Posted by
The Offbeat Bride: Brett, Minister
Her offbeat partner: Matt, Minister
Date and location of wedding: The Anglican Chapel, London Road Cemetery, Coventry, United Kingdom — May 24, 2014
Our offbeat wedding at a glance: We were able to hold the ceremony in a cemetery. We work a lot in bereavement ministry, so the cemetery feels more like our church than any other building.
We see funerals as a celebration of a person's love and life and thought that it was a fitting place to celebrate our new life together.
Tell us about the ceremony:
Our minister friend conducted the service: Father Christopher Morgan. We had a fairly traditional ceremony. We all shared in Eucharist at the start, ensuring that everyone was able to join in, no matter what faith they were. We used the Bible Verse Ruth 1:16 – 1:17 as our vows since it is so meangingful to us:
Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.
We had an acoustic guitarist, Paul Poulton, playing “Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” to walk into, “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and “You Never Let Go” during the service. To walk out, we had “Swing Life Away” by Rise Against. We are often not remunerated for our ministry, so the line “We get by just fine here on minimum wage” meant a lot to us — we minister for the love, never for the money or glory.
Our biggest challenge:
Our biggest challenge was being in a largely disused chapel that had no toilet, so we had to keep warning people ahead of the day. Due to the size, we also had to limit numbers and politely request people not to bring guests.
My favorite moment:
When Father Christopher invited all our friends to come and lay hands on us with a prayer or wishes for us, Brett's son said, “I pray you stay married forever.” It was very heartwarming.
When I finally turned around and saw how many people made it, include a friend all the way from America, as well as seeing people who had driven for hours to get there, I was very much overwhelmed.
My funniest moment:
The funniest moment was when we revealed that we had met online since, up until now, most people assumed we had met through work!
Have you been married before and if so, what did you do differently?
Matt spent a lot less money, his last wedding cost £18000, this one cost £1500 (he enjoyed this one more!). For Brett, she had previously been married in a registry office, before becoming ordained as clergy, so it was really different to be in a church, surrounded by other people sharing in faith.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Photography: Marek Kuzlik Photography
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
About the Author: Offbeat Weditors
Working tirelessly to bring you stimulating content day after day, the Offbeat Wed editors will not sleep until you've gotten your offbeat fix.
I love this wedding. It seems like it was so unique and meaningful to you. It seems this wedding celebrated the elements of your faith that speak to you most. I feel like so many people equate “religious” with “traditional” and that with “not offbeat” but I feel like this wedding shows that religious does not necessarily mean traditional (how many people get married at a cemetery? And your explanation for doing so was beautiful!) and that a religious wedding with traditional elements can be offbeat.
Your chapel venue is just lovely! Sounds like it was a little bit frustrating to organise an event there, but you made a good choice, as your photos attest. 🙂