Weddings

Congratulations.
We are delighted that you are thinking of being married at St Benedict’s.

Marriage
An extract from our Diocesan Website
“The Christian church believes that marriage is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman; and that sex is at its best when reserved exclusively as an expression of love within a marriage. There are many different choices available for couples considering marriage. And its not just the choice between a civil wedding or a church wedding. If you chose a civil wedding you can get married in the local authority’s register office or in hotels, stately homes, and even football stadiums.
The church offers more than just a venue for a wedding; it offers practical care and concern for the whole of your married life together. And there are many options you can chose within a Church wedding to make the start of your married life a very special day. If you chose a civil wedding the Church, in some circumstances, offers a service of blessing.”
Want to find out more ?  Then please click on this link
We are delighted that you would like to be married at St Benedict’s, but the legal  rules surrounding marriage can be complicated, so please read on !

If you live in our Village

If you are both living in our parish and it is your normal place of residence the rules are fairly straightforward.  The parish boundaries and those of our village are very similar, but do become a little complex on our boarder with Penn and Lower Penn. Our Parish Administrator is very willing to help by consulting the parish maps if you live in one of these areas.

Banns

This is the legal method by which we acquire the license to perform your wedding. If you both live in our village Banns will be called at St Benedict’s
If a couple are living separately and in different parishes.
You can be married in either of the parishes.  If  you live in different parishes don’t forget that Banns of marriage will have to be called in both parish churches and that A certificate of banns from the other parish will have to be given to our Parish Administrator.
You may wish to be married at St Benedict’s  but you do not live in our parish.
Legally, only certain people have the right to be married in our church. Usually that right comes through residence in the parish, but there are other ways of establishing a legal right of marriage, to help you these are set out below

Regular worship

Those who are baptised and who worship regularly over a period of six months can apply to be on the church electoral roll. Those on the church electoral roll of our church can be married there, even if they do not live in the parish. The rules do not set out what is meant by regular worship but in Wombourne we expect those applying for membership on our electoral roll to be present at services 13 times in six months

Residency

It is possible for a person to claim residency in more than one parish. For instance, a student might reside at college in term time, and also have a residence with a parent out of term time. It may be that work commitments means that a person resides in one place to work, but travels to another residence at weekends.
If a second residency is claimed, it must be real, with actual examples of and time spent at that address and personal effects being at that address,. Quoting a false address is not legal.

Archbishop of Canterbury’s Special Licence

This is available for those who can demonstrate a real link with a parish, although they are not currently resident. It may be that family originally came from the parish, or that a person has been a worshipper in the church in the past. There is no guarantee that a special licence will be granted. A fee is payable for a licence, if granted. Our Parish Administrator is always will to give advice about whether or not our experience indicates that an Archbishop’s Special Licence will be granted. Advice is also available from the
Faculty Office. 1 The Sanctuary, Westminster

Common Licence

A common licence can be granted if you have temporary residence in the parish. It is necessary to have a place of residence and make reasonable use of it, such as eat and sleep there, for a minimum of 15 days. licence is It does not matter whether that residence is shared with someone else, or whether that residency comes to an end after the wedding. There is a legal fee for a common licence.

And finally, a warning

It is up to you to ensure that you fulfil the legal requirements to enable you to be married at St Benedict’s. We may have arranged a wedding subject to you acquiring the legal right to be married in our church. If you do not fulfil the legal requirements the wedding might have to be moved or postponed

Remarriage after a Divorce

We are happy to talk with you about the possibility of marrying in Church where either or both of you have been married before and that marriage ended in divorce. The Clergy team follow our Diocesan guidelines and will meet with you to discuss the criteria and the application form.

Before making a decision about whether or not it will be possible for you to be married in our Church we would need to talk openly and honestly about the past, your hopes for the future and your understanding of marriage.

Some of the questions may include:-

• What does marriage mean to you ?

• What have you learnt from your previous marriage ?

• Has there been a healing of past hurts ?

• If children are involved, are they being cared for ?

• When did the divorce become absolute ?

• When did your new relationship begin ?

• Are you wanting to grow in the Christian faith ?

If, after our discussion, you decide to make an application to be married at St Benedict’s you application will be discussed by the clergy team before a final decision is made. All our discussions are held in the strictest confidence.

Wedding Blessings

We are very happy to celebrate significant wedding anniversaries where couples wish to re affirm their wedding vows.

Some people choose to marry abroad and a blessing of the marriage is a good way To enable family and friends who were not able to be present at the ceremony to join in the celebrations.

The Service

Wedding Services are normally on a Saturday, when the wedding times are 12noon, 2.00pm and 4.00pm.   An increasing number of people choose to be married on a Friday and it is possible to be married on any weekday. We regret that we are unable to arrange weddings on a Sunday.

Most of our weddings are conducted according the wedding Service in Common Worship, If you would like to have a sample copy of our service booklet please click the link here.  

In the months before the wedding our of our Priests will arrange to see you both to talk about the details of the wedding service. A series of booklets of helpful advice are available from the Parish Office and can be downloaded by clicking this link.