Weddings

If you are looking at this page – Congratulations! (We guess you’re reading it because you’re thinking about getting married. If you are just looking for information on Banns of Marriage click here . Also, if either of you have been married before and are divorced, please follow this link). This is a big step that you both need to think through – how it will work out – how you will both care for each other after the first rush of love, wedding and honeymoon. So just to get you both thinking – here’s a comic video with a strong message – just for you…

If you want to talk through these things before the big step – do take the opportunity to do so. You can speak with the Vicar or show the video to close friends and ask them to chat about their experiences and you both need to find time to speak honestly to each other about how you would deal with these and other situations before you commit to marriage. Marriage is a big step, but so worth it if its right and you can get God at the heart of it.

Weddings in churches of the Church of England are covered by the law of the land and the local clergy operate as ‘Clerks in Holy Orders’ which gives them authority to marry folk under certain controlled circumstances. The rules for who local clergy can marry changed on the 1st October 2008.

An early step you’ll need to take if you want to get married at St. Judes is to contact the vicar, Tim Smith, to arrange to meet him for an intitial discussion. Before you do that, please take the time to read the information below to see if you are eligible to be married at the Church. The vicar will need to see certain formal documents, details of which can be found on the application form you can dowload below.

You have a right to marry under Banns (Churches involved read out your names in Church over three Sundays to make sure you meet the criteria below, in the hope that someone who may know you would confirm any irregularities – such as you’re married already etc!) in your local parish church if:

• You are both over 18 (or over 16 with parental permission)

• One of you has a qualifying connection (see below for what they are) with the Church and the Church’s geographic parish boundary. (If you want to check which Church of England Church parish you live in now, or have lived in, and know the postcode, follow this link to check.)

• Neither of you has been married before. If one of you has and is now divorced, there is no right to re-marriage, it is at the sole discretion of the minister. If this applies to you then we need to have a conversation about the circumstances of the divorce to see if re-marriage is possible at St Jude’s Church. Follow this link for more information that you will need to consider before you proceed any further.

After the 1st October 2008 you can marry in a Church of England church of your choice, subject to the conditions above, if you can prove one or more of the following connections:

1. You were baptised in the church.

2. You were confirmed in or from the church.

3. A Parent or Grandparent of yours was married in the church.

4. You have had your usual place of residence in the parish of the church for at least 6 months.

5. Your Parent has had their usual place of residence within the parish of the church for at least 6 months during your lifetime.

6. You have habitually attended public worship at the church for at least 6 months.

8. Your Parent has habitually attended public worship at the church for at least 6 months during your lifetime.

An application form is downloadable here.

If you are thinking about getting married in Church, but you don’t go to one – why not look into why we find St Jude’s a great place to be part of by joining one of our Alpha Courses? Maybe the video above raised a question for you about faith and its impact for a relationship? We have discovered a very real relationship that’s available with God through Jesus and lives filled with hope and purpose. Ask about going on one of our Alpha Courses. Then if you did discover something new and exciting, you might want to join us anyway!

Fees for weddings are set by Parliament and in 2010 a typical wedding at St Jude’s would probably be up to £400 before you spend anything with others on flowers or photographers etc. That would cover the Minister’s time, banns, heating, an organist and the normal nationally set service costs. But it is only a guide and we can give you further details when we meet.

If you want to know more about this or any of the things mentioned here, please initially contact the Vicar before you book anything to make sure a marriage is possible on the dates you prefer in St Jude’s Church (there is a ‘contacts’ link at the top of the page). Even if you qualify to get married in St Jude’s Church, it may not be possible to hold a wedding on a particular date or time – therefore it is crucial you do not book any other venues until you check with us that the date you require is available in the Church.

If you wanted to look at some general ideas about a service, hymn selections etc, why not try the Church of England’s ceremony planning web site. (The site is really helpful and gives some ideas on planning your service, but the actual service at St Jude’s might be in a different order to the way the site shows its results - so please don’t get anything printed until you speak with the Vicar!)

SPECIAL NOTICE

St Jude’s Church has plans for a building project. We do not yet know timings (the earliest will be a Spring/Summer 2012 start, and it could be closed for up to 12 months) so it is possible the Church may be closed for those works. If that happens at the date of your wedding we will still be able to hold your marriage ceremony, but it will instead by under a licence we obtain to carry out a wedding in an adjacent parish.