All couples who wish to be solemnised by an ORPC’s pastor and/or hold their solemnisation in ORPC must apply in writing to the Session.
BEFORE APPLYING TO GET MARRIED IN ORPC
All couples who wish to be solemnised by an ORPC pastor and/or hold their marriage solemnisation in ORPC must apply in writing to the Session.
The following are the minimum criteria before Session will make a decision:
- Both parties must be active baptised/confirmed Christians.
- Baptism/Membership certificates should be attached to the application form.
- At least one party must be an ORPC active communicant member for a minimum of one year.*
- The couple must have completed the Marriage Preparation Class held at ORPC at least six months before the planned date of marriage.**
- The couple must have completed pre-marriage counselling with the officiating minister.
- Both parties should not have been divorced.
* ORPC reserves the right to talk to the church of the non-ORPC member about him/her for the purposes of marriage preparation.
** For cases that do not meet criteria 3 for special reasons, please speak to the ORPC pastor officiating the marriage.
Note that:
- ORPC solemniser reserves the right not to solemnise the couple – the decision of the solemniser will be final.
- The officiating minister should be the preacher delivering the wedding exhortation.
- ALL bookings of church facilities (if applicable) are tentative until the final approval from Session is given.
- No weddings will be held in ORPC on Mondays, Sundays, Public Holidays, and in December.
Only wedding vows prescribed by the Presbyterian Church of Singapore (Synod) will be used in weddings.
MARRIAGE PREPARATION CLASS
Schedule for 2025 (over four sessions):
- August: 16th, 23rd, 30th
- September: 6th
Time: 4:00 – 6:00 PM
MARRIAGE APPLICATION CHRONOLOGICAL TIMELINE
- Register for Marriage Preparation Class (MPC)
- As part of MPC registration, fill up marriage application form part 1 (prerequisites, couple’s details, intended date, officiating minister).
- Upon registration for MPC, arrangements will be made for Prepare/Enrich assessment and counselling.
- Attend pre-marriage counselling and MPC.
- Upon completion of MPC, marriage application form part 2 will be sent to couple for completion (wedding and rehearsal dates, witnesses, venue, musicians, AV).
- Upon completion of pre-marriage counselling, officiating minister may submit couple’s application to Session for approval.
- Session approval of marriage.
- Confirmation of venues.
CHRISTIAN WEDDINGS
A Christian wedding is not simply a signing of a certificate, but a time of making a sacred commitment to each other and to God. A Christian wedding also happens in the context of a worship service, one that is centred on the preaching of God’s Word. In other words, the Christian wedding service is one that is focused on God, and only secondarily on the wedding couple. This has a few implications.
1. Wedding vows used in the solemnisation
In ORPC, only wedding vows prescribed by the Presbyterian Church of Singapore (Synod) will be used in weddings. This allows the focus of the vows to remain on the marriage covenant that God has instituted, rather than private personal promises that the couple are making to each other.
2. Wedding preacher
As the wedding service is a worship service held by ORPC, the church has responsibility to guard the pulpit and what is said from the pulpit. For the purposes of wedding services, the pulpit will be opened only to preachers from ORPC, and the Presbyterian Church of Singapore (Synod). Any exceptions granted will need to have their scripts vetted ahead of time.
As the officiating minister (also the solemniser) will have been the one walking with the couple through pre-marriage counselling, he/she is also preferred to be the preacher exhorting the couple in this wedding service. This should be the norm for ORPC weddings.
Additional queries should be directed to the MAP pastor.