Thank you for wanting to hold your wedding at St. Andrew Lutheran Church. The wedding services provided at and by St. Andrew are primarily for our members. We do consider conducting weddings for those who presently are not members but all couples who wish to be married at St. Andrew must have at least one counseling session with a St. Andrew Pastor even if you have marriage counseling sessions with your own pastor.
General Wedding Policies
The wedding services conducted at St. Andrew are services – not merely ceremonies. As such the focus is on God, not on the people involved in the wedding. For this reason the service used comes from our hymnal, Lutheran Service Book, page 275. While there are some options as to what is done during the service, this is the order of worship that we use. If you desire to add something or do something differently this must be brought to the Pastor and Board of Elders at least 6 weeks before the wedding date. Both the Pastor and Board of Elders must consider and approve any changes.
Weddings conducted at St. Andrew are conducted by the pastor of St. Andrew. The accompanist for these services is the Music Director at St. Andrew. Any desire to change this must be brought to the attention of both the pastor and the Board of Elders at least 6 weeks before the wedding date for their consideration and approval. Any music used during the wedding service also must be approved in advance as appropriate. Please contact the Pastor and Music Director as soon as you can regarding their availability on your proposed wedding date.
St. Andrew operates under a “first come – first served” basis. That means if you are the first to request a certain date you should have use of the sanctuary on that date. We try to schedule only one wedding on any day. If Pastor has already scheduled a Confirmation Class on the date you wish to be married, or if use of part of the facility has already been requested by another group, your use of time of use may be limited or not permitted. This means you need to make your reservation with us as soon as possible.
The pastor and Board of Elders require that any couple that is married at St. Andrew first complete several “Marriage Counseling” sessions. Either the pastor of St. Andrew or an approved substitute will conduct those sessions. Even if the “Marriage Counseling” sessions are conducted by an approved substitute, the couple must have at least one session with the St. Andrew pastor prior to the wedding so he can go through our policies. Schedule your wedding date far enough in advance so that adequate time is allowed for those sessions. Both the prospective bride and the prospective groom must attend these sessions.
The pastor, accompanist and any vocalist who participate in your wedding and its rehearsal at St. Andrew are devoting extra time and effort to you. For that reason it is reasonable, customary and expected that you compensate each of them for their efforts. You should compensate them no later than the day before your wedding. The current compensation for the Pastor is $200 (for St. Andrew members). The compensation for Music Director/Accompanist is $150 – subject to music purchase cost and rehearsals. (For weddings conducted away from St. Andrew consider the extra time and mileage.)
Presently St. Andrew has no set charge for “building use” for the weddings performed for congregational members. If you are regular in your attendance and financial support of St. Andrew you are making the building, its pastor and accompanist available. If you are not a member, or if you are not regular in your financial support of St. Andrew, a financial contribution by you is reasonable and expected. This financial donation currently is $200. In any case, the church will be cleaned for your use. It must be cleaned after your use. Your wedding will cost the congregation additional expenses for heat/air conditioning, lights, etc. (For your comparison: The Wedding Gardens in Allenton currently charges $600 for you to use their facility for two hours. One hour is for your rehearsal – the other hour for your wedding – to include any pictures.)
Bulletins
If you wish to have a bulletin there are two options for how it can be printed.
- You may collect the information and using a sample bulletin provided by the pastor, print your own bulletin. Before you print this bulletin you must first get your bulletin draft approved by the pastor.
- You may supply us with the information we will need and order your approved blank bulletins and deliver them to use – at least one week in advance of the wedding date – and we will set up and print the bulletins for you for the following compensation, $25 for 100, $35 for 200 or $45 for 300. In either case, you order and purchase the bulletin blanks.
You may choose the particular blank bulletin that will be used. Visit www.cph.org on the internet. Go to the wedding bulletins provided by Concordia Publishing House. Select a “regular” not “panoramic” bulletin. Then talk with pastor about ordering these bulletins. Any bulletins not ordered through Concordia Publishing House need to be approved through the pastor and the Board of Elders.
Rehearsal
The rehearsal is normally held the evening before your wedding. Please allow 1 ½ hours for this rehearsal. All members of your wedding party should participate in this rehearsal. If you reserve the church “kitchen area” in advance you may use it for a rehearsal meal. Permission forms are available in the church office. If you use this area you must also clean it after your use.
Wedding Service
Before the Service begins the pastor must have the copy of your Wedding Certificate in his hands. Following the Service this document will be signed by the appropriate people. The pastor will take the completed certificate to the courthouse for processing.
Any proposed decorations or worship area appearance changes need to be approved by the pastor and the Board of Elders at least 6 weeks before the wedding date. The paraments and banners for the wedding will be the color of the day/season. However, you may request the use of our wedding banner as one of the banners that will be used.
You may use a “Unity Candle” during your wedding service. You may borrow our unity candle holder. However, you will need to purchase the three candles necessary. Talk with pastor to understand what to order. St. Andrew does not allow the Wedding Sand ceremony during the service.
Pastor will give you a list of suggested Bible lessons that may be read during your service. You may choose two or three of these lessons. These are to be printed on the back of your bulletin. You may also choose appropriate friends/relatives to read these lessons. Those readers should attend the wedding rehearsal. Please consider their willingness and ability to read in public.
Photographs are normally taken after the service. Please be considerate to the elder who will serve for your service and will remain until you leave. Please make arrangements for cleaning the church following the wedding. NO flash photographs are to be taken by anyone during the service. Pastor will speak with your designated photographer about what is appropriate in all instances.
Other considerations
There is to be no consumption of alcoholic beverages on church property. Smoking is restricted to appropriate areas outside the building. Appropriate behavior is expected inside and outside our facility. Please make sure your wedding party knows and follows this policy during the rehearsal and on the day of the wedding.
- Any flower petal strewn by a “Flower Girl” must be artificial and non-damaging to the carpet.
- We strongly discourage the use of paper runners
- Anyone in the wedding party (to include ushers) who appears intoxicated or unable to perform appropriately (in the estimation of the pastor and wedding service elder) will be removed from the party.
- Please arrange in advance if you will be decorating the church beforehand.
- Arrange in advance for the person who will open the church for you on the wedding date.
- If flowers are to be delivered to the church please notify the church secretary so someone may be here to receive those flowers.
- Please bring your Wedding Certificate, several printed Bulletins plus you Unity Candles to the wedding rehearsal.
Our wedding form can be downloaded here.
If you are interested or have questions please call 262-335-4200 or send a message here.