Weddings

BOOKINGS FOR WEDDINGS and BANNS OF MARRIAGE

Please come to St Chad’s Church Oak Street WV14 9TA on a Friday evening at 6.00pm. Even if you wish your Wedding and Banns to take place at St James church.

Getting married is one of life’s great moments, a time of solemn commitment as well as good wishes, feasting and joy. Bells, music, the warmth of our welcome, and the traditional structure of the Wedding Service all combine to make your Wedding Day one of the most memorable days of your life together.

Jesus shared in the joy of just such an occasion at Cana of Galilee, where he gave a sign of new beginnings as he changed water into wine. And we are glad to offer our Churches for this day of joy in your lives.

Marriage is intended by God to be a creative relationship, as his blessing enables husband and wife to love and support each other in good times and in bad, and to share in the care and upbringing of children. For the Christian Church, marriage is an invitation to share life together in the spirit of Jesus Christ. It is based upon a solemn, public and life-long covenant between a man and a woman, declared and celebrated in the presence of God and before witnesses.

Anyone who lives within both Parishes can call upon our services. Even if you do not live in the Parish, it may still be possible to marry here if we can establish what is termed a ‘qualifying connection’ with either St James or St Chad churches – perhaps parents or grandparents were married here, or you or your parents once lived in the Parish, or you were baptised here. Even if one or both of you are divorced, it may be possible to marry in both churches, but you must speak with Father to discuss your options, and it would certainly be necessary for you to produce a copy of your Decree Absolute.
We take bookings for Weddings (or for Banns of Marriage in another Parish) on Fridays at 6.00pm. Weddings normally take place on Saturdays but, if there is reason, may take place on a Sunday or another day in the week. A £100 non-refundable deposit secures the day and the time for your wedding; the balance is due at the rehearsal that takes place normally in the week before the wedding, but some folk find it helpful to pay off the cost of their wedding over the course of the months between the booking and the actual event.

PLEASE do take a look at the box on the home page of this website about wedding regulations to see what documents you need to bring with you to enable us to book your wedding.

We are now required to see evidence of British Nationality before we can book weddings. We would ask everyone who wishes to book their marriage here to bring with them their passport, or their birth certificate and a utility bill in each name. If a birth certificate is the only form of identification, you will also need to bring a recent utility bill, bank statement, or driving licence to provide evidence of your use of the name on the birth certificate (or provide appropriate evidence of change of name).

If one of the (or both) parties to a marriage is a non-British national (including citizens of the Republic of Ireland), then a Superintendent Registrar’s License will have to be obtained, and you will need to go first to the Register Office;   (Priory Hall, Priory Park, Dudley DY1 4EU) there is a ‘waiting period’ between giving notice to the Superintendent Registrar and the issue of the license. You will need to satisfy the Registrar of your freedom to marry in this country (this may involve documents from the home state) and provide any other certification that s/he requires (so this process may well take some time).