Getting Married at St Wilfrid's

Congratulations on your forthcoming wedding, and thank you for considering St Wilfrid's church as the venue. We hope that you will find answers to many of the questions you may have on this and the linked pages. We are conscious that every wedding is unique however, so please give us a telephone call or come and visit, and we will do our best to help answer all your questions.

St Wilfrid's church in Burnsall is the local parish church, and as such, is licensed for weddings. St John's in Appletreewick is a "Chapel of Ease", and is not licensed in the same way. Weddings do take place at St John's, but under a "Special License" from the Archbishop of Canterbury. Obtaining a license can be complex, and there is a need to show a strong link with the church or village. If this is where you would like to get married, please call Revd Fiona Jenkins on the number below to discuss this further.

St Wilfrid's, like many churches in Bradford Diocese, is taking part in a new initiative from the Church of England, called the Weddings Project. Considerable research has been undertaken to examine all aspects of getting married in a Church of England venue. This has given the church a much greater understanding of the concerns and expectations of engaged couples as they plan their special day. This knowledge is being used to make your wedding a personal, meaningful, spiritual, and beautiful occasion. More information can be obtained from the Church Weddings link, including answers to many of the common questions asked by couples.

So you have decided to get married at St Wilfrid's. Now what?

The first step is to arrange a meeting with the local vicar - in this case Revd Fiona Jenkins (01756 720331). She will ask you for proposed dates, and will then invite you to come along for an initial informal meeting. St Wilfrid's is a popular church for weddings, and does get booked up during the summer months. This means it is a good idea to either book early, or have a couple of possible dates.

If you already meet the rules detailed on the left of this page, you will be able to get married at any time. If you do not fulfill these requirements, you will need to book your date at least six months in advance of the event.

How much does it cost?

You may be surprised to find that this is probably the lowest cost part of the whole day. There are some mandatory fees that you must pay, to cover the costs of the wedding, legal aspects and the marriage certificate, etc. Then there are a range of "extras" that you can include or not as you wish. These fees do change from year to year, but those in force in 2009 are shown here (requires pop-ups to be enabled).

Marriage Preparation

A growing number of Anglican Churches have decided to run a Marriage Preparation course, and the cluster of parishes around Grassington are one such group. All couples who are intending to get married in any of the churches in the cluster are invited to take part in our course each spring.

The course is run over five weeks (one evening a week) and starts with a meal, and then a series of videos are shown, which tackle such issues as:

• the importance of commitment
• how to recognise and appreciate your differences
• the art of communication
• resolving conflict
• spending time together
• nurturing your friendship
• making each other feel loved
• developing a good sexual relationship
• the importance of talking about your goals, values and dreams

The evening is very relaxed, with the videoed talks interspersed with exercises and questions for you to discuss together privately as a couple.

Although some churches do make a small charge to cover the costs of the meal, it is the policy of the churches in our cluster to offer this free of charge.

For more information on the course, please see The Marriage Preparation Course website.

If you are not able to attend the Grassington course due to work or other commitments, there are many other churches which also run this course. Please ask us and we will try and link you with a suitable venue.