Caerwent Parish Group

Congratulations on your engagement! How can we help?

We know you’re excited about your wedding — and that you may have lots of questions. Please know that your parish Church and your parish priest are here to help. As your first point of contact in Caerwent, Llanvair Discoed, and Newchurch, please get in touch with Father Will at the phone number or email address to the right.

What should I expect when booking a date?

When you ring, we’ll speak with you initially about a date for your wedding. For legal reasons, we normally need to book a wedding one full month in advance — although, in special cases, we may be able to make emergency provisions at short notice. Once we have a provisional date, we’ll send you a booking form, which we’ll ask you to fill in so as to make a firm booking. If, at this stage, you think it would be helpful to have a face to face chat with Father Will, he will be most happy to make an appointment.


Who can get married here?

It is a legal requirement that couples marrying in Church should have a qualifying connection to the parish Church. This will typically mean that one of the partners meets one of the following conditions:

you live in the parish;
you worship in the Church and have joined the electoral roll;
you were baptised in the parish;
you were confirmed in the parish;
your parents or grandparents were married in the Church;
you or a parent formerly lived in the parish for six months;
you or a parent formerly attended worship for six months.

If you are concerned about meeting one of these conditions, please ring and speak with Father Will.


What about divorce?

In these parishes, divorce or disillusion of a civil partnership is not a bar to a Church wedding. Please do not hesitate to ring us to discuss your wedding. Before your wedding can proceed, however, the parish priest must see your decree(s) absolute.


What if one of us is a foreign national?

This is fine — in fact, the parish priest is an immigrant. But there may be special legal conditions or procedures. Please enquire with Father Will when booking the wedding.


Can you bless a marriage conducted earlier — either abroad or in a registry office? Can you bless our marriage at a significant anniversary?

Yes! By all means, be in touch. We will be happy to work out a service of blessing and thanksgiving for your marriage that is appropriate to your needs.


Can we be involved in planning the service?

Yes, of course. Father Will would be delighted to discuss any aspect of the service you’re wondering about. We use the Church in Wales marriage service, which has various options and which you can find here. We also recommend you look up the Church of England’s wedding information website, Your Church Wedding, which is filled with resources, including readings, prayers, and hymns with tunes.


We’ve heard that some priests give photographers a rough time. Do you?

No, no … not at all! Father Will is most happy to welcome photographers to the Church and to help them find the place where they’ll get the best shots. If your photographer is available for the rehearsal, you are welcome to invite him/her along. Otherwise, have him/her speak with Father Will before the service. Photographers whom we know well and have worked closely with in the past include Andrew Miller Photography in Llanvair Discoed and Wye Valley Studios in Caldicot.


What about fees and legalities and all the small print?

Fees: the standard Church wedding fees are set annually by the Welsh Governement. In addition, our fees cover the organist and a verger (someone to prepare the Church for the service. Fees vary from year to year, but are currently in the range of £400-£450.

Legalities: Most Church weddings require banns to be called beforehand. Calling the banns is a legal procedure in which your intention to marry is announced in the main parish service for three weeks running. (If one of you is not resident in the parish, you will need to have banns called in your own parish Church as well.) During this period, people are given the opportunity to put forward any reason why the marriage may not lawfully take place. (Don’t worry; I’ve never had an objection yet!) We normally call the banns during the first three weeks of the month before the wedding. (Thus, for example, banns for a July wedding would be called the first three weeks in June.) There is no legal requirement for a couple to be present; but many families do enjoy coming along to hear the banns read. We can certainly assure you of a warm welcome from the people of the parish.

Under certain circumstances — most often the marriage of a foreign national or a wedding that, for some reason, must be conducted quickly — we would require marriage by common licence, rather than banns. Obtaining a licence is a fairly straightforward process by which you demonstrate you identity to a Church official. If you have a query, Father Will will be happy to assist.

If you have no qualifying connection to the parish, as described above, but still believe you have a strong reason to be married in the parish, please make contact and we can investigate whether an Archbishop’s special licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury would be appropriate for your circumstances.