Guidelines For Marriage

Helpful information for people in our community who are getting married, or considering marriage

Guidelines for Marriage by a Northcross Pastor

Congratulations on this exciting time of preparation for your upcoming wedding ceremony and marriage! If you wish to have a Northcross pastor officiate your wedding, please review the guidelines below, and complete and submit the pre-marriage questionnaire. Please note that considering the size of our church and the total number of pastors on staff, the pastor you request may already be at capacity and unable to officiate your wedding. This is why we advise contacting pastors as soon as possible.

Honorarium:

Our pastors invest significant time into walking alongside you toward your wedding day. The pastoral honorarium covers numerous pre-marital counseling & consultation sessions, ceremony planning, organizing the rehearsal, and officiating on the day. 

The specific honorarium rate for your wedding will be reviewed and confirmed directly with your officiating pastor during your initial consultation meeting. If there is a genuine financial hardship involved in the cost of these sessions, please feel free to discuss this openly with us during the initial meeting.

Pre-Marriage Questionnaire
1. Complete the pre-marriage questionnaire

 

2. Review of your questionnaire

A Northcross pastor will receive your completed questionnaire for review and we will contact you with any questions and next steps. Before a pastor can confirm that he can perform the wedding he will request an initial meeting with the couple. In this session, you can expect the pastor to ask you about information supplied in your questionnaire including your Christian faith, church life, and the nature of your relationship.

3. Preparation with a Northcross pastor

Once a Northcross pastor has been confirmed to preside over your wedding, you should coordinate schedules as early as possible to ensure that he is available for your wedding date and to allow adequate time to complete the premarital seminar and premarital counselling process, allowing no less than six months between the time of the initial contact at the actual wedding.

4. Premarital Course

Members of Northcross must attend a premarital course, “Alpha Pre-marriage/marriage”. The seminar is a course that discusses the meaning and purpose of marriage, the qualities necessary to have a healthy marriage, the true nature of love and how to effectively express it, communication and conflict resolution, role relationships, and sexuality in marriage.

5. Premarital counselling

The pastor will provide an undetermined number of counselling sessions with the couple to supplement the Alpha course. The number of sessions will depend on several factors, including the couple’s background, and level of readiness, etc. This is done through a diagnostic tool (Prepare/Enrich) to supplement their counselling, which will entail additional cost.

6. Wedding planning

The planning for the wedding ceremony will take place after the completion of the pre-marital counselling sessions.

 

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you on this special occasion!
Get in touchPre-marriage questionnaire