Ross Team Ministry Services
Weddings
You can be married in one of our 14 parish churches provided you or your fiancé live or are on the Church Electoral Roll of one of the parishes.
If one of you has a home in or is on the Church Electoral Roll of a parish within the team benefice, you may still marry in that parish of the team benefice even though you may not habitually live there.• It is not normal for the Church of England to allow marriages of those with surviving spouses, however under certain circumstances this might be possible. To find out what to do if this is the case click here.
Step 1: Get in touch with the Team Administrator who will either put you in touch with one of the Team Vicars or arrange an appointment to see the Team Rector.
Step 2: Booking the Service:
• This will be with one of the priests who will ask all the legal details that the law requires which is the information that appears on the Marriage Register.
• The priest will probably give you some details to think about concerning the service and provide some suggestions for music, hymns and readings.
• You will be told about six months before the date of the service which priest will be taking your marriage service.
• You will also be told what the current fee for the service will be.
• We do not normally have marriages during Lent (the six week period before Easter).
Step 3: Preparation
• You will be expected to attend some preparation with the priest conducting your marriage service.
Step 4: Rehearsal
• Most couples find it helpful to do a walk-through of the service in the church where the marriage is going to take place.
Step 5: The Service
• We try to avoid having marriages closer than two hours apart.
• It is in your interests to book the service before all else and at the earliest opportunity.
• Should you need to change any details of time or date or content of the service please let us know as soon possible.
If you or your fiancé have a surviving spouse:
• It is not normal for the Church of England to allow marriages of those with surviving spouses, however under certain circumstances this might be possible
• As with all marriages, at least one you will have to be living in one of our 14 parishes.
Step 1: Arrange to see the Team Rector or one of the Team Vicars (link to contacts)
Step 2: Interview.
• The priest will want to see both of you and will ask you questions about the previous marriage and your present circumstances.
• No decision about whether to go forward will be made at this interview.
• From the responses to questions posed, the priest will prepare a summary to be confidentially discussed at a meeting of the Team Staff.
Step 3: Team Staff Meeting
• The Team Staff usually meet each week and will hear the summary put by the priest who will have interviewed you.
• A unanimous decision in favour will be necessary for the marriage to go forward
• If the decision is unfavourable, that decision is final.
Step 4: If The Decision is Favourable
• The couple is free to engage the booking process ( link to previous page) in the normal way.
• An original of a decree absolute of whom it is applicable will need to seen by the priest conducting the marriage service or the Team Administrator and a photocopy made before the marriage can be allowed.
