Weddings
Choose one of our beautiful settings for your wedding and we very much hope that we can make it possible for you to be married here and help you to plan your special day.
Planning a wedding is an exciting time, and there is a great deal to think about. Whatever stage you are at, we want to help and support you.
If you live in Winchelsea, Winchelsea Beach or Icklesham, there should be no difficulty in organising a date for your wedding. It’s always best to plan as far ahead as you can and book a date early, because weekends can be busy, particularly in the summer months. At Easter and Christmas, our buildings need to be available for private prayer and the preparation for services, so we don’t usually take bookings for weddings at those times.
If you live in another parish, but want to marry here, we will do all we can to make that possible. Click this link to see if you meet the legal requirements.
If you have been married before, with a spouse still living, a wedding in church may still be possible. Sadly, the law currently prevents the marriage of same sex couples in Church of England churches.
There is a very good website yourchurchwedding.org produced by the Church of England and this will give you a lot of help and suggestions.
We very much hope that we can welcome you and your family and friends for your special day.
Christenings
Baptism, otherwise known as Christening, is a service of welcome.
In it, new Christians formally mark the beginning of the Christian journey. A person can be baptised as an adult or as a child, and you are baptised into membership of the Church, not into a particular branch or denomination.
People have been baptised in the Benefice of Winchelsea with Icklesham for over 700 years and we are always delighted to welcome a new member into the family of the Church. Baptism is the start of a lifelong journey.
During the service we give a lighted candle as a sign of the light of Christ. Parents and Godparents make promises which affirm their belief in God and their intention to nurture those being baptised in the Christian faith.
Funerals & Graveyard
Losing those we love is one of the hardest things with which we have to cope.
Planning a funeral service is never easy but we will help you plan a service which will allow you, your family and friends, to give thanks for the life of the person who has died.
Funerals can be conducted either in one of our churches or at the crematorium. When somebody dies, it is usual for the family to contact a funeral director who will then contact us directly to arrange the conduct of the funeral.
The priest taking the funeral will arrange to meet with you to help plan the service. At the funeral, we give thanks to God for the life of the person who has died, we pray for those who are grieving, we commend the departed person to God’s eternal care, and we give thanks for God’s gift of eternal life.
