Weddings

"God is love, and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them."
1 John 4.16

In a wedding ceremony a bride and groom come together with their family and friends to publicly celebrate their love and make a life-long commitment to be faithful to each other. The church loves to see people make this commitment, and it is always a great joy and privilege for us to be a part of a couple’s special day and add God’s blessing to it.

In Bishopstoke, weddings take place at St Mary’s as it is the parish church and is licensed for this.

Can I get married here?

You can be married here if one or both of you currently lives in the parish of Bishopstoke, or if one of these ‘connections’ applies to one of you:

1. I have lived in the parish for a period of at least 6 months of my life
2. My parent has lived in the parish for a period of at least 6 months during my lifetime
3. I was baptised / christened at St Mary’s or St Paul’s, Bishopstoke
4. I have been confirmed and my confirmation is entered in the register belonging to St Mary’s and St Paul’s, Bishopstoke
5. My parent or grandparent was married in St Mary’s
6. I have regularly gone to normal church services at St Mary’s or St Paul’s for at least 6 months
7. My parent has regularly gone to normal church services at St Mary’s or St Paul’s for at least 6 months during my lifetime

If you are unsure whether you live in the parish, you can find out by going to: www.yourchurchwedding.org Alternatively, please contact our Rector, Richard Wise.

Richard can also answer other questions about weddings here and give up-to-date information about dates or make bookings. Most of our Fees are statutory ones set by the church nationally, but we can also usually offer the services of our bell ringers and a small choir on request.

The Church of England is open to considering the marriage of couples where one or both parties has been married previously and a divorce has been granted. If you would like to discuss this possibility, please contact Richard.

You can find out much more about church weddings at www.yourchurchwedding.org

When you have booked...

We give you all the help you need to plan the church part of your day. To do this, we invite you to a series of three evenings (normally in January, February and March) when we think about what marriage is, look at the words that are said in the service and give you all the information you need to plan your service. There are lots of ways of making the service very personal to you whilst also using the official Church of England words. One of the evenings is led by our organists and devoted to music, and the evenings are also a good chance to meet other people who are getting married at St Mary’s.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Fees

Our 'standard fee' for 2012 is £385, which includes the reading of Banns and an organist, but not the choir or bell ringers