specail wedding licence to marry in any church

laurarobby

I have heard that you can get married in any church if you pay for a special licence?

has anyone done this or does anyone know about it. we want to get married in a church which is closer to our home but outside our parish.
we have the vicar of both the churchs (the one in our parish and this one) coming tomorrow evening but would like some information before i start asking questions.

thanks to anyone that can help!!

ellay864

You have to apply for a special licence but there is no automatic right to it. My friend applied for one on the grounds that one of their best friends was the vicar there and they got it OK. If you already have the vicar from the one you want coming to see you that suggests he's supportive of it so that's a good start. Found this - it may be of some help

http://www.facultyoffice.org.uk/Marriage.html

mrs_B_5

We are getting married outside of our parish and have not had to purchase a special licence, although the vicar does have to be willing to marry you (which is suggested by the fact he is coming to see you). We have had to become regular worshippers at the church we intend to get married in (the vicar allowed roughly once a month due to our work commitments), and have had to have our banns read at both churches (the one in our parish & the one where we're getting married). The only thing we have had to pay, other than the usual church fees where we're getting married, was for a certificate of our banns being read in our local parish which was about £40.

laurarobby

I know you can do it by going to worship at the church for 6months prior to the wedding but it will be near impossible. as OH works everyother sunday and in july we will have a newborn and a nearly 3yr old. so unless OH can go once a month on his own then i think we will struggle. the vicar of that church is the same one of all the churchs around here. think he runs 4 or 5of them. so he the vicar of our parish and the one we want to marry in. x

mrs_B_5

I would imagine they would prefer you to take your children to a service than not to go at all I'm sure he will be as understanding as he can about your situation (work, family life etc), the best thing you can do is to have a chat with the vicar when he comes to see you as the entire thing will be very much dependent on what he wishes to do.

laurarobby

hmm might have to tell OH its not happening because there is no way i could cope in a church with a newborn and todder for an hour on my own.. hopefully the vicar will see this and let us have the licence instead. x

Kildare

Not sure if this will help but this website has lots of information on getting married in a church (CoE) and may have some info on the special licenses:

http://www.yourchurchwedding.org/

mrs_B_5

laurarobby wrote: »

hmm might have to tell OH its not happening because there is no way i could cope in a church with a newborn and todder for an hour on my own.. hopefully the vicar will see this and let us have the licence instead. x

Oh no, I was meaning that you could go as a family once a month I can totally understand not wanting to take a newborn & a toddler on your own, it'd be madness!!! We only go once a month (ish ) and the vicar has been fine with that.

I'd imagine they'd definitely want you to attend a couple of times as not going (despite circumstance) wouldn't really show much dedication to the cause.

We live almost 50 miles away from the church we're getting married in & both work funny shifts, hence not having to go every week, but I don't think we'd have been allowed to get married there if we'd have not been to church at all.

stuart.pinfold

We're in the same situation as Amy - we are getting married in a church close to our parents (but not in the same parish) which is around 40 miles away from where we live.

As I work most weekends, our vicar has been fine with us attending, say, two weekends in a row but then not at all for three months. We first started attending about a year ago and have been maybe 8-10 times in that period, and are due to be elected onto the electoral roll next week.

If - as ours does - your vicar runs several churches including the one in your parish, there might not be as much of a problem because of this - especially if you get more involved in the church community rather than just attending every few Sundays. Something like baking cookies for after the service or offering to serve tea in the village hall would, I'm sure, go down well.

The_Prole

Hi, we are in the same boat. Live over 150 miles from the church we are getting married in. Our vicar told us we could apply for a special licence but it would cost us money and he thought it would be turned down. He advised us to make a connection instead by going to church once a month for six months before adding ourselves to the electoral roll there, been attending for 5 months now.

Don't know if this helps but on the first Sunday of every month at our church they hold a family dedicated service which has everyone from newborns though to pensioners in attendance. Might do something similar?

laurarobby

well the vicar has been round and said if one of us go for 6months up to next march we will get put on the church electrol roll. only one of us has to go but we cant change it has to be the same one and we only have to go once a month. their is only 2 services a month. and if we get our son christened their we will have an automatic link to the church too.

their is no family services at this church
Morning Prayer
Every first Sunday at 9:00 AM
Holy Communion
Every third Sunday at 9:00 AM

he said they last about an hour