
marriage ceremony.

8. Marriage ceremony card or any other proof of solemnization of marriage.

9. Marriage solemnization certificate, if marriage is solemnized through any organization like

Arya Samaj.

Once you have the above documents in order, go to the office of the Registrar of Marriage along
with your partner and two witnesses.

Having reached at Registrar’s office, you may get your job done, or you may very well find that
the Registrar is on holiday or not available. As you can imagine, such scenes are very common in
a government office, so make sure that you have minimum of 2- 3 days time to get the
registration formalities done.