St. Mary's Haddon Heights

Marriage

Getting Married in Church
Congratulations — so you're thinking of getting married in church. Well we're here to help you as much as we can. It goes without saying that getting married is not without stress, but with careful planning and attention to detail this can be minimized so that when the great day comes you are both able to enjoy all of it to the fullest, and to look back on it as a most happy occasion.

How can we help?
First of all you will need to plan well in advance and let us know of your wishes as soon as possible. St Mary’s is a popular and busy church. In the summer it is not unusual to have two weddings on a Saturday!

We would like to take your enquiry at least a year in advance, and sometimes we hear from couples up to two years before the day! For our part we will do everything possible to make it a perfect day. But to do this you need to involve us from the start.

Here's a typical example of a timetable of events: Eighteen months before Make your initial enquiry at our church office. Within a month of your enquiry We will make an appointment for initial details, but the most important thing is to get the date and time in our church schedule. We will also schedule your pre-marital counseling session with the priest who will officiate at your service. Six months before With the pre-marital counseling completed, we will make plans for a more detailed discussion about the service itself, the music you would like, and to confirm any outstanding details. Three months before If you're having music at the wedding, you will need to contact our organist. One month before We will meet with you to confirm that everything is going to plan and to pay the remaining fees. A day or two before We will meet together with all who will be taking part, for a full rehearsal in the church.

And that's only planning the service! You will have so many other things to think about, planning the reception, booking your honeymoon, looking after the flowers, printing the service sheets…and so on.

But the first step is to get in touch with our rector, Rev. Dr. Henry Jansma, either by email or telephone: (856) 547-3240.