Amazing Grace is the number one hymn chosen by the 400 couples a month planning their wedding through the Church of England’s new online ceremony planner at www.yourchurchwedding.org.
More than 1300 couples have registered with the ‘listen and choose’ online innovation, which launched in October 2008 when a new law, initiated by the Church of England, made a church wedding more possible for more people.
The ceremony planner gives 25 choices for special hymns for weddings and 12 readings from the Bible. Choices are captured in a draft printout which merges the names of the bride and groom into the marriage service. Couples can then use this draft as a discussion starter when they first meet their vicar.
John Newton’s Amazing Grace is the most popular wedding hymn choice, closely followed by Make Me a Channel of Your Peace based on the prayer of St Francis of Assisi. Number three is the schooldays favourite All Things Bright and Beautiful.
The most wanted Bible reading is 1 Corinthians 13, famous for weddings, which ends at verse 13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Readings from Song of Solomon take second and third place.
Helen White, who will marry Mike Ball at St Mary Magdalene Church in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire in April, came across the ceremony planner after it was featured on ethicalweddings.com.
Helen said:
“We thought the ceremony planner was really good and pretty easy to use. What we liked best about it was how it places your own names into the words of the service and that makes it so real. As a starting point for hymns we chose Amazing Grace and Great Is Thy Faithfulness and for our readings we chose Song of Solomon. We might add more when we come to speak to the vicar about it.”
Revd Peter Moger, the Church of England’s Worship Development adviser, is part of the creative team that built the planner, which offers new twists on well-known tunes, as well as time-honoured traditional favourites.
Peter said:
“The tradition of the church wedding is alive and well, and recent changes will make it possible for even more couples to marry in church. The Church of England Marriage Service is a powerful mixture of words, actions and music which speaks deeply and beautifully of God’s love and human commitment. The ceremony planner at www.yourchurchwedding.org is a wonderful resource which helps couples discover these riches and make choices as they plan a service which is personal to them.”
The selection of hymns was first trialled with a live choir at the Church of England stand at the National Wedding Show in Birmingham in 2007.
Top 10 wedding hymns
- Amazing Grace
- Make Me a Channel of Your Peace
- All Things Bright and Beautiful
- Give Me Joy in My Heart
- We Pledge to One Another
- Praise My Soul the King Of Heaven
- Lord of the Dance
- One More Step Along the World I Go
- Morning Has Broken
- Be Still for the Presence Of The Lord
Useful resources
Full list of hymns
Full list of readings
Churches to choose from
