We are pleased to be able to offer our beautiful church for weddings, marriage blessings and anniversary renewal of wedding vows. Wedding ceremonies are undertaken by the Parish Priest who is able to process the whole wedding application in house, taking care of the legal preliminaries as well as the Christian celebration.
Those who are hoping to be married at The Church of the Holy Jesus should normally either be members of our church or actually resident within Lydbrook Parish. It is also sometimes possible to be married here, even if not resident here, by means of a legal permission called a Licence.
If this is to be a second marriage there are guidelines that the Church of England has issued for the advice of couples and clergy. It may be legally possible for you to be married here but only if you are either members of our church or resident within Lydbrook Parish. If neither is the case, it is not presently possible to marry you here under English law.
Under the new Marriage Measure, it is possible to marry at The Church of the Holy Jesus if you have certain existing family connections with the church.
Other possibilities may include a wedding blessing after a Civil Marriage (see below) or a service in another (non Church of England) church or chapel.
If a full Wedding Service is not possible for personal or legal reasons, it may still be possible for a wedding blessing (prayers after a Civil Wedding) to be celebrated in our church. Typically a wedding might take place at a Registry Office in the morning and the couple and guests would come to church immediately afterwards for their wedding celebration. Such a service includes many of the parts of a full wedding service but not the legal pre-requisites nor the register signings.
One tradition which is becoming more popular is to include a church celebration as part of a wedding anniversary weekend. Renewal of wedding vows is a lovely way to mark the occasion by giving thanks to God for your relationship and pledging yourselves together for the future. This celebration can also contain many elements of the wedding service and sometimes involves bridesmaids, best man and family members who were present at the actual wedding years ago.
From time to time and sadly a wedding ring may be lost and a replacement obtained. At such a time, some couples wish to revisit the church where they were first married or a church of their choice for prayers to be said recalling their wedding vows and blessing the new wedding ring. This can take place by arrangement quite quickly if required.
If you need advice on how to proceed, wish to ask questions regarding any of the above or discuss this further, please complete the form below. Alternatively, you can contact Georgina Lewis, Benefice Administrator by email: benefice-support@hotmail.co.uk
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