Weddings
Getting Married? We’re here to help!
 The Parish of Chandler’s Ford is a great place
to get married. We have two beautiful, but very different, churches to
choose from. St Boniface is an elegant Edwardian church in the
traditional gothic style whereas St Martin in the Wood is a modern
contemporary design with a stylish, open and light interior. Both have
attractive grounds which are ideal for those perfect wedding photos.
Before the big day, couples are invited to attend a Saturday
preparation morning with the clergy and others in St. Boniface Church
Centre; they also meet with the member of the clergy who will officiate
at the wedding; and they have a rehearsal before the service. All
enquiries about weddings should be made to the Parish Office who
organise the arrangements and administration.
Click here to download the Order of Service for Marriage.
Just a legal contract?
Marriage is a legal agreement between a man and a woman for
life. It is about love, money, a home and children, and it is a
partnership of equals, which involves sharing.
A Christian marriage includes all these, but is much more.
Christian marriage is a binding agreement with each other (a covenant)
like the relationship between God and his people in the Bible. Marriage
is a bond, a discipline and a commitment of love.
  Given by God
Marriage is given to us by God, and is a sign of his love at
the centre of his creation. In the beginning of the Bible (Genesis),
Adam and Eve are created by God in his own image, and find
companionship in each other. In the New Testament, Jesus reminds the
people that God gave marriage at the beginning of creation. Jesus was
present at a wedding in Cana, Galilee when he turned water into wine as
a sign of the richness of life that he offers to those who believe in
him.
A window onto God
St. Paul says that God’s love becomes available to us in a
special way in marriage - where there is faithfulness, obedience and
self-giving to each other. The basis of Christian marriage is the love
given to us by God from which emerge trust, growth, stability and
fulfilment. The physical and emotional parts of life can open our eyes
to a spiritual reality as we recognise deeper things. Marriage can be a
window onto God.
Nurturing
Marriage is given as the foundation of family life, and in it
relationships have to be nurtured, cherished and worked at to grow and
develop. In the same way we need to nurture our relationship with God
through prayer, reading the Bible, and through worship with other
Christians. We can pass our faith onto our children through their
experience of it in the home. Then in God’s time our relationships on
earth will end in death, but the love of God is stronger than death,
and through Jesus Christ we have been promised eternal life.
The love of God
Christian marriage offers a way of life and an insight that
can nurture and strengthen our relationships, nurture our relationship
with God, and bring us at our death to heaven with him. But the meaning
and purpose of it all comes from God’s love, and his gift to us of love
for one another.
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