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Weddings |
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Message from the Rector
At St. Mary’s, we endeavour to share in the wonder, the excitement and to a degree, the romanticism of this wonderful day of a couple's marriage. We also seek to go beyond that and offer pastoral care and professional assistance which assures each individual and couple that they are in a process which is deeply personal, confidential and enriching. We offer to each couple the promise that we are here to walk life with each couple after the wedding. St. Mary’s is not a wedding chapel. It is a Parish Church and spiritual home to thousands of people from around the world. Whilst the Priest conducting the ceremony is a Licenced Celebrant, he or she is in fact, a Priest of the Anglican Church of Australia and is committed to an ongoing care of, and availability to, all who are married at St. Mary’s. Christian marriage is a sacrament for life with God, assuring all of divine blessing for the walk of life in the context of marriage. We at St. Mary’s know that the ideal for marriage is lifelong faithfulness and mutual joy for the whole of life’s journey. We also know that this ideal is not always attained and for some, the painful occurrence of divorce is a sad reality. We work with that reality and offer couples assistance in crisis and the assurance of working towards healing and where sought, permission to remarry in the Anglican Church. We welcome your enquiry about marriage St. Mary’s and look forward to meeting you in person, and if possible, sharing in the joy of your wedding and the honour of walking life’s journey with you into the future. May God bless you. Fr Stephen Redhead
The extraordinary charm and ambience of St Marys church complements the dignity and importance of the liturgical marriage ceremony for both participants and guests. Welcoming and refined, with decades of tradition, this domestically scaled church strikes a comfortable chord in all. Timbers and stone combine with music and floral enhancement to provide an atmosphere that leads to full engagement by all in the importance of the marriage ceremony. The dignity of approach, the meaningfulness of prayer, the import of selected readings, the sincerity of commitment, and the joyousness of occasion, all combine to make a wedding a memorable event. A unique blend of organ and grand piano, and sometimes choral and instrumental accompaniment, underscore the idyllic wedding setting that is St Marys .The surrounds of the church provide ample opportunity for church and garden based photography of the occasion, particularly during customary drinks on the cliff top lawn at the front door of the church over looking the botanical gardens reach of the Brisbane River. Arranging your marriage
Couples considering marriage at St Marys are encouraged to read and absorb the information in the documents scheduled and linked below. Those documents should clarify most issues that wedding location planning raises, and simplify the path to a successful set of arrangements. Basic information is contained in the “Wedding information booklet” On occasion bookings for Weddings at Saint Mary’s have been lodged up to 15 months ahead, so specific popular dates may need some forward planning. Previous restraints on weddings during Lent no longer apply, however there will be some unavailability during Holy Week, and on specific parish activity days, for example the parish festival, and choral and musical events. The available times for weddings are 11am, 1pm, 3pm, and 5pm Saturdays, and 1pm and 3pm, Fridays and Sundays. Once a preferred date has been selected, couples forward a completed Application for Marriage form to office@stmarys.org.au or by post. This is acknowledged, as is receipt of the deposit, and the marriage date and time is confirmed subject to the outcome of the couple attending a pre wedding seminar briefing, and a separate personal meeting with the Rector, or your alternative Anglican Priest celebrant, at a time to be scheduled. The content, also downloadable from these links, to assist with consideration of a wedding at St Marys, is as follows: (downloadable items shown red)
Consideration of the content of this information package will identify most issues requiring decisions by couples about preparation for their marriage, and about St Marys as your place of celebration in particular. Issues facing a choice or acquisition/provision are:
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