Content about Church

I've just spent two days with the Church of England Weddings Project team thinking how the Church can improve our welcome to Brides and Grooms. As 'Investors in Weddings' we would really love it if you felt you wanted to stick with us when the last bit of confetti has finally composted itself on the church rose bed. Hence my poll below: I really want to know - What do Wedding Couples Want?

Fewer and fewer people in the UK are tying the knot, but those that do are more likely to go abroad than ever before.

Italy remains one of the favourite destinations for couples, especially for celebrities, so Love & Lord, the Tuscan wedding experts, are spreading their wings and offering the dream location of the Amalfi coast for the first time.

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From over the moon to the honeymoon, from your dream dress to the world's most romantic resorts - there's nothing quite like the National Wedding Show to help you make your big day everything you've imagined.

It's all laid out for you under one roof - dresses, groomswear, occasionwear, accessories, photography, flowers, honeymoon destinations, venues, cakes and much, much more. And the beauty of it is that you can you can see, touch, taste and try before you buy.

Well I'm still glowing from THAT wedding!
And Newlyweds-UK blogger Val Hill (AKA Mrs Cardigan) is now a newly wed herself. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the church was beautifully lit with the late summer sunshine, the glow from the candlelight we all passed around during our simple prayers and by the warmth of the blessings and good wishes of friends and family. Perfect.

Val looked gorgeous, and sweetly nervous - I thought she might have to say her vows by semaphore as she was struggling to speak but her arms were shaking. But her lovely husband was as steady as a rock and it was an enormous privilege for me to conduct the service, though I confess to being nervous myself - especially as the best man was the beloved now-retired Vicar under whom I was a Curate.

I'm having the weekend away from NewlyWeds-UK towers as I'm off to a gorgeous village church in the Lake District to marry our bride-to-be blogger Mrs Cardigan. Or to be more precise - I'm officiating at her wedding - they'll be marrying each other. It'll be a simple, cosy wedding ceremony with close family and friends.

I've just been reading about the Chinese couple who wanted to call their baby @. They said that they felt this signified their love for the child.

It got me thinking about the whole issue of names. It's something that couples want to discuss about the wedding service, particularly if they are widely known by a shortened version of their Christian name. Would Granny be offended if I'm referred to as Dave/Bob/Kate for example? Because actually that is who we are to each other!

Laura Varney sent a message using the NewlyWeds-UK contact form

We are getting married in 7 weeks time and have not yet had the offical costing from our minister. He said 2 years ago when we booked it the charge was about £300 when do you usually pay this?

Stacey asks: I've just got engaged and planning to get married in 2010 is it too early
to book the church now?

There are some weddings that will be engraved forever on the memory - for various reasons. Last Saturday's ceremony falls into that category...

The couple had said they didn't want any hymns in case it was 'too religious' and the Bride asked me on the phone how long the service would last. I must confess that I was beginning to wonder why they wanted a church wedding at all.

The plan was to have 2 Best Men, 1 grown-up Bridesmaid and 5 tiny flower girls - the eldest being the four year old daughter of the Bride & Groom and the youngest being their ten month old baby.

I whinge sometimes.
(OK I know you think all ministers are paragons of virtue and I hate to be the one to break it to you - but Vicars are not perfect.)

Anyway, I had been moaning to a colleague at the UK Wedding Show because I hardly ever get to officiate at weddings now that I'm not in regular parish ministry. He rather gallantly offered me the chance to cover two weddings for him. Greater love has no Vicar and all that... (though I suspect that the dates in question coincided with football matches or something good on telly).

We received this question in via email, and with Faye's permission I thought I would publish her question and our Resident Rev's answer for all our readers to see. Remember if you have a question about marriage or your wedding day, you can click 'add comment' at the top of this post and the Resident Rev will do her very best to answer your query as soon as possible.

Faye's Question