WEDDINGS AT MOUNT PLEASANT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

(Please read in entirety prior to calling church)

The officers, staff and congregation of Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church are pleased when members who are planning to be married seek out the services of the church and its staff for the worship that will mark the happy occasion.  We provide this booklet as a handy reference guide with answers to the many questions asked of us about getting married in general and about getting married at Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church in particular.  The booklet, however, is not a substitute for personal interaction.  Please contact the church staff if you have questions not addressed here, or if items covered here need further explanation.

Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church takes marriage seriously and thus takes seriously the worship that marks marriage.  The Session (governing body) of the church is responsible for weddings.  Because it is not practical for the Session to meet and review plans every time there is a wedding, the Session has assigned oversight of weddings to two bodies in the church.  First, as its name implies, the Worship Committee is responsible for the worship service itself.  Second, the Board of Deacons is responsible for the use of church facilities.  This booklet serves as a bridge between those two groups and provides information from both.

You will see several references in this booklet to The Book of Order.  A word of explanation: The Book of Order is the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA). It either governs all we do as Presbyterian Christians, or it tells us who is responsible for answering questions it does not answer.  With that brief explanation, let us begin then with the constitution's opening statement on marriage:

Marriage is a gift God has given to all humankind for the well-being of the entire human family. Marriage is a civil contract between a woman and a man. For Christians marriage is a covenant through which a man and a woman are called to live out together before God their lives of discipleship. In a service of Christian marriage a lifelong commitment is made by a woman and a man to each other, publicly witnessed and acknowledged by the community of faith. (W-4.9001) 

FOR MPPC MEMBERS

The only persons permitted to have weddings at Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church facilities are those who:

• Are on the membership roll of our church
• Have completed new member classes and have been approved by the Session to join the church
• Are the child or grandchild of a church member

The Pastor, at his sole discretion, can vary from this policy on a case-by-case basis using the above stipulations as guidance.  In such cases, all applicable fees shall apply at the time the wedding request is approved. (see FEES section below)

As a member of Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, chances are you are already familiar with the traditions, regulations and customs of your church with respect to weddings.  For you, this will be a family affair when many members of the church will join with you in worship. The remainder of this booklet will serve to refresh for you what you probably already know.

For our new members, please note that additional wedding fees will apply for one year after you have joined Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church.

PLANNING AHEAD

If you are a member who is considering Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church for your wedding, please include the church in your plans at the earliest possible time.  Don't be disappointed by waiting until the last minute to reserve the facilities or the staff.  Our church is a popular spot for our members who are planning weddings, so contact the office soon after you have decided to be married.  The Senior Pastor must approve dates.  

Please be aware that there is a limit on the size of the bridal party.  Not including the bride and groom, there can be no more than a total of 16 persons in the wedding party.  This is necessary as too many persons standing at the front will block the view of the service for those seated in the pews, especially parents and grandparents.  It is also a fire hazard.

In the event of a natural disaster or crisis (i.e. hurricane, earthquake, fire, etc), please check the church telephone recorded message for details.  The church has the right to cancel any events due to natural disaster or crisis.  It is the responsibility of the bride and groom to contact guests and vendors (i.e. florist, caterer) to notify them of any changes.  

WEDDING GUILD

Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church has a Wedding Guild comprised of teams, each consisting of two church members who have been trained in the mechanics of weddings and whose purpose is to assist you with all wedding procedures.  Your assigned team will contact you after your request has been approved and assist you with our required paperwork.  They will direct the rehearsal with the pastor and will assist at the wedding.  The Wedding Guild is responsible for all areas of the wedding except flowers, photography, the reception and decorations.   

RESERVING THE CHURCH AND STAFF

The church office will begin the process of reserving the sanctuary and/or Fellowship Hall once your completed application form has been approved.  Try to be as specific as possible in your answers.  In other words, say, "We would like to be married on June 1 at 1 pm, with a rehearsal the night before at 6 pm," rather than, "We would like to have our wedding some Saturday afternoon in June."  We realize that being both early and exact is not easy, but do the best you can as soon as you can.  Sunday weddings are discouraged unless there are extenuating circumstances. 

Though it causes some scheduling problems, we can have as many as two weddings a day provided they are scheduled a minimum of four hours apart.  This is required to allow the florists to clean up after the first wedding and to set up for the second one.  Scheduling rehearsals the night before presents a greater problem, but we will do everything possible to accommodate everyone concerned.

If there is more than one wedding scheduled for a given day, the Wedding Guild will gladly provide you with the name and address of those being married on the same day in the event you would like to share flowers and/or other items such as kneeling bench and candelabra.

MARRIAGE LICENSE

Weddings are one place where church and state meet and cooperate quite nicely.  Marriage is not only a covenant relationship between a woman and a man recognized by the church, but marriage is also a contract recognized by the state.  Therefore, you are required to have a license issued by the appropriate officer of the court.  In South Carolina you can obtain a marriage license in any county seat in the state.  South Carolina does not require a blood test but does have a twenty-four hour waiting period between the time you apply for a license and the time the license is issued. 

ONE WORD OF CAUTION: The marriage license bureau considers the twenty-four hour period as the full day between the day you apply for the license and the day you pick it up. In other words, if you apply for the license on Monday, the twenty-four hour waiting period is Tuesday and you can pick up the license on Wednesday.

The license will be issued in three copies, each of which must be signed.  One copy will be given to you on the day of the wedding, or it can be mailed to you the following week.  That copy is considered a certified copy.  The church office will send the other two copies to the court to be recorded.   

IF YOU HAVE BEEN DIVORCED

One question that couples planning to be married in a religious ceremony often ask is whether or not a given church will perform weddings for those whose previous marriages ended in divorce.  In brief, most of the time we do.   In the Presbyterian Church (USA) the matter of remarrying divorced persons is left to each pastor's discretion.  Under most circumstances, our pastors have made it their practice to agree to perform the ceremony for divorced men and women and to make the facilities of the church available for that purpose.  This does not mean that the pastors of Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church take marriage vows less seriously than other pastors.  It does mean that our pastors take the matter of forgiveness very seriously indeed. If either or both of you are divorced, please do not be surprised or offended if the pastor is quite pointed in questioning you.  The simple fact is that people change ever so slowly, if at all, and it is very easy for well-intentioned people to repeat mistakes in more than one marriage.

LITURGY FOR WEDDINGS AS WORSHIP

The only requirement of the Presbyterian Church (USA) regarding liturgy for weddings is that they be conducted as an act of worship. In other words, the denomination does not have a prescribed ceremony that must be used.  Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church is happy both with that requirement and with that freedom.  As is true of all worship services, the focal point of the wedding ceremony will always be the God who has called us to worship and on whom the community of faith is calling to bless your marriage.  The pastor who will lead worship will gladly provide you with suggested liturgies and other liturgical resources, varying from the very traditional to the more contemporary.  The pastor will also assist you in creating a worship service that is uniquely your own.  If a program is to be distributed to the worshippers, the pastor must view this before it is printed.  The church does not print programs.  

MUSIC FOR WEDDINGS AS WORSHIP

In keeping with the requirement that weddings at Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church are conducted as an act of worship, the expectation is that all wedding music, both instrumental and vocal, will be sacred music (Book of Order W-4.9005).  Responsibility for selection of music for worship at our church is assigned by the Session to the Worship Committee.  The Worship Committee, in turn, has secured the services of a professional church musician who will work with couples to select the music they would like at their wedding, and to suggest appropriate music and/or to advise them on the appropriateness of their requests.  In all events, every effort will be made to assure you are pleased with the final selections. While our church does not have staff soloists, there are a number of solo voices in the chancel choir.  The church musician will tell you how you may contact them, if you wish.  The church musician also will be happy to work with a soloist of your choice.  

WHAT STAFF IS INVOLVED

Please note that reserving church facilities will not automatically reserve certain church staff.  The pastor, organist and sexton must be reserved separately.  The Wedding Guild can help with that but cannot commit staff members without consulting them first.  A Wedding Guild team will be present at the rehearsal and the wedding. Mostly, you can count on specific services from one of the pastors, the church organist, the church sexton, and the Wedding Guild. 

GUEST PASTORS

The Session, through its Worship Committee, has assigned responsibility for worship at weddings to the pastors of this church. One of them will be responsible for conducting the wedding ceremony.  If there is a pastor who is a friend or relative of the bride and/or groom, under certain circumstances the Mount Pleasant Presbyterian pastor who is officiating at your wedding may invite the friend to participate in the worship service.  The guest pastor will be assigned appropriate parts of the service.  

GUEST MUSICIANS

The Book of Order is helpful in guiding the selection of music for weddings and in keeping the selections in proper perspective: Music suitable for the marriage service directs attention to God and expresses the faith of the Church.  The congregation may join in hymns and other musical forms of praise and prayer. (W-49.005)  In keeping with that requirement, the Session, through its Worship Committee, has assigned responsibility for music at weddings to the Director of Music Ministries of the church.  If the couple wishes someone other than the church organist to accompany worship at the wedding, the church organist is often willing to invite the guest musician to do so.  Guest soloists (see above) and other instrumentalists may also be invited to participate in leading worship. In all events, however, the Director of Music Ministries of Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church is the person assigned responsibility for final approval of all music selections.

COUNSELING SERVICES

Once again, The Book of Order is helpful: In preparation for the marriage service, the Pastor asked to lead the service shall provide for a discussion with the man and the woman concerning:

• The nature of their Christian commitment, assuring that at least one is a professing Christian,
• The legal requirements of the state,
• The privileges and responsibilities of Christian marriage
• The nature and form of the marriage service,
• The vow and commitments they will be asked to make,
• The relationship of these commitments to their lives of discipleship,
• The resources of the faith and the Christian community to assist them in fulfilling their marriage commitments.(W-4.9002)

To meet this requirement and because the Session believes it is important, at Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church the couple is asked to meet with the officiating pastor several times before the ceremony.  The pastor may suggest or require further meetings.  It is also the prerogative of the pastor to decline to perform the wedding if, after consultation with the couple, it is judged that the marriage is unwise. (Book of Order W-4.9002)

THE SANCTUARY

The Mount Pleasant Presbyterian sanctuary seats 500 guests comfortably in pews, with 300 persons on the main level and 100 more in each of the two galleries.  There is limited, additional space for folding chairs.  A small balcony over the narthex seats thirty.

The sanctuary is equipped with a magnificent thirteen rank tracker pipe organ. The organ, dated from 1886, is Maestro Hilborne Roosevelt's opus 233 and is recognized as one of the finest of its kind in the Charleston Area.  The sanctuary is also equipped with a German two-manual harpsichord by Jacques Way and a Kimball grand piano.  

DECORATIONS

Notice again The Book of Order:  Flowers, decorations, and other appointments should be appropriate to the place of worship, enhance the worshiper's consciousness of the reality of God, and reflect the integrity and simplicity of Christian life. (W-4.9005)

One attraction of the Mount Pleasant Presbyterian sanctuary as a setting for weddings is its simple beauty.  Most people agree that our sanctuary is most lovely when it is least decorated. Reputable florists will respect the good judgment regulations meant to protect our sanctuary and its furnishings from fire or marring.  They must take proper precautions to protect the furniture and floor when candles, potted plants, and flowers are used.   The florist will confirm with the church office as to the best time to set up and remove decorations so as to avoid conflict with church programs.

It is the florist's responsibility to remove all decorations from the church immediately after the ceremony.  Any person or firm disregarding these rules may be deprived of future access. Any florist that you use will want to know several things:

1. Only dripless, mechanical candles may be used.
2. The church owns candle lighters but not candelabra.
3. The window ledges are too narrow for candles or other decorations.  To decorate the windows, stands are required.
4. The church has a kneeling bench. 
5. The communion table, baptismal font, and pulpit chairs may be moved, if you desire.  The pulpit, however, is permanently installed and cannot be moved.
6. The use of a "unity candle" is not allowed.

REHEARSALS

If there is to be more than one attendant each for the bride and groom, it is advisable to have a rehearsal for the wedding ceremony.  Most often the rehearsal is scheduled for the evening before the wedding.  All those in the wedding party plus as many of the honored guests as practical should attend the rehearsal. While you can expect the rehearsal to last approximately one hour, it is a good idea to allow an hour and a half.  The extra time is especially important if you are planning a party after the rehearsal that will begin at a specific time.   Please do everything possible to assure prompt arrival at the rehearsal since more than one rehearsal may be scheduled in a single evening. If the marriage license has not previously been given to the pastor, it should be placed in the pastor's hand at the rehearsal.  

DRESSING ROOMS

Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church does not have a "bride's room" where the bride and her attendants can dress.  What is available is the women's restroom in the Fellowship Hall.  After the bridal party is dressed, the Parlor will be available solely for the purpose of waiting for the ceremony to begin.  The Parlor is not to be used to apply makeup or hair products, or to consume food or drink.

PHOTOGRAPHERS

The Board of Deacons and Worship Committee understand the significance of photographing what will surely be one of the most important days of your life.  At the same time, the Board of Deacons and Worship Committee also think that it is important to protect the dignity and reverence of worship at Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church.   To strike a balance between those sometimes conflicting concerns, the Board of Deacons, on recommendation of the Worship Committee and approved by the Session, allows still photographs to be taken only before the worship service begins and after the worship service ends.  Worship is defined as beginning when the presiding pastor enters the sanctuary and ending when the presiding pastor leaves the sanctuary.

Videotaping of your wedding can take place ONLY from the NEW BALCONY over the narthex where there is a space for a noiseless video camera.  No additional lighting is allowed.  No flash pictures are permissible in the sanctuary during the ceremony.  The wedding party can assemble for pictures before or after worship.  This regulation covers professional photographers, non-professional photographers and guests. Photographers should plan to meet with the Wedding Guild prior to worship so there will be no misunderstanding of this regulation.

ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO

Except for the possible use of wine at communion services, no alcoholic beverages will be consumed on the church premises.  All of the buildings of the Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church have been designated as smoke free.  

NOTES FOR USHERS

1. Be present at least one hour before the service begins.
2. Be assured dress is proper and have boutonnieres pinned on. Designated ushers should light the candles 30 minutes before the service.
3. Reserve the correct number of pews for the bride and groom's families.
4. Always usher women on your right arm.  If two women are together, use two ushers to seat them.
5. An usher does not offer his arm to a man unless he is very feeble and needs help. The usher does walk in front of a male guest as he shows him to his seat.
6. If several couples arrive together and there is a shortage of ushers at the time, an usher offers his right arm to the eldest woman and the other couples follow, women walking first. The usher then seats the couples together.
7. Usher teenage girls but not small children; who walk behind their parents.
8. Line up on the left in the narthex so that you can offer your right arm to each female guest as she appears.
9. Ushers should talk to guests in a very low voice.
10. Make sure you know your assignment in seating the mothers. The groom's mother is the first mother to be escorted to a seat before the wedding begins, and the last mother to be escorted out after the wedding.  The bride's mother is the last person to be escorted to her seat before the wedding, and the first escorted out after the wedding.  No other person is escorted to a seat after the mothers are seated.  Any late arrivals should take their seats in the balcony.

FEES

Our members who choose to have their wedding service at Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church do not pay a fee for the use of the sanctuary.  Instead, there is a single, all-inclusive fee of $860, which includes all costs for the required services of our staff members. As of January 1, 2004, the following fees are in effect:

• Honorarium to the officiating Pastor (for premarital counseling, the rehearsal, and the wedding service)
• Sexton (for the Sanctuary)
• MPPC Organist (optional)
• Wedding Guild
• Sound Engineer (for the rehearsal and wedding)             

Please note that there are additional costs to use our Fellowship Hall for a rehearsal dinner or reception.  To reserve this space, contact the church Facilities Manager to determine its availability and the costs.  Additional fees also will apply if you request the harpsichord or have several soloists (requiring extra rehearsals with our organist).  

For those who have not been members of Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church for at least one year prior to the wedding date, there is a different fee schedule.  A non-refundable deposit of $500 will be required after your wedding application is approved but before the date can be reserved on our church calendar, with the remaining balance payable in installments as determined by the Wedding Guild Director.  Here again, the actual final fee will be determined by the services requested.

Please contact Linda Russo in the church office (843) 884-4612 or mailto:lrusso@mppc.net for application and questions.