Saturday 21 June 2008


A SPECIAL SERVICE
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Couples often come up to important wedding anniversaries, such as 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 25 years, ruby, golden, or even diamond anniversaries, and want to renew their vows in church. Or for some other reason, they want to take time to renew their vows in church. The Renewal of Vows service, officially known as "Thanksgiving for Marriage" by the Church of England, is a very special service where couples look back on their married life so far and ask God's blessing afresh on the future.
WHAT SORT OF SERVICE DO YOU WANT? At All Saints we offer this service in two ways. Some couples just want a private type of service. This first way is an informal service with just the couple and the vicar present, and maybe a handful of family and friends. This informal service is free of charge but a donation is requested. There is no music and the service lasts about ten minutes. The second way is a proper service with music, readings, a talk, and guests. This option is suited for a special celebration of the marriage. For this sort of service, planning is essential and it can take as much time planning this service as it can to plan a wedding service. For this reason, there is a fee of ££277
(2020 prices) plus the usual fees for organist (£90) and verger (£40), both of which are legally optional but which are usually strongly advised unless you wish to have a service without hymns. The verger gets the church ready and operates the sound system and makes sure things run smoothly on the day.
Also, couples can request in addition bells (£130) and choir (£130). There are extra fees for heating.  The charge for flowers is £80. Please do not bring in your own company to do flowers as the scheme has to match other weddings happening that day so we liaise with the other couples that day over that. 
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THE WORDING OF THE SERVICE Please do read the below wording through the website link below and if you like the look of the service come along to the church on Saturday at 10am to book your date. You do not need to live in Whitstable for a Renewal of Vows service but you ought to inform your vicar where you live just out of courtesy.
Please note the vicar is unable to confirm dates with you by email or phone about particular days or times for this service as he does not involve himself in the booking process - unless that is you decide to go for the short informal service in which case do email him now to arrange a time to meet up and arrange the date - tillotsons@googlemail.com.
The requirement to go to church to book the formal service is due to the large number of weddings, baptisms and so on during each year as this makes the administration more efficient. We do hope you understand. If you are unable to come in person, please consider asking a friend or family member to come along. There is a deposit required of £50 at the time of booking - cheques payable to All Saints Whitstable DCC. You can email the vicar on tillotsons@googlemail.com if you want to discuss any of this. The wording for the full service can be found here at this website (this is for the full service - the second of the options below). Please note this service is officially known as "Thanksgiving for Marriage", not Renewal of Vows.
All good wishes - Rev Simon Tillotson.
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