Church of England Weddings

If you wish to have a religious ceremony in a Church of England church you will need to fulfil some criteria before hand.

 

Your own Parish Church

You are entitled to be married in the church of one or other of your Church of England parish.

Another Parish Church

If you are an active worshipper at a church outside of your local parish, you would normally be able to marry there still and you should speak to your parish priest.

If you have your hearts set on marrying at a church that is outside of your local parish, you may still be able to do so, but you would need to be on the electoral roll of your chosen parish. In order to be able to get onto the electoral roll, you would normally have to attend church services at your chosen church for a period of 6 months prior to going onto its electoral roll.

 

 

Special Licences

It may be possible for you to marry at a Parish Church that you are unable to fulfil any of the above mentioned criteria. This would entail you getting married under special licence which needs to be applied for through the Faculty Office under the Archbishop of Canterbury’s special licence.

The first person to discuss this option with would be the Priest of the Church you wish to marry in. It is advisable that you do not start making any other wedding arrangements until this matter has been looked into to ensure that a special licence is available to you as it is not a foregone conclusion.

For more information see: Conditions under which you may apply for a special licence.

http://www.facultyoffice.org.uk/Marriage.html

Booking your Church

It is advisable for you to contact the Minister at the Church you wish to marry in as soon as you know which date you would like, particularly if you are opting to marry at a popular time of year. It is likely that your minister will want to meet you in person to discuss your request.

Wedding Banns

Wedding banns are read out prior to a wedding taking place. They are read out on the 3 Sundays during the 3 months prior to your wedding date. This is a legal requirement and it is intended as an announcement of your intention to marry and to give people an opportunity to make it known of any reason why the marriage would be unlawful. The banns are read out in the church in which you are to be married. Should you be marrying in a church that is outside of your local parish then the banns are read out at your local parish church as well as the church in which you are to marry. If you both live in different parishes then the banns are read in each parish.

Re-marrying in Church

The Church has now recognised that it is a fact of life that some marriages end in divorce and it will in some circumstances; allow divorcees to re-marry in church even while the ex-partner is still alive. Therefore some ministers will conduct marriages in church for divorcees but it is down to each individual minister’s personal discretion. It is wise to contact your local Minister as soon as you know that you wish to re-marry in a religious service. It is likely that your Minister will wish to discuss the reasons for you wishing to re-marry in church, as well as your view of marriage and even possibly why it was that your previous marriage came to an end.

If you find that your Minister is unwilling to conduct a religious marriage, you may find that you are able to have a Dedication service after being legally married in a civil ceremony.

Marriage Preparation

Some Ministers will expect you to partake in some marriage preparation and this can be done as a couple or as part of a group. These marriage preparation sessions are designed to make you both explore how you view things such as:

Bringing up children

Handling money

Dealing with family issues

The role of a husband and wife

Often if you have differing views they will be brought to the forefront during these sessions and it then allows you to think about how you will deal with these differences of opinions.

Further Information

We hope this article has given you some helpful information on religious marriages. For more information and advice see:

http://www.cofe.anglican.org/lifeevents/weddings/index.html

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