Weddings

Your Wedding at St Andrew’s

Thank you for your enquiry about getting married at St Andrew’s/St Michael’s. We love weddings and are delighted to have the opportunity to share in your big day. Our aim is to give you the best possible wedding we can and to work with you to make sure that you have a service that is personalised for you. There is a lot to do so here is a quick guide to help you.

1. Interview with vicar Sadly we are not able by law to marry anyone and everyone who might wish to have their service here. Current regulations require that you live in our parishes, or worship regularly with us, or are able to establish a connection with us. The vicar will make an appointment with you to discuss this and complete our application form with you. We also have a policy which applies where you have been married before, and there are special procedures which apply if one of you is a foreign national. These issues will also be covered in the interview.

2. Making a firm booking your wedding day. Once there has been a satisfactory outcome to the interview we look forward to making a firm booking with you. Please contact our Church Admin Assistant, Benta Hickley, on the church email ([email protected]) to make a booking. We need a deposit of £100 before your booking is confirmed.

3. Marriage Preparation. We would like to take some time with you to reflect on your marriage service and on the meaning of the vows you will be making to one another. There will also be time to consider how to personalise your service to make the most from your special day, ideally with other couples present so you can get to know each other and have some fun together.

4. Banns. In most cases the law requires us to read out in church a declaration that you are going to get married with the proviso that if anyone knows a reason in law why you can't, they must say so. This must be done not more than three months before your wedding and for three Sundays in a row. We will invite you to come and hear your banns read when this is due. If you live in two different parishes banns must be called in both and you must bring a certificate from the vicar there to say this has been done.

5. Legalities. The Church Admin Assistant  will arrange to make your entry in the marriage registers, sort out the fees, check the banns etc.

6. Rehearsal. We will organise a rehearsal, usually in the last few days before your wedding, to go through the questions of where you stand, what you say etc. It's just meant to reassure you that everything will be ok! It is very helpful if the best man, chief bridesmaid and the person giving away the bride can also be present.

Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any further issues to raise. I do hope all your plans go smoothly and look forward to working with you on the marriage service.

Yours in Christ

Colin Gibson