Billingham Team Parish covers the churches of St Aidan's, St Luke's, and St Cuthbert's, and St Peter's Wolviston (St Mary Magdalene is in the process of closing at present). We welcome enquiries from anyone in the parish who would like to be married in any of the churches, and we look forward to meeting you. (If you don't live in the parish, there are various other ways that you may have a 'qualifying connection' which permits you to be married here.)

There is something particularly special about being married in church. That's why we sometimes call it 'holy matrimony'. Somehow it is more than just a quick legal process and a formal procedure before a couple of witnesses - something different is going on in a church wedding. And of course there is the magic of the setting.

Come and get to know us

The best first step towards being married in the parish, if you're not already a regular member of one of our congregations, would be to try joining us for one of our services. We have both traditional and more contemporary worship every Sunday, services such as Come and See (fortnightly on a Sunday evening) which is great for adults exploring faith, and Play and Praise and Second Sunday which are ideal for young families.

There will always be someone at one of those services that you can talk to about getting married, and you can find times and places on the page about Services and Events on this site.

What happens next?

We will acknowledge your enquiry as quickly as possible and our Parish Administrator will be in touch with you in a few days.  Normally, she will provisionally agree a suitable date and place for you straight away, although occasionally there needs to be some flexibility. You will then need to arrange a time to come to the church office to provide proof of your identities, nationalities and address.

Between 12 and 6 months before your wedding, we will arrange for you to attend a Marriage Preparation meeting along with other couples - normally on a Saturday morning - this will include lots of useful information to help you plan and make good decisions, and an opportunity to ask questions (there is no such thing as a silly question, by the way).

Closer to the wedding we will be able to tell you which of our clergy will be taking the ceremony, and you will be asked to meet with them to do more detailed planning and preparation, and so that you can get to know each other. There will be a 'run-through' in church a few days before the wedding, and then it is the big day!

So what do we do now?

To enquire further about being married in one of our churches click here.

N.B. Please complete the online form as carefully as possible because, if the wedding goes ahead, we will rely on the information later to register the marriage accurately.