Who may be married according to Christian rites?
Both parties to the marriage should be baptised. However, current Church practice may accommodate instances where only one of the couple is baptised. At All Saints’, an unbaptised candidate for marriage will be encouraged to ask for the Sacrament of Baptism before being married. The wedding is not simply a ‘ceremony’. Nor is All Saints’ Church just an historic and architecturally attractive backdrop for a colourful and sentimental religious event /social occasion. Marriage is a sacrament of the Catholic Church whereby a particular grace is imparted to a couple to live together as man and wife, to the exclusion of all others, and until they are parted by death. As a consecrated venue, a church is the most appropriate place for a Christian couple to initiate their marriage. The marriage rite is a religious act as well as a public statement by the couple, effecting and declaring that they are committing themselves to the principles of Christian marriage. It is a service of prayer and bles
