Your Wedding With Grace
Congratulations on your engagement
Wow, so many decisions and so many plans to make… when, where, who, what!!?? How much?
So if you’d like to be married by a Grace pastor and/or you plan to use a Grace site please follow the steps below.
If you are not using the resources of Grace Church, please see Step 4.
So many young couples give more attention to their wedding plans than the planning and preparation to actually be married. Research shows that couples who participate in pre-marriage programs experience a 30% increase in marital success and fulfillment over those who do not. Being prepared for a wedding does not equal being prepared to be married.
Register for Premarital Counseling
Grace uses SYMBIS (Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts) for this vital step of preparing for a lifetime of marital success. Using video teachings and discussions we cover topics such as God’s design for marriage, communication, gender differences, sex, finances and much more. At the beginning of each year offer we these group classes which take seven weeks of two-hour evening sessions. There is a $25 fee for the cost of the His & Hers workbooks.
Take a moment to read the steps and documents below and fill out the Wedding Application.
PLEASE NOTE: After you fill out this Wedding Application, you should be taken to a confirmation page. If you are not, scroll back through the Application and make sure there are no fields with red text. Those are required for it to be submitted.
STEP 1 – Get Started:
If you want to have your wedding at Grace or you desire to to be married by a Grace pastor take a moment to read our “Guidelines for Getting Married at Grace” and then complete the Wedding Application.
STEP 2 – Preliminary meeting with Pastor:
The purpose of this session is to assess you and your fiancé’s readiness to get married and to be sure that you understand the expectations of the marrying pastor. This is also an opportunity for you assess the pastor and be sure that there is a good fit from your perspective.
STEP 3 – Facility Reservation and Deposit:
Upon a successful preliminary meeting with the marrying pastor and a mutual agreement to move forward with the wedding and date, you must fill out the Wedding Contract provided to you, review the financial commitments involved in a wedding at Grace, and give a deposit to Grace Church to reserve your date.
STEP 4 – Register for the Premarital Class Seminar
Grace uses SYMBIS (Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts) for this vital step of preparing for a lifetime of marriage. Using video teachings and discussions we cover topics such as God’s design for marriage, communication, gender differences, sex, finances and much more. At the beginning of each year we offer these group classes which take seven weeks of two-hour evening sessions. Grace also offers one-on-one premarital counseling when class schedules do not work out. For this we would use the SYMBIS Assessment which covers the same topics while going deeper into personal differences. This option involves four two-hour sessions with a Certified SYMBIS Facilitator. You will see these options at the end of your application.
STEP 5 – Wedding Coordinator Contact
A wedding ceremony coordinator will be assigned to you and will contact you to go through wedding planning information. They will cover facility policies and procedures, give you a tour of the facility, review every detail of the wedding ceremony, assist in coordinating the efforts of the florist, photographer, musicians, and wedding party. She will also set up one other meeting with you closer to the date of the wedding to finalize all the service details.
STEP 6 – Pastoral Conversation
You will meet with your marrying pastor to cover what you learned in the class and any specific issues that came up during your SYMBIS premarriage class. Your pastor will be available to you as needed throughout this process.
STEP 7 – Rehearsal/ Wedding
When the big day finally arrives, your Wedding Coordinator will walk you through the ins and outs of the wedding rehearsal and make the final preparations for your ceremony. Contact us for assistance.
