Weddings at
St Mary’s, Astbury
If you’re
thinking about getting married at Astbury you’ve got a beautiful and
historic venue for your special day.
These pages will answer some of the questions you might have but
please don’t hesitate to phone the Rector, Jonathan Sharples on 01260 272625
or email
rector@hotmail.co.uk
for anything that needs clarifying.
Most people,
unsurprisingly, live outside of the Parish of Astbury.
It used to be
tricky getting married outside the parish in which you live. Thankfully,
however, the Church of England has relaxed its rules on this. If you
don’t live in the parish of Astbury, you can definitely get married here if
either of you can show just one of the following seven connections
with the parish.
Have either of you:
·
been baptised in the parish or
·
been confirmed in
the parish or
·
lived at any time in the parish for a period of at least 6 months or
·
at any time regularly gone to normal church services in the parish church
for a period of at least 6 months or
That one of your parents, at any time after you were born:
·
has lived in the parish for a period of at least 6 months or
·
has regularly gone to normal church services in the parish church for a
period of at least 6 months or
That one of your parents or grandparents:
·
was married in the parish
Even if you cannot demonstrate any of the above connections, we want to
help you explore whether it may still be possible for you to marry in the
church of your choice.
Talk to the Rector well in advance to discuss the options open to you.
What will it
cost?
You’ve probably read all sorts of inflated figures as to
the average cost of a wedding today. The cost of the Wedding Service itself,
in church, does not have to break the bank.
For a wedding at Astbury some of the charges are set by
the Church of England at the beginning of each year and include the fees for
the taking of the service, reading of the banns, wedding certificate,
Verger’s fee, heating, lighting, cleaning etc.
For weddings in 2009 this all-inclusive fee is £ 489.50.
This fee will be revised for 2010 and, as these things rarely seem to go
down, is likely to be around the low £ 500 mark.
There are other facilities St Mary’s can offer to ensure
your wedding day is designed around you and enables you to create the
perfect setting. We have a professional organist, a robed choir and a set of
eight bells {along with eight strong armed bell ringers}. The current fees,
if you want these extra facilities are:
Organ
£120
Choir £150
Bells £200 {£230 midweek}
The only other fee payable is if you are having a video
taken in the service. You’ll need a copyright licence and there is a fee {£
120} for Permission to Video. There is no charge, of course, if you use a
photographer.
So, the wedding service itself is £489.50 and you’ll have
to add any of the above fees if you choose to have any of the “extras”.
Please bear in mind that there are always displays of
flowers in the church for the Sunday service so you may well not need any
extra flowers on the day. And if you have a particular colour scheme in mind
speak to the Rector and he’ll put you in touch with whoever’s doing the
displays for the weekend of your wedding and they may be able to incorporate
that into the flowers they prepare. This won’t cost anything but if you were
insistent on having a particularly rare Guatemalan Orchid, just to use an
entirely reasonable example, and wouldn’t accept anything other than the
yellow and blue shrimp variety, you might have to stump up for it.
Please also factor in to your plans a 45 minute wedding
rehearsal. This would normally take place on the evening before the wedding
to make it easy for anyone travelling from distance although this is
flexible and can be discussed closer to the wedding date. It’s not
compulsory but it’s a very useful time to walk through things and get a set
of spoken vows under your belt. The primary purpose is to set your minds at
rest and to reassure to that you have absolutely nothing to worry about for
the day.
Suggested
Outline Order of Service
Entrance of the Bride
Welcome
1st
Hymn
The Marriage
Reading {s}
2nd
Hymn *
Address
3rd
Hymn
Prayers and Blessing
Signing of the Register
Bride and Groom exit and get {hopefully nice, light}
things thrown at them
*If two hymns only are to be used, this one is omitted.
Useful web
site
The Church
of England has recently put together a really useful website to help you
plan your wedding. It covers all sorts of areas including planning the
service and picking readings and hymns. You can also hear many of the
favourite wedding hymns being sung {though they sound like they’re being
sung by my very posh Aunt}. Stick Church of England + wedding into your
search engine or go to
www.yourchurchwedding.org/planner/
Useful Note
When it comes to giving directions to people, if they’re
using SatNavs it would be useful to point out to them that it’s St Mary’s
Astbury and not St Mary’s Congleton.
Useful
Cartoon
Contact The Rector : mailto:Rector@AstburyChurch.co.uk