Marriage

How do I get married at St John’s?

If you live in Farncombe Parish, you are legally entitled to get married at the Parish Church, regardless of whether you’re an Anglican, a Christian of any sort, an atheist or a Muslim! If you live outside the parish boundary but still regard St John’s as ‘your’ church, or want to get married here for some other reason, there are processes we can go through to enable you to do so. The easiest way is to enrol you as members of the church, which will mean worshipping with us at least once a month for six months. You may have what’s called a ‘qualifying connection’ with the church – you or your parents were baptised here, for instance, or you lived in the parish for a certain time.

You can check whether you live within the parish of St John’s here.

If you have been married before but want a second marriage in church, we’d need to be sure that your current relationship hasn’t contributed to the break-up of your previous marriage. Other than that, we try to be welcoming and flexible. It may be more appropriate for you to have a civil wedding and then a blessing in church afterwards – that’s something we can talk about.

The Christian Church regards marriage as a ‘vocation’ to which people are called by God, the same as being ordained a deacon or a priest. It’s a deeply serious and joyful undertaking and lasts for the whole of a couple’s life. If you want to get married at St John’s we’ll want to get to know you for at least a few months – not so that we can ‘test’ you, but so that, in conversation with us, you can test whether you really want to take this wonderful but huge step. We’ll also advise on practicalities and the spiritual side of marriage.