Is in the American films but not in the Anglican Service. One of our Ministers will put it in if you ask nicely. We can’t vouch for the others.

Have you chosen a Bible reading?

You must have at least one Bible reading; we cannot accept other readings at this stage in the service.  We enclose a selection of the more popular ones. The Links page has a link to on-line bible passages.

Please do NOT use American web site suggestions of “readings suitable for a religious ceremony; most of them are anything but. That said, the Minister may agree to your having a poem or other non-Bible reading during the service. Please be careful with these - some of them jar badly when read in the middle of what is a quite traditional ceremony. We would usually suggest that someone other than the Minister does such Readings.

Who do you want to do the Bible Reading?

Bridesmaids, friends, Best Man, Relatives? The minister will of course be happy to do it, but this is a good way of rewarding a favourite Aunt or Uncle. You are allowed two readings - useful if this helps overcome a potential problem as to who does what.

Who do you want to do the sermon?

The answer is the Minister, but if one of your family or friends is an ordained or licensed Christian church minister then we may invite them to speak instead.  The only rule is 400 words maximum (5 minutes!).  The invitation has to come from the Minister conducting the marriage so please ask us first.

Do you want anyone else to join in the Prayers?

Usually the Minister will lead these. But, again, Bridesmaids & Best Man or family members, (especially if the latter are themselves Ministers) can take part.

Is there anyone you would want mentioning in the prayers?

Sometimes couples like to remember people who have died or who are too ill to come - We can do this by name or by putting in a short bit of silence.

Which Form of the Lord’s Prayer do you prefer?

We use this at the end of the Prayers – everyone says it.
The old version is the one most people know but check them out first.  Or there is the modern version

Genesis 1:26-28

Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness;  and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them;  male and female he created them.  God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’


Genesis 2

God said, "It is not good that man should be alone.  I will make a helper as a partner for him.  Now God had made out of the earth all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air.  He showed each one to Adam so that he could give them names.  But none of them was good enough to be Adam's partner.  So God made Adam fall into a deep sleep;  and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs.  He closed up the wound.  Then he made a woman from the rib he had taken out of Adam.  He showed the woman to Adam who shouted:  "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!  She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man " Because of this a man will leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one.


Proverbs 31

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.
She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.
She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.
She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household;  for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
”Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all."
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.


Song of Solomon 2:10-13; 8:6,7

My beloved speaks and says to me:  ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away;  for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.  The flowers appear on the earth;  the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom;  they give forth fragrance.  Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.’  Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave.  Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.  Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of one’s house, it would be utterly scorned.


Tobit 8:4-8

When the parents had gone out and shut the door of the room, Tobias got out of bed and said to Sarah, ‘Sister, get up, and let us pray and implore our Lord that he grant us mercy and safety.’  So she got up, and they began to pray and implore that they might be kept safe.  Tobias began by saying, ‘Blessed are you, O God of our ancestors, and blessed is your name in all generations for ever.  Let the heavens and the whole creation bless you for ever.  You made Adam, and for him you made his wife Eve as a helper and support. From the two of them the human race has sprung. You said, “It is not good that the man should be alone;  let us make a helper for him like himself.”  I now am taking this kinswoman of mine, not because of lust, but with sincerity.  Grant that she and I may find mercy and that we may grow old together.’  And they both said, ‘Amen, Amen.’


1 Corinthians 13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.  
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.  But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.  For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face.  Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.  And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.


Matthew 5:1-10

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.  Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
- Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
- Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
- Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
- Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
- Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
- Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.


John 15:9-17

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business.
Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last.
Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.


Ephesians 5:21-31

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour.
Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.
After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church -- for we are members of his body.
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."

Or any other Bible reading you like and can persuade us to accept.