Weddings

We share your joy as you prepare for your wedding and married life!

At Trinity Lutheran we endeavor to help your wedding to be a joyous and meaningful experience of worship and to assist you in establishing a Christian home by the grace of God. We wish you well in your planning and blessings on your new life together.

Our Understanding of Marriage

A Christian wedding is a worship service in which the bridal couple has invited their guests to join them in asking for God’s blessing on their marriage. Contrary to popular understanding, the basis of marriage is not love – for human love is changeable and cannot be depended upon to provide a reliable foundation for a long-term relationship. Rather, marriage is a covenant in which you pledge to be faithful to one another. 

To the Christian:

• Marriage is rooted in the steadfast love of God, and God’s faithfulness and self-giving love provides the model for the relationship between husband and wife
• Marriage is grounded in God’s love and characterized by faithfulness, joy, love, growth and fulfillment

God does not perform your marriage, nor does the pastor. The wedding is performed by you, the wedding couple. You share your vows in the presence of the pastor, who represents both church and state and who is the principal witness to your action. Along with the congregation, the pastor asks for God’s blessing and support for your marriage.

The Christian Wedding

The wedding service which you are anticipating is different from many other wedding services, in that it is a Christian wedding. The very fact that you are reading this booklet or that you have come to Trinity for counsel and guidance indicates that your concern is for a Christian wedding.

Christian couples want their wedding ceremony to be characterized not only by dignity, reverence and joy, but by the very spirit of Christ himself. A Christian wedding service, however, imposes particular responsibilities just as it offers particular blessings.  These responsibilities are yours because you are Christians. They are also responsibilities of your church.

Let us look at some of the features that will make your Christian wedding different:

An Act of Worship

The Christian wedding service is an act of worship. The Christian wedding is a ceremony in which Christians, particularly you, as bride and groom, come together to offer special thanks and praise and to ask God’s blessing upon your life together as husband and wife.

The Center: Christ

The center of worship for Christians is always Christ. This means that as we worship, our attention is to be drawn first and last to Jesus Christ. It is, after all, an evidence of God’s grace that we are able to celebrate Christ’s presence with us. For your wedding, this means that God should have first place, and that the attention of all present should be drawn to God.

A Public Act

A Christian wedding is the corporate or congregational worship of all those gathered to thank and praise, pray and implore God’s blessing with you upon your marriage. Strange as this may sound at first, it means that your wedding is not for you alone. Those who come to share your joy have their important part to play as well. Those who come, come not as spectators, but as worshipers. By emphasizing the congregational nature of the Christian wedding, you will be helping those who come to share your joy be an integral part of your wedding.

Pre-Marriage Counseling

To be married by the pastors at Trinity, all couples must take part in pre-marriage counseling. This consists of meeting about three times with the pastor who will officiate at your wedding and taking the PREPARE Inventory by Life Innovations, Inc. 

If you would like to hold your wedding at Trinity, please contact the church office.