St Michael's Green, Warwick Road, Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2BN

Launch of Church of England Marriage Measure on

1st October 2008

Wedding

Thousands of couples dreaming of a wedding will find more churches to choose from 1st October 2008, the day when the new Church of England Marriage Measure comes into effect.

It means that the Church of England’s network of 16,000 churches - ancient or modern, intimate or grand, simple or spectacular - can offer a wider wedding welcome than at any time in the Church’s history.

The changes will mean an engaged couple are welcome to be married in church in a parish if just one of these applies:

one of them was baptised or prepared for confirmation in the parish;
one of them has ever lived in the parish for six months or more;
one of them has at any time regularly attended public worship in the parish for six months or more;
one of their parents has lived in the parish for six months or more in their child’s lifetime;
one of their parents has regularly attended public worship there for six months or more in their child’s lifetime;
their parents or grandparents were married in the parish.
(All of these refer to Church of England services)

Existing law establishes a right for a couple to marry in the Church of England in the parish church where one or both of them live, whether they are baptised or not, and whether they are churchgoers are not. To marry in any other parish requires a special licence or six months of regular attendance followed by entry on the local church electoral roll.

But new laws, initiated by the Church of England and now approved by Parliament, will add to this right of residency, making it just as easy for couples to marry in a church where they have a family or other special connection, even if they don’t live there.