Church weddings - where can I get married?
Jul 4th, 2008 by Katie
While it’s not an especially ethical wedding question, we do get a fair few emails asking about where you’re allowed to get married. It often seems hugely complicated for something that you’d expect to be quite simple! (Read some of our ‘Where can I get married?’ questions and answers)
So I was thrilled to read this post on NewlyWeds-UK by my favourite green vicar and Ethical Weddings expert, Jan Harney about churches in England relaxing the rules a little in recognition of the fact that we all move about rather a lot these days - and the place we’re living might not be the place we call home… over to Jan:
“The new Marriage Measure was passed and will come into force on October 1st. This means that you will not only be able to marry in your local church, but any church to which you have a significant link. This can be a place where you were baptised or confirmed, where parents or grandparents were married or one in which you have been a parishioner for 6 months at some stage in your life, whether you attended church or not.
This is great news - especially for those of you who live in London but want to marry in the place you consider to be home. We can’t actually book weddings in anticipation so hold fire till October and then your Vicar will be able to accommodate you.” Read the original post.
If you’re trying to find the perfect place to wed, why not take a look at some of these posts in our Forum to get some ideas or help out your fellow brides and grooms…
Happy planning!
Katie
I think this is fantastic news - I could easily have not been able to marry in the church we are going to since I live in another town as a student (although fortunately I still technically live with my parents in the parish - close!!). When I lived there regularly it was a church I attended regularly but it seems a bit silly that that wouldn’t have been a sufficient reason for me to marry there until now - I guess many students and other people living away from their ‘home’ church will have missed out before now
I’m really glad to hear things are changing, and will allow many more people to have the Christian ceremony that is important to them! 