Weddings at Durham School

With an unparalleled view of Durham’s world famous cathedral from the hill on which our beautiful chapel stands, Durham School is an increasingly popular venue for weddings for former pupils and others with a demonstrable close connection with the School. We have already hosted several weddings where both bride and groom once sat regularly in chapel as pupils.  Access to the Chapel is by foot up the original 98 steps, laid in memory of pupils who died in World War 1. We are now able to offer very limited vehicular access for the florist, the bridal car and for one other vehicle to transport elderly or infirm guests to the chapel level.

Our excellent facilities are available for your reception following the service.  You may find the following information of help if you are thinking of holding your wedding at Durham School.

General

All weddings in the chapel are subject to the law regulating Anglican marriages in England and Wales.

In English law everyone has the 'right' to be married in their own parish church  in a church that they habitually and regularly attend (if this is not their parish church), or in a parish church with which they have a close past connection.

 It is difficult to get obtain permission to get married in any other church or chapel.

Eligibility

So in what circumstances is it legal to be married in Durham School’s chapel?

• if you have a strong, recent and demonstrable link with Durham School, it may be possible to obtain a licence giving special permission to marry in the School Chapel; such licences are discretionary, and not automatic.
• If in addition to the link with Durham School, one or both of you worships regularly in the parish of St Margarets, Durham or lives in that same parish, it might be possible for the marriage to be by banns.

Beginning to make arrangements

The School has no 'resident' priest. Whether you hope to be married by banns or by licence it is important to speak early on to your own vicar, who you need to provide support for a licence application, or to read banns in the churches where either of you lives. You also need to ask if he or she would be able to conduct the wedding for you.

In law it is your own responsibility

• to make sure that the wedding arrangements are legal, and
• to find and ask a priest to conduct the ceremony, though we can suggest names if your own vicar is unable to help.

There are often added legal complications if

• there is little time before the proposed date of the wedding, or
• either of you is divorced with a former partner still living, or
• either of you is a foreign national, or
• neither of you is baptised

In all of these cases the advice of the priest conducting the marriage is essential before any arrangements are made.

Making a reservation

We cannot make a firm booking until it is clear that the legal conditions will be met. In addition, it is often more difficult to find a venue for the reception than for the marriage, and we advise you to deal with both the legal issues and the reception before making the booking final. Durham School has extensive experience of hosting wedding receptions – please let us know if this would be of interest to you and we will provide you with further details.

A possible alternative

If you have set your heart on a service in the school chapel, and there is no legal way for the marriage to take place, you could consider having a service of blessing after a civil marriage (which could take place, for example, at the Register Office). There are no legal restrictions about blessing a marriage which has already taken place elsewhere.

If you would like further information about weddings in Durham School’s chapel please contact Mrs Sue Langthorne on 0191 375 3275.

Once you have booked your wedding at Durham School, you might find the following website useful when making further plans for your big day:

Weddings in Durham
www.weddingsindurham.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

Downloads

The following downloads are relevant to the current page.

Durham school wedding pack (222Kb)

Wedding ceremony chapel (1.84Mb)

If your system does not have Adobe Acrobat installed, click here to download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free.

next event

National Schools' Biathlon semi-final
Sunday, 05 February 2012

photo gallery

See more photos in the prep school photo gallery or in the senior school photo gallery.

request prospectus

Find out more about the school by requesting our prospectus.

Testimonials

"When you join the school, you get a buddy who is there to help you around the House and she is just like a big sister. I found that I soon made friends with all the other girls in MacLeod and many of the Pimlico girls. So settling in was not as scary and hard as I thought it would be - it was actually quite fun! "
Emily Phillips (MacLeod, Year 9)