The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage is one of the great joys of parish life, as the parish community surrounds and supports a couple as they begin their life together. Grace Church gladly works with couples who are parishioners or whose families are members of the parish to prepare for these celebrations.
The marriage of two people is a holy union. It begins with your desire to form a lasting, lifelong partnership with another person in God's love, and continues throughout your lives as an unfolding process of intentional living and growing together. In a marriage, each of you as an individual and together as a couple, gradually transform and mature in God's presence and image. A wedding, then, is a sacred ritual that acknowledges and celebrates your desire to enter a lifelong relationship.
By uniting within the context of a faith community, you recognize that God is active in the love you feel for one another, and you place your relationship in God's care. You make your vows before God and the gathered community of family, friends, and the Church, and receive the grace and blessing of God to help you fulfill your vows. Your marriage is a sacrament – an outward and visible sign of God's grace bringing you together, nurturing your love and, through your relationship, expressing God’s love to the world.
The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage at Grace Church is a service of Christian worship, and marriages performed here follow the service outlined in the Book of Common Prayer or the services from I Will Bless You and You Will Be a Blessing. In the Episcopal Church, it is required that at least one of the parties be a baptized Christian.
Those who are not yet parishioners of Grace Church who wish to be married here are expected to attend Saturday or Sunday services and become acquainted with the parish community before contacting the Grace Church clergy to begin planning their wedding at Grace.
Couples contemplating marriage at Grace should first get in touch with one of the clergy at least six months in advance and before a date for the ceremony has been set.