It’s totally possible to overthink our legal obligations; I know some trainers put the fear of God into their students about getting everything perfectly accurate. This question was a definite case of overthinking it:

A couple from America have gone gung ho and booked to elope in December. They have their heart set on coming into their wedding on a camel!

I advised them that this our ‘wet’ season and there may be a chance of rain and will need a plan B. However there is no plan B option for a camel to be involved….which is their whole motivation for getting married in this destination. The cameleer has advised them that they definitely need a plan B too. He has asked them potentially plan to have the wedding on 2 consecutive dates (28th and 29th Dec) so that if it is raining on the first date, they can do it on the second date.

I advised them that this isn’t possible due to the NOIM limitations. Anyway I got to thinking, is it totally illegal to fill in 2 NOIMS – one for each date? I feel like this would be a no-no but I guess I want to satisfy my curiosity

As long as they have submitted a NOIM to the celebrant on or before 28 November, they can get married on whatever date they want from 28 December onwards. The date on the NOIM is just for our planning purposes, it’s not legally set in stone. There’s no need for two NOIMs (not that having more than one NOIM in circulation is a problem; it totally isn’t), and there’s no need for any worry about which date they choose to get married on, as long as the celebrant is available and happy to marry them on their chosen date! If they lodge the NOIM with the celebrant and list 28 December, and then get married on 29 December, we can just cross out the details in that box in the top left hand corner of p3 and change them or just leave it. That box is labelled For Celebrant Use, and we don’t even have to fill it in at all, let alone stick to what’s written in it.
Couples’ plans change all the time, and it would be a pain in the arse if we had to do a new NOIM every time their date, time or venue changed 🙂 This couple is totally fine with whichever date they choose from 28 December, as long as their appropriately signed and witnessed NOIM arrived with the celebrant no later than 28 November. This celebrant is totally good to go!