We are delighted for you
- Many congratulations on your engagement.
- We are delighted that you are thinking of getting married in one of the parish churches of the benefice.
- We want to help you at each step, as you make this lifelong commitment in the sight of God, to one another.
- This is what you need to do to get married in church.
Meet with the Parish Priest
- Most likely, the Parish Priest will be the person who will prepare you both to be married.
- The Parish Priest will ultimately be the person who officiates at your wedding.
- This work of the parish prosy also includes overseeing the legal formularies.
- Consequently after your have got engaged it is essential to contact the Parish Priest as soon as possible
- They will then work with you over a series of meetings at your home, to plan for your wedding.
Banns of Marriage Application form
- In your home where you will have your first meeting with the parish priest, you will complete your wedding banns application form.
- The wedding banns application form serves many purposes. Primarily it is a legal document which will in due course provide the relevant information required to give public notification of your intention to marry. At this point, this is a legal statement made in the presence of the community. What follows is that your wedding banns are read in Church at the main church service on a Sunday. They are read on 3 Sundays and give your public notification of your intention to marry. this process in Law seeks to establish that you are legally free to enter into marriage as a legal contract.
- This is all established in English Law, and the Church is licensed to officiate this.
- Another important part of the banns Application Form, is that it will contain the information that will appear on your marriage certificate.
Planning your wedding in church
As indicated, the best person to work with regard to your wedding in church is the Parish Priest.
- In addition the following website is helpful – especially as you plan the service itself.
- www.churchofengland.org/life-events/your-church-wedding.org (click picture below !)
Publishing Wedding Banns
The churches of All Saints Kings Bromley, St. Peter Yoxall, St Nicholas Mavesyn Ridware and St Michael and All Angels, Hamstall Ridware form a family of four parishes.
The Bishop of Lichfield has granted us legal permission to read wedding banns at any of the four churches (listed own this website). This arrangement is in place because of a lack of clergy to read Wedding Banns at services each Sunday.
All it means from your perspective, is that your wedding banns may not always be read at the parish church you are to be married in.
In good time, the Parish Priest will establish with you when and where your wedding banns are to be call on each Sunday
Getting your Marriage Certificate
On the day of your wedding, you and your witnesses will sign the ‘Marriage Document’. This is an A4 document prepared on a computer.
After the wedding service, the Parish Priest will ensure that the signed Marriage Document is taken to the appropriate Registry Office.
After a couple of weeks, your marriage certificate proper can be obtained directly from the secular authority from: https://apps2.staffordshire.gov.uk/web/onlineorder/default.aspx?FormID=1
If you need a copy of your marriage certificate sooner, please liaise directly with the relevant Registry Office.