Quaker Weddings
Here are some brief guidelines about Quaker weddings:
An application is made to the registering officer at the Society of Friends monthly meeting where the marriage ceremony is to take place.
If only one partner is a member of the Society, the other is asked to state their sympathies with the nature of the marriage. They must provide letters of recommendation from two other members.
The registering officer issues a form that is taken to the superintendent registrar when notice is given - the civil preliminaries must be complied with.
If the building in which the couple wish to marry is in a different registration district to the area where they live, the procedures in the Nonconformist section apply.
Quaker weddings are usually informal; the bride and groom dress simply and do not wear traditional wedding attire.
It is unusual for the bride and groom to have a best man or bridesmaids.
Nobody conducts a Quaker wedding ceremony as such; the couple stand in front of the congregation and make 'promises' to each other. This is a set wording, but some elders may allow slight variation.
The Quaker wedding certificate is signed by the couple; at the end of the meeting everybody present signs the wedding certificate.
Quaker wedding certificates are usually ornate, intricately decorated and considered to be a treasured possession.
