Weddings

To get married at St Mary's Shortlands Church, the bride or bridegroom (or both) should  live in the parish, please visit achurchnearyou.com and type in your postcode and you will be able to find out if you are in our parish.

You can marry in a Church of England church if you can show that one of you:

• has at any time lived in the parish for a period of at least 6 months, or
• was baptised (christened) in the parish concerned, or
• is confirmed and your confirmation was entered in the register of confirmations for a church or chapel in the parish (this will usually be the case if you were prepared for confirmation in the parish), or
• has at any time regularly gone to normal church services in the parish church for a period of at least 6 months

or That one of your parents, at any time after you were born: has lived in the parish for a period of at least 6 months, or has regularly gone to normal church services in the parish church for a period of at least 6 months

or That one of your parents or grandparents was married in the parish

Please get in touch with our Vicar if either (or both) of you have been married before and divorced this is not a barrier to being married in the Church of England. Please note you need to show a decree absolute to prove your previous marriage has been dissolved.

To learn more about weddings please visit the Church of England website https://www.churchofengland.org/life-events/your-church-wedding