Legal Information for Marriage in the Church of England
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If you’d like to be married at Holy Trinity Church, Yeovil, you need to have a qualifying connection to our parish. This can be any of the following:
If you can show that one of you:
• has at any time lived in the parish for a period of at least 6 months, or
• was baptised (christened) in the parish, or
• is confirmed and your confirmation was entered in the register of confirmations for a church or chapel
in the parish (this will usually be the case if you were 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 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 one of your parents or grandparents was married in the parish.
To find out if we are your parish church, go to achurchnearyou.com.
If you are not connected in any of these ways and still wish to be married at Holy Trinity Church, we’d
love to welcome you to one of our services – you would need to attend a service at least once a month for six
consecutive months. If you decide to do this, please remember to leave enough time after your attendance for
the banns to be read before your wedding too – this normally takes about another two months. We will also
invite you to a marriage preparation course to ensure you fully understand the vows you are making.
Banns of Marriage
Most couples who get married in the Church of England do so by having their ‘Banns’ read on three Sundays in
their parish church. You can marry by banns if you both live in England or Wales and are both British citizens, a
national of Switzerland or a member country of the European Economic Area (EEA).
Banns need to be published on three Sundays prior to your marriage in the parish where you will be getting
married, and also in the parish(es) where you reside (if different to where you intend to marry). You can find
which parish you live in and contact details for the relevant church(es) on www.achurchnearyou.com. There is
a small charge to publish the Banns of Marriage and for a certificate of Banns issued at the time of
publication.
What if one of us is divorced?
If one or both of you are divorced, it can still be possible to marry in church, but you will need to arrange a
meeting with one of the Clergy to discuss this, submit your certificate of divorce/annulment, as well as
complete the following form to help us understand your circumstances:
churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/MarriageAFTERdivorceFORM.pdf
Timings
Weddings normally take place on Saturdays but they can take place on other days of the week. Legally,
marriages must be celebrated between 8am and 6pm.