Author: Deborah Shephard

2018 Version

Your Wedding
At
St. James the Great
Birstall
Or
Our Lady & St. Nicholas
Wanlip

A Survival Guide
to help
you have the
wedding day
you want!

Contents
Introduction 3
Getting the paper work right 3
The Service suggested Order of Service 5
Music 7
Flowers 8
Photographs and Video 8
Calling the banns 9
Things to remember 11
Things you might forget
Costs 10
The church: being married in your church
In conclusion 12

Page

Important dates to remember

Date	Time	Description	Location

Introduction

Weddings are a bit like a good meal; the preparation seems to take for ever and it is all over before you know it happened.
The purpose of this booklet is to help you plan and have the best day of your life.

A good wedding cannot be thrown together in five minutes and we want you to feel your wedding was not just a good one but the best you have ever been to.
It is your day and we all hope your wedding will be all that you expected and longed for

Getting the paperwork right

A vital part of the smooth organisation of your wedding is getting the paperwork right.
A wedding application form needs to be filled in, this will help you and the Vicar to fix dates and places where your Banns need to be read, determine whether you will need a special licence or not and ensure you have come to the right church.

At an early meeting dates need to be fixed to arrange times for the wedding preparation sessions and the wedding rehearsal. We’ve left a space for you to make a note of these at the beginning of this booklet

If you are a divorcee, at the first meeting please bring a copy of your decree absolute to show the vicar.

The Service

I want to stress again that this is your day and we would encourage you to see how you can bring your own particular requirements to the service.
The church has at its’ disposal all manner of talents and facilities you may find useful to create your perfect day.

Organ

Flowers

CD player

Bells

The service has a fairly structured format with the marriage encompassed in hymns, readings, a sermon, prayers and, of course, the signing of the register but there are many variations on how you can put these things all together.

To help you start your planning I have included a possible
Order of Service.

Suggested order of service
Enter to music
Hymn or Song
The Marriage
A Reading
The sermon
Hymn or Song
Prayers
Final Hymn or Song
Blessing
Signing of the register with music
Out to music

Remember this is a suggested pattern - you may have ideas which are different and which will be better for you. Please feel free to discuss them with the vicar

Suggested Readings
There may be at least one reading from the Bible. Here are a few ideas.
1 Corinthians 13 Paul’s thoughts on the all-importance of love.
1 John 4:7-end God is love and we should love one another
John 15: 9-12 Jesus’ command for us to love
Genesis 1:26-31 God creates man & woman
Ephesians 3:14-end God is the father of all families and the
abundance of Jesus’ love.
Ephesians 5:21-end Love, obedience and mutual self-giving.
John 2 1-11 T The wedding at Cana
Colossians 3: 12-17 The life of love
For your notes

There are obviously many more but this will keep you going for a while. Please contact the Vicar if you get stuck.
We will also be able to help you choose hymns and any special prayers you would wish to include in the service.
Occasionally people wish to have their wedding as part of a service of Holy Communion and if you have thought about that then please feel free to discuss it.

You may want a member of the family or a friend to be involved in the service. Or you may wish your local minister to be involved. There are several opportunities for this, please mention it to the vicar.

Music
An organist will be available to play at your wedding.
Some people have friends or family who are musicians and, wherever possible, we are pleased to welcome them into the church to make your wedding service distinctively yours.
If you wish to use CDs please provide the originals and not copies.
Please discuss any special arrangements with the Vicar and organist as soon as possible.
The Vicar and organist are also happy to help you choose your hymns and processional music. Please make contact with them in church.

Putting all this information together so that your guests can easily follow your wedding service can be a bit of a challenge. So to help you the Church offers a formatting and printing service for your Order of Service sheets. Options and prices are available on page 10. The Vicar will also be happy to give you more details.

Flowers

Flowers bring beauty to the church and to your wedding. Our flower ladies - in arranging your flowers - give their time and talents for free as a blessing on your wedding day; charging only for the flowers themselves. With this in mind we would ask you to consider leaving at least one pedestal in church for the congregation to enjoy during our Sunday worship.

Theses are a few examples of Pedestals and Pew ends

A full list of prices and suggested combinations is on page 10

Photographs and Videos

Photographs and videos may form an important part of your memory of your wedding day. Your photographer is very welcome in church. It would be good to ask them to make contact so that the vicar can advise them on practicalities for the day.

Calling the Banns

Having your Banns read is a legal requirement and needs completing prior to the marriage.
You might need a Banns certificate from the other church(es)
Please note;
If the bride and groom live in the same parish as the Church they are to be married in, then the banns need reading at the Church alone and the Vicar will organise this automatically.
If the bride and groom live in a different parish to the church they are to be married in then their banns need reading at the church where they reside. Please note: if the bride and groom live in two different parishes to the church that they are to be married in then their banns need to read at both churches.
To have your banns read you will need to contact the Anglican Vicar at the church where you reside in good time as the banns need reading on three consecutive Sundays, normally a month prior to the wedding.

Costs

2018 prices
Please note that prices are reviewed every December

Basic Wedding (incls organist, verger, all fees, certs)
Includes all you need in order to get married in church

Optional extras £
Bells 160.00
Flowers
1 Pedestal 45.00
2 Pedestal 80.00
2 Pew ends 20.00
4 Pew ends 35.00
6 Pew ends 50.00
8 Pew ends 65.00
10 Pew ends 80.00
1 Pedestal & 2 Pew ends 60.00
1 Pedestal & 4 Pew ends 75.00
1 Pedestal & 6 Pew ends 90.00
1 Pedestal & 8 Pew ends 105.00
1 Pedestal & 10 Pew ends 120.00
2 Pedestal & 2 Pew ends 95.00
2 Pedestal & 4 Pew ends 110.00
2 Pedestal & 6 Pew ends 125.00
2 Pedestal & 8 Pew ends 140.00
2 Pedestal & 10 Pew ends 155.00
Total

£637.00

The Church: being married in your church
You have decided to get married at St. James or Our Lady and St. Nicholas and we are delighted that you have chosen to do so, because you bring the start of the rest of your life before God in a Christian ceremony this is a serious undertaking though and we believe the day will be made even more significant and more important for you if you feel at home in the church.
We therefore strongly urge you to come to church and worship with us if you don’t already, so that on your wedding day, not only will you feel this is your church but you will be known by the rest of the congregation who will be delighted to keep you in their thoughts and prayers.

Things to remember
Do let us know of your chosen options as soon as possible.
Make sure you keep the vicar informed of any changes to your telephone numbers, home address or e-mail address as soon as you make them. Sometimes people forget and we lose contact.
Do pay your deposit as soon as you have decided on your wedding date thereby securing the date in the church’s calendar. The deposit is £100.00 which will be deducted from the final bill but is non returnable should you cancel.
Things you may forget!
Getting your passport changed.

In conclusion
We hope this booklet will be helpful to you. Please don’t hesitate to ask questions if it hasn’t been covered here.
We hope you will realise that your day is not only vitally important to you, your family and friends but it is also important to the church as well and thus we will do our utmost to make the day as perfect as possible.
If you have any other concerns, before or after the wedding, please come and see Vince as he will be happy to help.

And finally
Do enjoy your wedding day and may God Bless you both so that you may look forward to a long and happy life together

Contact details

The Rector
Revd. Vince Jupp
251 Birstall Road
Birstall
LE4 4DJ
0116 2674517
07840 855030
vincejupp@btinternet.com

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