We are delighted that you are considering holding your Wedding in one of the three churches buildings in our parish. Please complete the Wedding Application Form and email to me at [email protected] together with any additional information mentioned.

 

I summarise below some key issues:-

Parishioners?:  Parishioners who live in the parish have a legal right to get married here (with a few provisos).  If you don’t live here, but have what is called a ‘Qualifying Connection’ with the Parish, it may still be possible for you to get married here.  Please complete and return the Qualifying Connection 2025 Form in this section and I will confirm your qualification.

Banns Form: Please complete the Banns Form in this section and return to me with your application.  It gives me the basic information legally required for us to complete your Marriage Document (it replaced the green Marriage Certificate), which I  lodge with the Oxford Registry Office after your wedding, then after 21 days later, you can obtain your Wedding Certificate online.  I will provide you with all the information.

British Nationals:  The Home Office require vicars to obtain proof of British Nationality – such as a British Passport or a Birth Certificate, so please scan and email these to me with your Application Form.  If one, or both of you is NOT a British national I can explain the procedure you will need to follow with the Oxford Register Office priory to us looking at setting a date.  This is a Home Office requirement and must be done before any date, however provisional is set.

Divorcees & Remarriage: Have either of you been previously married, and now divorced?  If that is so, I need to follow a national Church of England process before confirming your wedding.  This is because the Church, and I, take marriage very seriously, and the marriage in church of divorced people is still an ‘exception’, rather than the norm.

I take each wedding application on its merits, and use the Pastoral Guidance by the House of Bishops on ‘Marriage in Church After Divorce’ with couples before making a decision whether to marry them or not.  The House of Bishops’ Guidance means that as vicar, I need to sit down with you both, and to go through some questions so that we all have a very clear understanding of the reason(s) why a previous marriage ended, plus, what impact, if any, your proposed marriage may have on your respective families, including any children. I shall also need to take and retain copies of the Decree Nisi and Decree Absolute for the legal records.  Once I’ve gone through the Bishops’ questions with you, I then formally write to you saying ‘yes’ to the wedding or, my reasons for saying it is not possible under the Guidance.  If in doubt, I seek the local bishop’s guidance, though ultimately the decision, in law, rests on me, as vicar.

Wedding Costs – and other information:  The document in this section called SITV Wedding Service gives you all sorts of useful information about holding your wedding service in this parish – including the costs.  I also attach a Wedding Hymns, readings and music document which I hope you will find useful.

I very much look forward to receiving your Wedding Application and Banns Form (together with any other documents required as above) once you have had time to consider the documents in this section.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call me on 01367 710267 or email me, [email protected]