GETTING MARRIED IN CHURCH
REVISED June 2008
You may be thinking about where
to get married. Here at
It is now much easier to get
married at the Church of England parish church of your choosing.
From October 2008 you can get
married in our church if just one of these criteria applies to you.
*
one of you was baptised or prepared for confirmation in our parish (and
that includes
* one of you has lived in our parish at
some time in your life for at least six months
* one of you has at any time regularly
attended church services here for at least six months
* one of your parents has lived here for at
least six months since you were born;
* one of your parents has regularly
attended church services here for at least six months since you were born
* your parents or grandparents were married
here
A wedding is one of life’s great moments, a time of solemn
commitment as well as good wishes, feasting and joy. St John tells
us how Jesus shared in such an occasion at Cana, and gave there
a sign of new beginnings as he turned water into wine.
Marriage is intended by God to be a creative relationship, as his
blessing enables husband and wife to love and support each other
in good times and in bad, and to share in the care and upbringing
of children.
For Christians, marriage is also an invitation to share
life together in the spirit of Jesus Christ. It is based upon a solemn,
public and life-long covenant between a man and a woman, declared
and celebrated in the presence of God and before witnesses.
On this their wedding day the bride and bridegroom face each
other, make their promises and receive God’s blessing. You are
witnesses of the marriage, and express your support by your
presence and your prayers. Your support does not end today:
the couple will value continued encouragement in the days and
years ahead of them.
Love is patient; love is kind;
love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13.4-7
BOOKING THE DAY
Our experience is that it is usually much easier to book the church than the reception. So you may prefer to provisionally book the reception, then make contact with us. Any day except Sundays and public holidays Simply e-mail, phone or write to the Vicar. He will then send you an application form (which you may also download here)
Your wedding is not formally booked until you return the application form duly signed by both of you.
BANNS
The legal preliminary for a wedding service in church is normally the publication of banns over three consecutive Sundays in the parish church or churches where you both live
If you both live in our parish, then your banns are simply called here, at Christ Church.
However, if one of you lives outside our parish, then you need to arrange for your banns to be called in the parish church where you live. You must do this at least four weeks before you are married: three months would be safer! Once your banns are called the vicar or rector there will provide you with a certificate, which will be needed, for the service: this costs £34.
If you are on the Electoral Roll of a parish other than from where you live, you still need to arrange for the banns to be called in your resident parish.
ORDER OF SERVICE
We use the marriage service from Common Worship, unless you specifically request otherwise. You can access this here
Are you having a special leaflet printed?
You may wish to contact Claire Hughes (573849, who prints leaflets for us. Alternatively you may rely on Mission Praise hymn books.
You can also use our church’s
digital projectors as part of having a DVD copy made of the service..
If you are having your order printed, please send a draft to the vicar in good time. Here is a sample order.
For the
service you will need to choose some hymns,
normally two or three. Again the vicar or curate may help you choose hymns that
are suitable for the occasion.
Popular hymns include:
23 All things bright and beautiful
400 Lead us, Heavenly Father
449 Love divine, all loves excelling
467 Morning has broken
486 Now thank we all our God
560 Praise, my soul, the King of heaven
649 The King of love my shepherd is
660 The Lord’s my Shepherd (Tune: Crimond)
You need to decide which music will be played at other points during the service:
THE ARRIVAL OF THE BRIDE
Water Music (Air and Hornpipe) Handel
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor J S Bach
Lohengrin (Bridal March) Wagner
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba Handel
Alle Danza Handel
THE SIGNING OF THE REGISTER
Ave Maria Gounod
THE DEPARTURE OF THE BRIDE AND GROOM
Midsummer Night’s Dream
(Wedding March) Mendelssohn
Trumpet Voluntary J Clarke
You may wish to leave the choice for all these pieces to the organist, June Nicholl and choir mistress, Eunice Woof.
Romans 12.1,2,9-13
Romans 15.1-3,5-7,13
1 Corinthians 13
Ephesians 3.14-end
Ephesians 4.1-6
Ephesians 5.21-end
Philippians 4.4-9
Colossians 3.12-17
1 John 3.18-end
1 John 4.7-12
Matthew 7.21,24-end
Mark 10.6-9,13-16
John 2.1-11
John 15.1-8
John 15.9-17
The Declarations
N, will you take N to be your wife?
Will you love her, comfort
her, honour and protect her,
and, forsaking all others,
be faithful to her as long as
you both shall live?
He answers: I will.
The minister says to the bride
N, will you take N to be your husband?
Will you love him, comfort
him, honour and protect him,
and, forsaking all others,
be faithful to him as long as
you both shall live?
The Vows
(There is
provision for alternative vows from Common Worship)
I, N, take you, N,
to be my wife,
to have and to hold
from this day forward;
for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish,
till death us do part;
according to God’s holy law.
In the presence of God I make
this vow.
They loose hands.
The bride takes the bridegroom’s right hand in hers, and says
I, N, take you, N,
to be my husband,
to have and to hold
from this day forward;
for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish,
till death us do part;
according to God’s holy law.
In the presence of God I make
this vow.
They loose hands.
The Giving of Rings
N, I give you this ring
as a sign of our marriage.
With my body I honour you,
all that I am I give to you,
and all that I have I share
with you,
within the love of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
If rings are exchanged, they loose hands and the bride places a ring on
the fourth finger of the bridegroom’s left hand and, holding it there, says;
N, I give you this ring
as a sign of our marriage.
With my body I honour you,
all that I am I give to you,
and all that I have I share
with you,
within the love of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
If only one ring is used, before they loose hands the bride says:
N, I receive this ring
as a sign of our marriage.
With my body I honour you,
all that I am I give to you,
and all that I have I share
with you,
within the love of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
FLOWERS
There are always flowers in church but you may wish to add some of your own. If so, you should consult Victoria Foster who is in charge of the flower rota. The vicar will give you her phone number. She will advise you. You may remove any of your own display of flowers in church for the reception, except those on the Communion table.
PREPARATION
Marriage is a very serious step and we would like to do
all we can to help you prepare for a fulfilling marriage. We are please to
spend time with each couple to talk about what it means to be married, normally
three months before the wedding itself.
Please phone the vicar to arrange this meeting.
Your wedding will normally be conducted by the vicar or curate. You may prefer to have a simple rehearsal nearer the time. This can be arranged when you see the vicar or curate.
COSTS -
revised annually in January. Prices
for 2008 are:
Church
Service
£379
This
includes organist, verger, banns and wedding certificate
You may also wish to include
Bells
£100
Choir £80
Heating
(Sept-April) £50
Audio
tape £12
Please
pay these fees in advance at the wedding rehearsal. Make your cheque payable to Christ Church
PCC.
However,
please note that the fee for the bells
is payable in cash on the day by the best man.
It is his task to climb the
church tower to pay the bell ringers.
However, because these are all volunteers, they may sometimes be
unavailable during the week.
We have
the facilities to record your service onto DVD – using the camera mounted at
the back of church. This is a popular
facility. It costs £60. You can also ask for extra copies – for
personal use only - at £5 each. We ask you not to copy these yourselves.
PHOTOGRAPHS
We are happy for you to have a
photographer / video operator at the service to record this very special
day. Please note that you will need a
video copyright license. If it is
raining, you may stay in church for photographs after the service – but please,
no longer than half an hour. A good idea
is to plan your photographs in advance, to be overseen by the best man.
FINALLY,
We wish
you every happiness
in your
life together
and pray
that God
will
bless you both in the years ahead.