Weddings

Chris­tian Mar­riage is a gift of God and a sac­ra­ment of his Church.  It should be entered into with thought­ful­ness and prayer. 

Please speak with Fr Jason if you are hop­ing to have your mar­riage ser­vice in St. Andrew's. 

As the Church of the State, marriages take place according to the service of the Church of England and the Church cannot be simply hired for use as a venue only.  As such, cer­tain criteria apply which can be discussed.

You can arrange to get mar­ried at St Andrew's if (see fur­ther explan­a­tion and advice below) provided that you nor the per­son you hope to marry are sub­ject to immig­ra­tion con­trols and/or have over­stayed your visa; and you meet the Church of England’s rules for being con­nec­ted to the par­ish church in which you would like to get married.  If one of these cri­teria seems to be a prob­lem in your case, don’t panic. Read the inform­a­tion below and feel free to contact us if you need to know more.  We will require doc­u­ment­ary proof of these things and may have to refer you to other agen­cies or author­it­ies (such as the Regis­trar or the Home Office) in case of doubt, par­tic­u­larly with regard to immig­ra­tion status.

How do we know if we are ‘con­nec­ted’ enough to St Andrew's to marry there?

• You can marry in a Church of Eng­land church such as St Andrew's if you can show that one of you:
  has at any time lived in the par­ish for a period of at least six months or
  was Bap­tised in the par­ish con­cerned or
  was pre­pared for Con­firm­a­tion in the par­ish or
  has at any time reg­u­larly gone to nor­mal church ser­vices in the par­ish church for a period of at least six months or
   
• that one of your par­ents, at any time after you were born:
  has lived in the par­ish for a period of at least six months or
  has reg­u­larly gone to nor­mal church ser­vices in the par­ish church for a period of at least six months or
   
• that one of your par­ents or grandparents:
  was mar­ried in the parish.

What does ‘in the par­ish’ mean?
Each Church of Eng­land church serves an area called a par­ish.  It has fixed bound­ar­ies and you can check which parish you live in by visiting http://www.achurchnearyou.com/ and search­ing with your post­code.  Because of the variety in size and shape of par­ishes, the Church of Eng­land church you are nearest may not be your par­ish church, especially in large cities.

How much does it cost?
Fees are levied for Wed­dings, but they are rel­at­ively small in the con­text of the aver­age cost of a wed­ding, recep­tion and hon­ey­moon.  Some of these are set by the author­it­ies; some are set by the par­ish. The current 2022 legal fees are approximately £480.00 plus additional fees from St. Andrew's of approximately £150.00.

Banns of Marriage
If you live in the par­ish of St Andrew, Kingsbury but are get­ting mar­ried else­where, you will  be required by the Vicar of that church to ‘get your Banns read’ at St Andrew's on three Sunday mornings, within three months of the date of your wedding. This is straight­for­ward to arrange. Please contact Fr Jason to arrange this.  The fee for this requirement is £48.00.

I (or my part­ner) are sub­ject to immig­ra­tion con­trols or have over­stayed a visa.
The Church of Eng­land is obliged to uphold the law as to who can marry in the UK, which includes the visa status of non-EU cit­izens and the Immig­ra­tion Act 2004.  People who enter the UK on a visa and wish to marry an EU cit­izen must have per­mis­sion to do so as part of their visa, and their visa must be cur­rent.   Mar­ry­ing in the Church of Eng­land is not a way of evad­ing the require­ments of the law or the con­sequences of hav­ing over­stayed a visa, because the legal requirements must be sat­is­fied before the mar­riage can take place. 

We advise anyone who wishes to seek to get married at St Andrew's to have resolved any immigration and other visa issues before approaching us.  If either the bride or groom is a citizen of a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA), they will have to apply for a marriage visa.  Information is available on the UK Border Agency website.  You may have to be referred to the Superintendent Registrar or the Home Office to obtain the correct paperwork and permissions.