Weddings

Residence

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One of you must live in the parish of Purbrook or worship regularly at St. John’s. If you are not sure about your residence qualifications, please come along to our 'Vestry Hour', you will find details of this in our parish calendar.

Banns

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 the law requires that we make sure there are no legal objections to your marriage. This is achieved either by having banns published or obtaining a licence. Banns are more usual. You will be told the dates on which the banns will be called when you fix the date of your marriage and you will be invited to hear them published at the main Sunday service.

If one of you lives in another parish, you will need to contact the Vicar there to have banns called in that parish and obtain a certificate. You must then present this certificate to the Churchwardens before your marriage can take place here.

An ordinary licence, which involves extra cost, achieves the same result as banns and is needed if, for example, one of you is living abroad or if there is some difficulty in calling banns.

Marriage in church if you are divorced

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It is possible for those who are divorced to be married at St. John’s although not if the present relationship was the cause of the breakdown of the first marriage. The decision is made at the discretion of the Churchwardens who will need to discuss carefully the circumstances of each situation before making a decision on whether or not to conduct the ceremony. In some circumstances it is appropriate for a Service of Blessing to take place and this can be arranged.

Wedding Preparation

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Couples arranging to be married at St. John’s are warmly invited to attend an evening of preparation for their wedding. This usually takes place at the end of January when you will be able to meet other couples due to be married at St. John’s during the year and have the opportunity to discuss with the Vicar and the others involved the various aspects of the marriage service, e.g. your choice of hymns, music, readings and your requirements with regard to flowers, bells etc.

Form of Service

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We normally use the modern language form of service from Common Worship but you can choose the wedding service from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, if you wish. We prepare personalised Orders of Service for you and your guests to keep.

Timing

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The service lasts about 40 minutes. It is very important that brides arrive on time because of the various people involved in the service and because there may be another wedding after your service. We cannot guarantee that the service will take place if the bride is more than fifteen minutes late.

Rehearsal

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 it is usual to have a rehearsal at some point in the week of the wedding when the key people involved, i.e. bride, groom, bride’s father, best man, bridesmaids, page boys, usher walk and talk through the marriage service. If your wedding is being recorded on video it is helpful if the video operator is also present.

Flowers

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Except in Lent, we will provide flowers in church for which a contribution is requested (see fees below). As far as possible, we will try to match the flowers to your colour scheme. If there is more than one wedding on the same day, couples will be asked to agree on the flower colours.

Music

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If you would like hymns sung at the service, we suggest you choose two but no more than three.  If you are not sure what hymns are appropriate, here are some suggestions:

Come down, O Love divine
Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising
Guide me, O thou great Redeemer
Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
Lord of all hopefulness
Love divine, all loves excelling
Now thank we all our God
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven
O Jesus, I have promised
O perfect love
The King of love my shepherd is
The Lord’s my shepherd

Other music, e.g. for the bride’s entrance, during the signing of the registers and for the procession at the end of the wedding can be discussed with the Organist, Mr Frank Pegg, who is usually available after the 10am service on a Sunday morning.

Photographs

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Photographers are allowed to take pictures of the Bride's entrance, during the signing of the Registers and the procession at the end of the Service but not during the Service itself without the express permission of the Vicar and then only without the use of flash.  The Church grounds may be used for photographs

Video Recording

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 It is possible for weddings to be recorded on video. However, additional fees are payable for video recordings in church. If you choose to have the service recorded, you are well advised to have it done professionally and we do ask video operators to discuss some ground rules beforehand. This is partly to prevent unnecessary intrusion to the wedding ceremony but also for your benefit to ensure the recording you keep is of the best possible quality.

Confetti

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May be thrown in the church grounds, but away from the church porch.

The Reception

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You will soon realise that getting married can be very expensive and it is easy for this most important day to become a huge drain on your resources. We do advise you to be careful about what services you buy from the wedding industry. Spend on the things that are important to you and not on what some in the industry are so eager to sell!

Hiring a hall and caterers, or even organising your own buffet, can be much less expensive and much more fun than going somewhere where it’s all done for you. Receptions can be held in our newly refurbished church hall which seats up to 80.  If you are interested in this possibility, please let us know at the Vestry Hour or email the contact at the bottom of this page.

Statutory Fees

Publication of Banns
Marriage Service
Marriage Certificate

£22.00
£262.00
£3.50

Church Fees:

Administration
Clerk
Verger
Total

£85.00
£30.00
£30.00
£432.50

Additional Fees:

Organist
Choir
Bells
Flowers (not permitted during Lent)
Heating (certain months)
Order of Service

£60.00
£90.00
£120.00
£80.00
£20.00
£90.00

Vidoe Fees (in addition to the above):

PCC Fee
Organist
Choir

£40.00
£55.00
£85.00