Your Wedding at St. Oswald’s Church

Welcome

As a church we welcome everyone who wishes to be married or have a Marriage Dedication in St Oswald’s, Grasmere.

This information is to help you arrange your wedding service to make the occasion personal to you and guests.

Whilst the Church is bound by the marriage law and its own rules please make sure you know what you need to do to fulfil the legal requirements. Please do ask if you are not sure having read the information overleaf.

We do not have a great number of weddings each year at Grasmere and Rydal but even so you need to have alternate dates in mind when booking a service day and time.

Please do contact me via the response form on this web site if you are interested in arranging a wedding at St Oswald's Church.

Cameron Butland, Rector of Grasmere

What do we need to do?

It is important to know that in order to be legally married at Grasmere Church you will need to qualify in some way.  This is true wherever you wish to be married and the legal qualification requirements do not vary greatly between Church and Civial authorities. The easiest way to fulfil the legal requirements to be married is to apply for a Superintendent Registrar’s Certificate. You can do this anytime during the twelve months before your wedding day, (but not within 21 days). You wilI need to stay for seven days in the parish and arrange an appointment on the final day of your stay with the Registrar, Mrs S Oliver (015397 73567) to obtain the Certificates.

Normally I would see everyone in plenty of time prior to the wedding and we would sort out these legal details well in advance.

What about the service?

When we meet I will give you a copy of the Wedding or Dedication Service and explain the various options available to you.

If you wish to have your own printed order of service please first check the details with me, as the law requires the service to follow a particular order, it would a pity to have service sheet that was not correct. If you do not wish to print your own sheet we have a variety of hymnbooks that can be used.

What about the music?

The organist and choirmaster, Mr Andrew Seivewright, is always happy to discuss the music for your service. He is normally available after the main Sunday morning service at 11am.

What about the flowers?

Flowers are placed in the Church weekly by the Flower Arrangers Group, but for the wedding service these are not usually sufficient. Please discuss with me what flowers you require and whether you will be asking a florist to put flowers into the Church prior to your wedding.

What about photographs and videos?

Both are welcome in the Church but those taking photographs and videos need to be very sensitive to the building and lines of sight. Whilst both are allowed, those responsible will need to meet with me to find out where they may stand. Movement around the Church is not allowed once the service has begun until the Signing of the Registers at the end.

Under the Performing Rights rules there is an additional charge for video recording.

How much does it cost?

The statutory cost is set centrally by the Church of England, and there are extra costs as set by the Church Council, please email to find out the current fees payable. 

The costs of flowers, choir and bells are not a set figure as it depends upon your requirements; please ask though about these additional items.