Congratulations on your engagement!
Jesus saw marriage as really important, so we see supporting couples at the start of their lifelong journey together as a very important thing that the church does. For churches, healthy, happy, lifelong marriages are the main thing: what happens on the wedding day comes second to that.
There are some important things for you to know as you consider a wedding at Saint Mary’s:
- Weddings can take place on any day but we will need to discuss the options together as we may have services and events planned on your preferred date.
Let us know what date you’d like, and we’ll get back to you. - We know that things can, unfortunately, go wrong in relationships, and we warmly welcome into our church people who have experienced divorce. There is, however, a slightly different process to arranging a wedding if you are divorced, and one of the vicars will have a conversation with you before you book a date for your wedding. We can’t marry you if your current relationship was a contributing factor in your previous marriage ending.
- Regretfully, it is not currently possible for any Church of England Church to offer marriages or wedding blessings to same-sex couples.
- In order to get married in a Church of England church, you need to have a connection to that church – for example coming regularly to that church, living nearby, or having parents or grandparents married in the same church. For a full list of qualifying connections please see: https://www.yourchurchwedding.org/article/finding-a-church/
- For more information about getting married in the Church of England, please see https://www.yourchurchwedding.org
Sorry if this all seems a bit heavy. If you have any questions about any of the above then let us know and a member of the clergy will gladly chat to you about it.
To take the next step in getting married in either of our churches – St Mary’s or St Leonard’s – please call Louise Marshall, our Parish Administrator, in the church office on 01636 706473.