It’s exciting that you are considering getting married in our church!
A wedding is one of life’s great moments: a time when a couple affirm their love and commitment to one another, surrounded by their family and friends, who are there to support them with their love and prayers. To be married in church is also to acknowledge God’s role in bringing you together and to ask Him for His continued blessing in the years ahead of you.
Here’s a video from Kirsty and Jason’s wedding in 2014. The videography is wonderful and will give you a feel for a wedding at St Mary’s.
We take our role in helping you prepare for your marriage very seriously. You will be invited to meet with a member of our ministry team and also to take part in a marriage preparation day. This will be followed by an individual meeting with the minister officiating at your wedding.
During the period leading up to your wedding, it would be customary for you to regularly attend one of the services we hold at St Mary’s. This gives us a time to get to know you and enables you to experience something of the life of the Church in which you wish to marry. Details of our Sunday services can be found on this website.
The Wedding Service
There is a lot more flexibility in the ceremony than many people think. There are obviously required legal parts of the service, but there are lots of ways to personalise your wedding to reflect your personalities and guests.
Here are a few documents that may be helpful.
AV Technology
We have a modern AV system in the church, which enables music and videos to be part of the service. This has been particularly appreciated during the pandemic, when couples have wanted to include greetings, readings and speeches from people who couldn’t attend in person. We also have the ability to live stream the service – the quality of the video will not be like a professional videographer, but is so much better than missing the wedding entirely.
Legal Matters
The Church of England allows for couples to get married within the parish where they live or at the parish where they are regular worshipping members. It is also possible for couples to marry in a church that has special significance to them, even though they live elsewhere. A couple are able to be married in the church if one of the following applies:
- One of you has been baptised or prepared for confirmation in the parish
- One of you has lived in the parish for six months or more
- One of you has at any time regularly attended public worship in the parish for six months or more
- One of your parents has lived in the parish for six months or more within your lifetime
- One of your parents has regularly attended public worship in the parish for six months or more in your lifetime
- Your parents or grandparents were married in the church
If one or both of you is not a UK national, it is still possible to get married at St Mary’s, but there may be a bit of paperwork to do. Please get in touch with us early so that we can guide you through it.
Marriage is a solemn covenant for life and we do all we can to support couples going through difficult times. If you would appreciate support and advice in your marriage, please contact us and we will do what we can to help. We recognise that life doesn’t always work out how we want it to and acknowledge that we all make mistakes. Divorce is a sad reality for so many, and there are some times in which it is appropriate for people to be remarried in church. If this applies to you, please download this form: Remarriage After Divorce.
Need More Info?
If you’re interested in getting married at St Mary’s, please contact our Church Office on 01455 558797 or office@wycliffefellowship.org and we will send you a Wedding Enquiry Form to complete for us.