The Sacramental Life: Holy Matrimony

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The photographs on this page are courtesy of Laurel Neis Photography. They are included here with her gracious permission, and that of the happy couple, James and Fran! 

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"Holy Matrimony is Christian marriage, in which two individuals enter into a life long union, make their vows before God and the Church, and receive the grace and blessing of God to help them fulfill their vows."

Marriage is both a civil ceremony and a religious ritual. Couples throughout history have pledged to spend their lives together in faithfulness, love, and mutual respect and care. In the church, the couple  accepts Christ’s invitation to have him be a part of a loving and life-giving romantic relationship. A married couple, by the way they fulfill their marriage vows, will love, honor and nurture each other. They will also be a blessing to others, an example (or an icon) of what it means to be loving and faithful to another human being.

If you are looking for a beautiful place to have your wedding, and a beautiful and holy ceremony to begin your married life, we invite you to consider St. Andrew's, whether you are a member of our church or not.
If you're interested in getting married at St. Andrew's there are a few requirements:

  • Have you been baptized? At least one of you must be a baptized Christian. You needn't necessarily be an active member of a church, but participation in the Christian sacrament of marriage presumes that at least one of you is a Christian.
  • Have you been divorced? The Episcopal Church does celebrate the sacrament of Holy Matrimony for divorced people. In these cases, the priest does need to file a formal request with the bishop to approve the wedding. In most cases this is granted, but it can take a little extra time, so you will want to begin your conversation with Father Chris as soon as possible.
  • Have you read over the text of the service? You do have a few options, like whether to include Holy Communion in your wedding day, and which readings to choose. Overall, though, our service is fixed. It is heavily Christian. It is wonderfully traditional and exceedingly beautiful. But we live in an age of fairly wild and extravagant excess with weddings, and our Episcopal Church wedding service is not able to accommodate every option. 
  • Are you comfortable with the idea of up to 6 hours of pre-marriage conversations? Marriage is a big deal. Neither you nor our priest wants you to go into it without checking to see if your lives are basically compatible. It's better to catch big issues before the wedding than to be surprised by them afterwards. You'll be meeting with Father Chris for pre-marriage conversations, totaling up to 6 hours of sessions. 


If you're interested, drop us a line, and Father Marc will get in touch!