Weddings & Blessings

St. John's is a beautiful, historic church, as you can see from the photos in the sidebar. St. John's has the most complete set of church windows by Davis & Chambers, who most famously created the great stained glass windows at Union Station downtown.

We get many inquiries about whether or not we "do" weddings/blessings for members of the wider community. The answer is a qualified "yes." A wedding, or the blessing of a same-sex union, is only the formal beginning of a couple's life together. A wedding/blessing is a sacramental rite - the outward and visible sign of the inward, spiritual, God-centered, life-long covenant that two persons are making to each other.

In order for Pastor Teresa Danieley to officiate at the wedding/blessing of a couple who are not yet members of St. John's, the couple must complete at least four sessions of pre-marital counseling with Pastor Teresa, plus at least two other sessions to discuss the wedding/blessing ceremony and marriage (at least six sessions total). The workbook that is used for pre-marital counseling is called The Marriage Journey by Del Glover and Linda Grenz. It is available at www.churchpublishing.org.

If this is a second marriage for one or both members of the couple, things are more complicated because Pastor Teresa would need to work with the couple to complete a Petition to Remarry, which must be approved by the Rt. Rev. G. Wayne Smith, the Bishop of Missouri, at least two months before the wedding.

The donations for a Saturday wedding for folks who are not yet members of St. John's are

• $200 to St. John's (as compensation to St. John's for Pastor Teresa's time preparing for the wedding)

• $300 to use St. John's main church for the wedding/blessing ceremony (not air conditioned) -includes basic set up and clean up by cleaning staff

• $100 to use the St. John's parish hall (air conditioned)

• $150 for an organist/pianist arranged through St. John's. Director of Music, Michael Shirk, has first right of refusal. michael@towergrovechurch.org

• Donations for use of space (main church & parish hall) may be designated for the St. John's Building Fund or for the Peace Meal Project (St. John's feeding ministry).

• All of the pictures in the sidebar are by Tim McDermott, at the wedding of Jennifer Bradburn & Jon Harman on September 1, 2007.

• NOTE: For Members of St. John's Pre-marital instruction and weddings/blessings for members of St. John's are FREE. Members are "communicants in good standing," who participate regularly in the life of St. John's through worship and offerings of time/talent/money.