Combining marriage and baptism

Published: 23 July 2009

The Church is turning its attention to extending an extra welcome to couples with children. One in five couples who come to church for a wedding already have children, together or from a previous relationship.

For many couples, having children is the first major milestone of adult life, ahead of marriage, in contrast to their parents’ generation. Statistics also show an increasing number of couples now live together before their wedding day. Engaged couples are welcome to church for the wedding of their dreams - whether or not they have children. That's the message from the Church of England’s 16,000 parish churches celebrating a wedding ‘high’ this summer.

This is also the first summer season since the Church of England initiated a change in the law to make it easier for couples to marry in church. They have more churches available to them - not just their local parish church - since the Church's General Synod decided that the existing law was too restrictive in a mobile society, and changed it last October. Many churches are already reporting a corresponding rise in weddings.

As a response to these changes, the Church of England has produced two new service guidelines which merge the marriage service with a thanksgiving for the gift of a child or with baptism. The Church hopes these new ideas will help churches show their welcome for couples with children, and give the whole family a special occasion and a new beginning.

Marriage and Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child is ideal for a couple wishing to celebrate their wedding and thank God for the birth of their child on the same occasion.

Marriage and Holy Baptism offers guidance where couples wish to have their child christened - welcomed into the wider church family - on their wedding day.

Revd Tim Sledge, vicar of Romsey in the Diocese of Winchester, has been asked to ‘merge’ wedding and baptism services several times. He said: “It has been lovely to give couples this flexibility to enjoy an extra special celebration for the whole family. Now the guidelines are available online, the Church can ‘say yes’ and offer an even warmer wedding welcome to couples with children.”

Click here to download the new guidelines.


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