Booking your Wedding
Once you have decided to have a Traditional Church Wedding your next move is to contact our Cluster Administrator or email atlanticcoastclusteroffice@gmail.com.
It is useful to have a date in mind for your Wedding, although this is not essential at this time. It is often the case that couples planning to marry are exploring available dates to fit in with options they have been given by the venue where the reception is to take place. However it is better to book your Church service first to avoid any disappointment in dates that coincide with both the Church and the venue
Legally you can marry between 8.00am and 6.00pm, however we find that most couples usually time their Wedding between 11.00am and 3.00pm. You can also marry on any day of the week although we do not normally accept a Wedding for a Sunday, this is because of our Service commitments and also this is a time when we normally hold our Baptism services.
We do request a holding fee of £100 for the date and the Church that you have chosen, this will be required at the time of booking your Wedding.
Does it matter where we live?
To be married in one of our Churches you or your partner should have some connection with it. Either of you should live in the Parish or 'qualify' by having worshipped in the Church or lived in the parish at some stage in your lives, or if either of you have been baptised in the Church, or either set of parents have been married in the Church or have lived in the parish or attended Church regularly at some time. Any of these would give you a 'Qualifying connection' and entitle you to be married in the Church to which you have qualified. Evidence of this must be produced at the time of booking your marriage. If you have no connection you can join the Electoral Role of the Church and you would then be required to attend services and support the work of the Church prior to your Wedding.
However in our Benefice, we are sometimes able to consider marrying a couple who have no connection with our Churches or who live away from the Parish. After discussions with the Vicar, and providing he is in agreement, he will ask them to phone the Registrar themselves to discuss this with him. The Registrar will probably require that an 8 day residency is undertaken in the Parish in which they they wish to marry followed by an informal interview with him. The licence (an SRC) will be issued, providing criteria has been met and we will need this before the marriage can take place.
Registrar's phone number is 0300 1234181. There will be a charge for obtaining a licence.
Banns of Marriage
The calling of Banns is legally required before you can be married (not however if you are applying for a licence as above) Banns are called in Church on three Sunday's before you Wedding date. If either of you reside outside the parish then you will have to arrange the calling of your Banns at the Parish Church where you live.
We will notify you when your Banns are to be called so that you can attend the service and hear the reading.
Those who have been married before.
Our Vicar is happy to discuss marrying those who have had a previous marriage. It will be a requirement to supply your original Decree Absolute at this meeting with the Vicar.
Wedding Blessing / Redication of Marriage Vows
We are happy to arrange a Wedding Blessing Service. Normally such a service follows a civil ceremony. A Blessing has all the elements of a Wedding service with the exception of the legal requirements.
We are also always happy to conduct a Marriage Rededication of Vows.
Contact
If you wish to contact someone regarding any aspect regarding any of the above please phone Tony on 01872 573025