Photo: Getty ImagesRegistry weddings are being consigned to history, with staff handing low-cost marriages over to independent celebrants. Court staff across New Zealand stopped conducting registry weddings in July this year, with couples instead being married by an independent wedding celebrant. That left the only registry weddings available at the Department of Internal Affairs offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch - but they too are being given the axe. It also made it easier for couples to access registry weddings. Montgomery said courts wanted to focus on court business, and organising registry weddings was not core business.

Source: Otago Daily Times December 30, 2019 07:18 UTC