Weddings

Congratulations on your decision to get married!

We wish you the very best in your life together, and want you to get most out of the wedding day itself and the time leading up to it. This page contains information about how to book your wedding, how much you might expect to pay, and answers to other questions that you may have at this early stage.

	Booking your wedding
	What will happen next?
	The cost of your wedding
	Photographs
	Wedding videos
	Confetti
	Printed order of service
	Do you live outside the Parish?
	Have you been married before?
	If you are not a national of a country that belongs to the European Economic Area (EEA)
	Information for same-sex couples
	Banns reading for marriages elsewhere
	Wedding enquiries

Booking Your Wedding

Wedding booking sessions are held, by appointment, every Wednesday evening, 6.30-7.00pm at Christ the Vine Community Church, Jonathans, Coffee Hall. This will be your first point of contact with us. Please telephone 01908-392583 during office hours for an appointment.

During this session a member of the clergy team will take some time with you to discuss details of your application, find out a bit more about you, and help you to fill in a form to begin the process.

It is important that you tell us immediately if:-

i)	You both live outside the area of Woughton Parish

ii)	Either of you has been married before, with that marriage ending in divorce

iii)	Either of you is not a national of a country that belongs to the European Economic Area (EEA)

The minister will be able to give you further information about these circumstances. There are also some notes below.

A member of the booking team will complete your booking by taking a non-refundable deposit of £40 (cash or cheque only), and will confirm that the church, date and time discussed with the minister is available.

NB. If one of you is divorced you will not be able to complete your booking on your first visit. See more information here.

Weddings usually take place on Fridays and Saturdays, at either St Mary’s Woughton on the Green or St Thomas’ Simpson, although it is also possible to get married at the other churches in our parish. Two weddings may be held on the same day, but always at the same church. Therefore it may not be possible to arrange a wedding at one particular church on a specific date.

When thinking about your guest list please limit your numbers to 100 at St Mary’s and 90 at St Thomas’.

What will happen next?

Once your booking has been accepted and you have paid the deposit, you will be invited to a Marriage Preparation session. These are usually held twice a year, on a Saturday morning. This is an opportunity for you to spend time together thinking about married life. It is also a chance to meet other couples intending to marry in Woughton.

About three months before your wedding you will be contacted by the minister who will conduct the service. He or she will arrange to meet you to discuss the things that will make the service personal to you – hymns, music, readings etc. He or she will also explain the legal preparations necessary for your marriage (the reading of banns or authority from the Registrar, depending on who is taking the service). It is most important that you follow the appropriate procedure, and that it is completed before your wedding day.

Following the meeting you will receive an invoice for the fees, which we normally ask you to pay about six weeks before your wedding day. Payment is by cash or cheque at a Wednesday evening wedding booking evening (Christ the Vine Church, between 6.30 and 7pm), or arrangements can be made for you to pay through your bank if you wish.

You will have a wedding rehearsal, usually in the week leading up to the wedding. This is an opportunity to walk through the service and sort out final details.

The Cost of your Wedding

The fees for a wedding in one of our churches will vary depending on your personal requirements. The basic fee is fixed by The Church Commissioners and the Parish. Extras can include an organist, bell ringers, silk flower arrangements and permission for a video, all of which will add to the cost. Your wedding is likely to cost between £550 and £804 depending on your requirements (based on 2017 fees).

Photographs

We are very happy for photographs to be taken outside the church, by anyone you wish. It is important that photographs inside the church, and especially during the service, are taken only by your designated photographer (professional, family member or friend). They may take photos as you enter and leave the church and after you have signed the registers. They may also take photos from the back of the church during hymns, without using flash.

Wedding videos

i)	The minister will be quite specific about where the video camera is to be located. The person operating the camera will need to come to the rehearsal.

ii)	Permission needs to be given before a service is recorded. We have to make a charge for this, especially as the organist is entitled to a higher fee if his/her performance is recorded.

iii)	A licence must be in force before a service can be recorded. This is a legal requirement. A professional video photographer will probably have a licence, but please check. If a friend or member of the family is taking the video they will need to obtain a licence. More information can be found at www.prsformusic.com or 0800 068 4828.

Confetti

If your guests wish to throw confetti we ask that they choose biodegradable and throw it outside the gate, as you leave the grounds.

Printed Order of Service

Many couples choose to have a special order of service printed. Please discuss this first with your minister, who will give advice on the correct wording.

Do you live outside the parish boundaries?

The clergy team of our ecumenical parish currently includes Church of England and Free Church ministers. Whilst there is very little difference in the form of service conducted by them, there are different legal procedures to follow, with different qualifying criteria. Therefore it is important that we establish at an early stage if where you live will affect who can conduct your service.

The Parish of Woughton includes these areas of Milton Keynes, shown inside the red line on the map: Ashland, Beanhill, Coffee Hall, Eaglestone, Fishermead, Leadenhall, Netherfield, Oldbrook, Peartree Bridge, Simpson, Springfield, Tinkers Bridge, Woolstone, Woughton on the Green and Woughton Park.

All our ministers are able to conduct the service if one of the partners worships regularly in one of our churches or lives within the boundaries of Woughton Parish.

Please click here for more information if neither of you lives within the Woughton Parish and neither of you worships in one of our churches.

Information for those who have been married before and are now divorced.

We do have a policy of remarrying those who have been divorced because we believe that the compassion and forgiveness of Jesus Christ makes possible genuine new beginnings. However, the marriage of someone who has been married before is not simply “on demand”.

Both of you and the minister need to be sure that this is the right way forward. The minister who sees you at the wedding booking session will explain the process to you. It needs to be understood that ministers are not obliged to fulfil your wishes for a marriage until they are satisfied that it is the right thing to do.

Please click here to learn more.

If you are not a national of a country that belongs to the European Economic Area (EEA)

If either of you is not a national of one of the countries belonging to the EEA we will need to establish whether you are eligible to marry. This will mean that were are unlikely to be able to confirm your booking at your first visit to a wedding bookings session.

Please Click here for a list of countries belonging to the EEA.

Information for same-sex couples

We are unable to offer church weddings to same-sex couples, or blessing services after a same-sex marriage or a civil partnership ceremony elsewhere. Our ministers will offer care and consideration to couples who approach them, and in some cases may be able to suggest alternatives.

Arranging to have your banns read

If you are having a Church of England wedding in another parish and one or both of you lives in the Woughton Parish, you will be asked to arrange for us to read your banns. This needs to be done on three Sundays in the three months leading up to your wedding. To arrange this please telephone 01908-392583 to make an appointment at one of our wedding booking sessions, which are held Wednesday evenings between 6.30 and 7.00pm, preferably around 3 months before your wedding. You will need to fill in a form and pay a fee by cash or cheque (£41 in 2017).

Wedding Enquiries

Please don’t hesitate to contact one of the clergy team if you have any questions about getting married in Woughton Parish.

Woughton Ecumenical Partnership