The beautiful 119 year old church of St John’s in Monmouth will no doubt be filled to capacity this weekend, when it hosts only the 2nd wedding ceremony in the its entire history.
Since opening its doors on 12th October 1989 in the district of Buckholt, the church has been the venue for just one other ceremony, as it has no permanent licence to carry out weddings.
But this weekend, bride Jane Ridley and her husband-to-be Nigel Griffiths are all set to walk down the aisle after being granted special permission from the Welsh church to marry there.
Marriages can only usually be performed in a specific building which holds a special wedding licence which has been approved by the local council.
Even so, engaged couples can also submit an application to the appropriate religious authorities to request permission to be married in churches like St Johns which do not possess a wedding licence.
In Jane and Nigels case , their request actually reached the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The couple were delighted when their request was approved and the pair will be wed this weekend at St Johns where Jane has been a committed member of the flock for more than two years.
The bride said of the forthcoming nuptials:-
“We had a couple of complications in terms of getting permission to marry at St John’s but we persuaded the church to allow us to marry there and we feel very privileged about it.
We found out from the church warden that since it was built in 1889 there has only ever been one other person married in the church to her knowledge. So we’re going to be only the second couple ever to get married there, so it’s going to be quite an occasion really.
It’s a marvellous little place and holds about 57 people when you get three people comfortably on each pew, so the church is going to be full - give or take a couple of places - and all the congregation are going to be there because we wanted them to be there and share in our big day.
Everyone loves a good wedding and we wanted the church and the congregation to witness another one. Sadly, we’re probably going to be the last ones to get married there because the congregation is only small and the average age is 70 to 80 years. I’m the youngest member of the congregation at 46 and unless other people join there’s not likely to be another one soon.”
Tags: St John's Chruch Monmouth
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