Weddings FAQs

Catholics are welcome to have a Church of England wedding. It will always be taken by a Church of England vicar, for legal reasons, but a Catholic priest can be involved in the service by doing prayers, readings or even a talk/sermon.

If one of you is a Roman Catholic and you want the Roman Catholic Church to recognise your marriage, you will need to seek the advice of your Roman Catholic priest about the permission required for marrying a non-Roman Catholic.

The website Interchurch Families offers more information.

You are welcome to have a Church of England wedding, even if your spiritual views are different.

Spirituality comes from the deepest part of ourselves and can be hard to articulate. Some people have a vague sense that there is ‘something more’ than the physical universe, and others have stronger convictions, perhaps even a definite faith they can put a name to.

For others, their questions and doubts are too numerous for them to claim they have any belief at all in a spiritual dimension.

The vicar understands that spiritual beliefs are complex and varied. They welcome questions about faith if you have them. Whether faith is a journey that has not yet begun for you, or whether you’re just unsure, it need not be a barrier to a church wedding if you want one.

Regardless of what you believe, there are legal rights regarding Church of England weddings and it is the vicar’s privilege to welcome all who can legally marry in the parish.

However, the service will always be a Christian one, with words that speak of Christian beliefs. These words can not be changed and the vicar can not omit certain words if you don’t wish to say them.

To help you decide if the Church of England marriage service is for you, take a look at the words of the service together and see if they strike a chord, and if you will feel comfortable saying them on your wedding day. A sample of a typical wedding service can be viewed here.

Yes you can. You are not required to have been baptised at a christening, or be a regular churchgoer, to have a church wedding.

If you have a legally-recognised connection to a church and there are no other complications to consider, you can get married there.

However, you can still be baptised as an adult and if this is something you’re thinking about, get in touch with your local vicar, who will be delighted to talk to you about what it involves.

You might have a particular vicar in mind to take your wedding because of family or other connections. That’s usually possible to arrange, but the vicar of the marrying church will need to be involved.

Occasionally, couples have a member of the family or a friend who is a vicar, or know a vicar very well from a parish where they used to live, such as where they grew up.

As people move and live in different parts of the country more than they used to, the vicar who you’d love to take your wedding may be based elsewhere.

The first step is to talk to the vicar of the church where you would like to get married, who can advise you on the possibilities.

It is usually fine for a different vicar to come into the parish of your marrying church and take the wedding, so long as they are a Church of England vicar, and so long as the vicar of the church is happy to arrange it. Discuss your plans with both vicars to make sure.

For legal reasons, a minister from another denomination (eg Methodist, Baptist, URC), is not able to do a Church of England wedding. But they can be involved in other ways, for example by doing the readings, prayers, or even the talk/sermon if the marrying vicar is happy with that.

Yes you can – there are a few legal requirements for getting married in church, but being a regular churchgoer is not one of them.

If all the basic legal requirements are met, you can get married in your local church, or one where you have a legally-recognised connection.

Sometimes, if a couple has no connection to a church but would love to marry there, a connection can be created with that church if they go along to its usual services for a period of six months. This is the only occasion when regularly attending the church would be required.

Most weddings will require banns reading several weeks before the ceremony. They need to be read in the church where each of you lives and in the church where you will be married, if that is in a different place. This page helps you to locate your local church(es).

Visit AChurchNearYou.com and either enter the postcode of your address into he search box, or start typing your road name and district. Addresses that match what you are typing will start to appear in a drop-down menu. Select the correct address when it appears, and then click the arrow button to search.

Your search results will show a list of churches near to you and a map showing the parish where you live shaded in orange. At the top of the list, highlighted in an orange box, will be the church or churches in the parish which cover your postcode/address. This will most likely be the church where your banns will be read. Click on the church’s name to see more details about it, including the contact details.

Once you’re in touch with the church, tell them your good news, the date of your wedding and that you require local banns. They will take your details, confirm that you live in the parish and will then let you know what happens next.

If it is not clear which is your parish, for example if you live on the very edge of a parish boundary, or if you live in a newly-built housing area, contact us for help.