Weddings
Michelle and Shane were married on Saturday 20th May at St Mary Magdalene, Loders 2023 by Rev Philip Ringer.
Whichever one of our beautiful churches you are considering, we are delighted that you have chosen to be married in church.
Planning and preparation for a wedding is a time of joy and excitement but it is also a very busy time, and for those wishing to marry over the last couple of years, it was a frustrating time of delay and disappointment. However, with many couples now looking forward to their weddings, we are hopeful that we can look forward to a wonderful year of ceremonies. 2023 and 2024 will be a very busy years, and so if you would like your ceremony in one of our churches, please contact us as soon as possible.
We in this group of churches are here to help you in any way we can and we want to make sure that together we can help prepare a meaningful and personal marriage service to provide a wonderful start to your life together.
You may find Your Church Wedding, a Church of England website, helpful as it runs through everything you need to think about in planning your marriage, including the legal requirements.
If you have already decided where you wish to marry, we will send you a booking form to secure your date, and once we have that, we will be in touch. If you wish to discuss you plans, or you have any questions about marrying in church or just want to chat, we can talk about the next steps in this exciting journey. You can email us at admin@eggardoncolmerschurches.org.
With my very best wishes and prayers for your special day.
Rev Chris Grasske
We are taking bookings for weddings in 2023 and 2024, so do please get in touch if you want to discuss your special day and secure your date.
Marriage Preparation Booklet
We have produced a booklet to help with your planning, which contains helpful information all in one place: contact details for organists, bellringers and florists, as well as a list of fees. You can find it here
Marriage Registration Changes
You may have heard that the way marriages are registered has changed. This doesn't mean that you will have to do anything extra, but your marriage certificate will be a little different from those issued since 1837. There is now the opportunity to include not just your father's details, but also your mother's details - or a step-parent or adoptive parent. While marriage certificates have always been issued at the time of your wedding, they will now be issued by the Register Office and mailed to you following on from your wedding. You are, of course, officially married at the time of your wedding, and we will provide you with an acknowledgement of this for you to take away. Your marriage certificates may take up to 2 weeks to get to you, as the register office has to wait for the church to confirm your marriage.
This is all explained in our marriage preparation booklet, which will be sent out with your booking form, but you can download a copy via the link above.
Wedding Preparation Morning
In the early part of the year of your wedding, you will be invited to our annual Wedding Preparation Morning, usually held in St John the Baptist Church, Symondsbury. This year's informal morning was held on Saturday 4th March and it was lovely to meet so many couples making their life-long commitment to each other this year.
Getting ready for their 2023 weddings, some of our couples at our Wedding Preparation Morning in March 2023
Marriage Blessings
If you get married at a civil ceremony and would like your marriage blessed by God, or wish to have your long-time union blessed, we offer a Marriage Blessing.
The Marriage Blessing acknowledges the commitment already made between husband and wife during a civil ceremony and asks for God’s blessing and guidance in your new life together.
Because it is not a marriage service, banns are not required, there is no exchange of rings and there is no signing of the Register, but it can be designed to have a similar feel to a wedding with hymns, readings, flowers and even bells if you would like that, or it can be an intimate, low key affair.
You can have a blessing in any church of your choice, so long as the church and the vicar are free on your preferred date.
In the first instance, please contact us to make an appointment to meet Rev Chris, who can discuss Marriage Blessings and let you know what the next steps are. You can contact us via the email link at the bottom of this page.
The fees for Marriage Blessings are usually 50% of the marriage service fee (see below).
Please get in touch if you have any questions.
Sam and Reece became Mr & Mrs Wilson on 6th October 2021, in a lovely service at St John the Baptist, Symondsbury. Here we have a picture with Reece catching the first glimpse of his bride.
Fees
Church of England Fees from 1 March 2023
Publication of banns of marriage £34
Marriage service in Church £505
Verger fee £25
Heating fee (if required) £40(October - March)
The above fees are the only ones we would invoice you for. However, if one or both of you live in another parish you are required by law to have your banns also read in each of your local parish churches, and you must then provide us with a Certificate of Banns. You would pay your local church(es) to read the banns as above, and £17 to provide you with a certificate.
The question of fees is an important one when planning your special day. As a Benefice we do not set the main fees ourselves, these are set annually by the Church of England and each year they tend to rise by a few pounds. The table opposite outlines the fees for 2023. We generally send out an invoice about a month prior to your wedding. We don't usually ask for deposits as we understand that things may change for a variety of reasons. We do ask that if your plans need to be cancelled or rescheduled then you let us know as soon as possible, so that we can free up the date for another couple to utilise.
Additional expenses to be considered are if you want to employ an organist, bell ringers and flower arrangers. Payment for these services are between yourselves and them, and we do have useful contact numbers when the time comes.
Chloe & Chris were the first couple to marry in 2023 at St John the Baptist's church in Symondsbury. The sun shone for them on 8th April and a marvellous day was had by all!
Tabitha & James were married on Saturday 18th November in the beautiful St Mary Magdalene church in North Poorton. As you can see from the photographs, they had the most marvellous day!
David and FIona were married in the Summer 2020 in
St Mary Magdalene, Loders. Fiona pictured here entering the Church for the last time as a single lady.
Stephanie and Oscar celebrating with their friends and family after their ceremony in St John the Baptist, Symondsbury on 3rd July 2021
Many thanks to our couples for allowing us to share their beautiful pictures
Emerald and Andrew were married on 9th July 2022 at St Mary the Virgin, Powerstock
Esther and Mischa were married at St Mary Magdalene, North Poorton on 16th July 2022 and went on to have a stunning wedding breakfast in the village.
Amy and Ross showered in confetti as they leave Symondsbury Church after their marriage on 2nd July 2022
Anna & Peter were married on 16 July at St John the Baptist, Symondsbury and can be seen leaving the church adorned with the most beautiful flowers.
Anna & Toby were married by Rev Chris Grasske at St Mary the Virgin, Powerstock on 2 July. This photograph is courtesy of their wedding photographer Ami Robertson