Getting Married?

Congratulations! This is an important step in life and the Lord will bless you as you seek to grow in love for one another. As a church we will do our best to help you prepare well for marriage and for the day of your wedding.

In the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton it is usually expected that couples will give 12 months notice, to allow sufficient time for careful preparation. The parish priest is usually the first point of contact for people wishing to marry.

The parish priest and local church will help you to

access a marriage preparation course (usually 4 evenings in Guildford);
plan the liturgy for the day;
complete the necessary church documentation;
not forget to complete the necessary civic documentation with the local registrar.

It is presumed that you will usually marry in your own parish. If you live in the parish and intend to marry elsewhere, please do contact us to complete the appropriate preparation.

Couples where neither party live in Godalming can marry here if there is an appropriate reason, such as a family connection with the parish. We also sometimes offer hospitality to couples needing a church close to their reception venue. In these cases you will need to approach your own parish priest with regard to preparation and church documentation. If you are not sure who this might be please feel free to ask and we can point you in the right direction.

The Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has an excellent guide to the scripture readings for marriage which can be found here.

Marriage Certificates are now issued by the local registrar and can be ordered online here.

Marriage Encounter

Marriage Encounter is a Movement which aims to give couples who are married, or in long-standing relationships and commitment the opportunity to enrich and refresh their relationships. It also seeks to give priests and religious the chance to reflect on their vocation and enhance their relationship with their parish and community.

Our sister organisation, Engaged Encounter, is a Movement within the Catholic Church which provides couples, who are engaged to be married, with a formal course in marriage preparation.

Weekends are Catholic in origin and ethos. Couples of any or no faith are also most welcome. Since its launch, over 5 million couples in almost 100 countries have experienced a Weekend.

Marriage Encounter is not aimed at marriages or relationships that are in difficulty, because the Movement does not offer advice or counselling for marriages in crisis.

website: Marriage Encounter

Parish Contact: Nicki And Alan Lion 01483 420859

Teams of Our Lady (Equipes Notre Dame)

Teams of Our Lady is an organisation for Christian married couples who want to develop their relationship with God both personally and as a couple. They do this as members of a Team of four to six couples supported by a spiritual counsellor, and by meeting together once a month for a meal and to discuss, pray and share the ups and downs of everyday life.

There are currently two 'Teams' running in our Parish. For more information please either visit the Teams of Our Lady website or call the Parish Contact. The details are:

Website: Teams Of Our Lady

Parish Contact: Colette and Adrian Wyn-Griffiths 01483 416300

‘It is in our ordinary life as baptised, married couples that we meet Christ. Sometimes we tend to want to escape from our daily lives, to consider that God is too big, too perfect to be able to find or meet Him in our limited little lives, in our spouse with all their qualities but also with all their imperfections. Of course, God is vastly greater than our lives, but He came to live in it. He sent us His Son Jesus, who became man, who shared our life. The whole of the Teams of Our Lady pedagogy helps us to open our eyes to discover how God is present in our lives, how God is present in our spouse, how He stands beside us and accompanies us. He is there to help us make our lives more beautiful, even more infused with Him. This was already so in the first team meeting: the married couple, nourished by the sacrament of marriage could discover Christ through their conjugal life, and also, that the two loves, the love of Christ and the love of one’s spouse, were compatible.’

When things don't match the ideal

Sometimes our hopes and plans do not work out, even when we are fully committed to our faith. Everyone is welcome in the Father's house and we will do our best to accompany those who have experienced break up in a relationship or found themselves in complicated situations, full of love but which don't seem to match the ideal of Christian Marriage. Please do feel free to approach Fr Jonathan if there is anything in this area you would like to discuss.

Pope Francis writes: I encourage the faithful who find themselves in complicated situations to speak confidently with their pastors or with other lay people whose lives are committed to the Lord. They may not always encounter in them a confirmation of their own ideas or desires, but they will surely receive some light to help them better understand their situation and discover a path to personal growth. I also encourage the Church’s pastors to listen to them with sensitivity and serenity, with a sincere desire to understand their plight and their point of view, in order to help them live better lives and to recognise their proper place in the Church.