Getting Married at St Nicholas Church

There are some fairly complicated rules which govern whether and how you can be married in a particular parish church. If you live in the Deptford area and would like to enquire, please do contact the church office and we will be happy to help you through the maze. We want to marry you if we possibly can! The information on this page is only here as a starter: if in doubt, do contact us.

Residence

First of all, in order to be married either at St. Nicholas, one or other of you usually needs to live in the parish. The blue line in the map below shows the parish boundary. 

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That one of you:

• has at any time lived in the parish for a period of at least 6 months or
• was baptised in the parish concerned or 
• was prepared for confirmation in the parish or 
• has 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

If you are unsure about whether you qualify to marry at St Nicholas please do contact the office and one of the church ministers can discuss your individual circumstances with you.

Banns & Licences

Before you can be married, a "legal preliminary" must take place to make sure there are no legal reasons why you may not be married.

If you both hold a British passport, this is done by the Calling of Banns, an ancient procedure in which your intention to marry is announced in the Sunday morning service for three consecutive weeks. If no legal objections are raised, then you may be married. If one or other of you lives outside the parish then you must also have your Banns called in your local parish church. Your local vicar will then provide you with a Banns certificate, at a cost of £34.00, which we will need to see before the wedding can take place.

If one or other of you does not hold a British passport, then the legal preliminary is not the Calling of Banns. Instead, you will need to obtain either a Common Licence or a Superintendent Registrar's Certificate, depending on your circumstances. This can be a little complicated, so please do make an appointment to see one of the church ministers, who will help you work out the right way forward.

Remarriage after divorce

If one of you is divorced, or if both of you are, it may still be possible in certain circumstances to have your marriage service in church. It is usually much easier to work this out if you are already in a pastoral relationship with the church. Even if it is not possible to marry you in church, we can offer you a Service of Blessing after a Civil Marriage. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this.

Costs

There are two basic costs involved in getting married. The first is the cost of the legal preliminary (see Banns and Licenses, above). The second is the cost of the service itself. The cost of the service is summarized in the table below.

Please note that these are the figures for 2011. If you're planning to get married in 2012 then they will be slightly higher. If you intend to have your service videoed then the cost of the organist is an additional £40.00. If you're looking for a cheaper wedding, then you can save on the organist's fee by asking us not to book one, and we will happily conduct a more simple service for you.

Planning the Service

Should you choose to have your wedding here at St Nicholas we will work with you in planning the service, and guide you through the various choices there are that can make the wedding personal to you.

As an aid to planning, the Church of England has produced an Online wedding planner that can also be of help to you in planning the service as well as giving a great deal of useful advice on all aspects of wedding planning. 

The video clip below highlights some of the benefits of marrying in the church.

If you would like to have the church decorated with flowers for your wedding service, or if you would like a choir or a band, or any other extras, then you will need to organise these things yourselves, but we are more than happy to accommodate you. Please feel free to discuss your wishes with us.

On the Day...

This is about arriving on time! Whilst it is appreciated that it is traditional for the bride to be a few minutes late entering the church, anything longer than ten minutes is very inconvenient for all those involved in the wedding service, and will of course have an impact on any weddings being held later in the day. To the best of your ability, please ensure that you arrive at the right time. In very extreme cases, where lateness of bride or groom has caused the wedding service not to have started thirty minutes, or more, after the scheduled time, the vicar and churchwardens will have the right to cancel the wedding forthwith, without any reimbursement of fees.

A Final Word

The notes above are only intended as an introduction. We believe very much in the personal touch, and would encourage you to get in touch with us if you're thinking of getting married. We will assist you in every way we can.