Weddings
Marriage is a covenant between two people and God.
We extend a warm welcome to you as you begin to make plans for one of the most meaningful events of your lives. We will do everything we can to assist you in your preparations and to enhance the dignity and joy of the occasion. Whether you have ten guests or hundreds, we hope your wedding will be a beautiful and memorable experience.
Here are a few important items you should read as you plan your wedding.
- Getting Ready for Your Wedding
- Pre-marital Counseling
- Planning the Marriage Ceremony
- Planning the Wedding
Getting Ready
There are several things you need to do:
1. As soon as possible after you decide to get married, and before you make final arrangements for a reception hall, call the church and set your date. The sooner you do this, the better your chance will be of getting the date you prefer. A deposit of $100 is requested to hold this date and time.
2. A few months before the wedding, call the church office and make an appointment with the minister for planning and pre-marital counseling. This is a basic part of our commitment to you and of yours to us. Please give plenty of lead time; setting up dates convenient to you and to us is often more difficult than setting the wedding date itself.
3. Should you want the services of an organist, he/she will be assigned some time before the wedding.
4. Get your wedding license no more than 60 days prior to the wedding. Full details are available from the Town Clerk's office at any city and town in Massachusetts. No wedding can be conducted without this official document.
5. Your marraige license should be delivered to the church office at least one week prior to the wedding. This allows us to get the appropriate documentation completed before your wedding.
6. The pastor is open to having conversations about a ceremony that does not take place in the church building. She has conducted ceremonies in reception halls, the beach, in houses, and other such places.
PRE-MARITAL COUNSELING
The Pre-Marital Counseling includes:
A time for the couple and the minister to begin to get acquainted, and to feel comfortable with each other.
A time for the couple to ask questions about the service, or talk about issues that have arisen in their relationship. It is also a time for the couple to help set an agenda, depending on their needs and concerns.
A time to plan the ceremony in detail and understand it completely.
The atmosphere of these sessions is informal and relaxed, and they are usually very enjoyable. We invite you to enter into them expectantly and openly, seeing them as a unique opportunity to grow in closeness and understanding.
If necessary, more extensive pre-marital counseling can be arranged in the Pastoral Counseling Center located in the church.
PLANNING THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY
This service of worship is yours. We invite you to play a major role in planning it so that the vows, the readings, the prayers, etc., all say what you want them to say. We provide a variety of resources and will work with you to put together a service that is beautiful and meaningful. We want the final product of our efforts to reflect honestly who you are and what you believe. It must be acceptable to the minister, so it is an effort we enter together.
Some special things to consider:
Clergy from other recognized denominations may assist the minister if you so desire. The planning and design of your wedding will be done by the pastor of this church.
Do you want friends, family members, or people in the wedding party to do some of the readings?
Photographers, Cameras and Video:
The church asks that no flash pictures be taken during the service. The photographer may take pictures using existing light. We suggest that you talk over your photo needs with the photographer and the minister. Generally, a place can be set aside at the end of one of the center aisle pews for processional and recessional photos. Pictures may be posed at the end of the service if the couple wishes. The same rule applies for videos.
The purpose of these rules is to maintain an atmosphere of dignity and reverence with a minimum of distractions. The wedding is a service of worship, and our goal is to avoid anything that works against that. We will work with a couple to make sure the ceremony and the need of capturing lasting images can blend together.
PLANNING THE WEDDING
A church wedding celebrates not only the love between a man and a woman, but also their pledged fidelity and binding covenant. It is the act of worship in which a couple, together with family and friends, offer thanks and praise to God and asks God to bless their union. The wedding music should bear witness to the couple's stance before God and reflect the service's religious nature, as well as the joyful spirit of the occasion.
An organist will be provided for any wedding held in this church and should be contacted in advance of the wedding date to discuss the music.
A guest organist is permitted with the pastor's permission, but he or she must be an experienced church musician capable of handling our instrument. The cost of these persons is over and above the comprehensive fee and is to be handled seperately.
The church does not provide for printed bulletins. If you would like to hand out bulletins to celebrate the occasion, you must provide them.
APPLICATION FORMS
Our church uses two different application forms to reserve wedding dates, one if the wedding is to be held in the church (Form 1) and one if it is to be held elsewhere(Form 2). Both forms include the applicable fees. The proper from may be obtained by clicking on the menu link above.
