Why Get Married in Church?
A true celebration
Making a public declaration of love and commitment to your partner is a big step. You will want your wedding day to be the perfect start to the rest of your life together — a day that combines a true celebration with a real sense of occasion. The Church of England has years of experience in conducting wedding services with just that special mix.
Traditional and personal
For generations couples have come to the parish church to tie the knot. Getting married in church is to follow in the footsteps of thousands of others who recognize the local church as a focal point of the community. It is there that people gather to celebrate joy and happiness as well as to share sorrow and pain.
Your parish church may have particular significance for you and your family — other family weddings, christenings or funerals that have taken place there. You may have come to the church with your school or as a Brownie, celebrated Christmas or Easter, Mothering Sunday or Harvest Festival.
All these things make the parish church a place where you belong, and to choose to be married there is a tap in to a wonderful richness of tradition and personal history.
Perhaps, like many couples, you have made your home together away from where you were brought up and have no connection with a church near you. Why not take the opportunity of your wedding to make the connection? The parish church is there for you and you will be welcome there. To be married there is a way of settling down new roots in the community, as part of your family life.
Within the love of God
If you choose to get married in church, you will discover an added dimension — that God cares about you and your relationship. In the wedding service you promise to share all that you have and all that you are with your partner “within the love of God”. The beginning of the service reminds us that "God is love, and those who live in love, live in God and God lives in them". Including God in your marriage does not mean that you will avoid the usual ups and downs, but you will know that his love will sustain you and that you can look to him for help and guidance.
And before this congregation
When you are married in church you are married not only in the company of the friends and family you have invited to your wedding, but amongst a community of Christians who will have been thinking of and praying for you on the run up to your big day. Couples usually go to church on the Sundays when their banns are read. You will be made welcome and prayers will be said for you. The regular congregation loves to be able to put faces to the names they hear and taking the opportunity to go to a Sunday service will help you feel at home and comfortable there on your special day. As you plan for your wedding you will meet and get to know the minister and possibly some other people who will help, support and advise you.
From this day forward
There are so many things to think about when planning your wedding — the service, the reception, the dress, the cake, who to invite, who sits where, the honeymoon. All these things are important, but the wedding is just one day. What you are committing to is a relationship that you mean to last for the rest of your lives. However well you think you know each other, even if you have lived together for some time, you are still two separate individuals with different life experiences, personalities, hopes and fears. So it is important that alongside all the wedding preparations you take time to spend time as a couple talking through your expectations of marriage.
You are welcome to be married in one of our churches if just one of the following applies:
- one of you was baptised or prepared for confirmation here;
- one of you has lived here for six months or more;
- one of you has at any time regularly attended public worship here for six months or more;
- one of your parents has lived here for six months or more in your lifetime;
- one of your parents has regularly attended public worship here for six months or more in your lifetime;
- your parents or grandparents were married here.
If one or both of you are divorced, this doesn't necessarily mean that you may not marry in one of our churches. Please don't hesitate to get in touch to see if we can help.
If you would like to discuss wedding arrangements, we’d love to hear from you. Please don’t hesitate to contact one of the ministers.
The Cost of a Wedding in 2010
| Marriage Service | £385.50 |
| Verger | £25.00 |
| Organist | £60.00 |
| Choir | £100.00 |
| Bellringers | £80.00 |
| Video Recording (fee) | £60.00 |
| Total Cost | £710.50 |
Not all of the above are compulsory! If you would like more information about wedding costs, then please contact us.