Your Wedding at Trinity Lutheran Church

YOUR WEDDING AT TRINITY LUTHERAN

We welcome you to Trinity for your wedding. As you come to the altar of the church, you are asking God to meet you here, where we offer to God worship and praise and thanksgiving. As you worship, God offers to you strength and blessing and a beautiful example of love, as wonderful gifts on your wedding day.

As you seek to come together in the best of human relationships, we will work with you to create a deeply meaningful and personal event within the beauty of worship.

HOW TO PROCEED

Making wedding plans can be very exciting. The normal procedure is to contact the church at least 4 months prior to your wedding date. Planning carefully and well in advance is the best way to ensure that your wedding arrangements are not a burden, but a joy.

A wedding is a worship service of the church. To clearly express this, our congregation has established the following procedures to guide you in your plans:

Contact the church office to determine whether the facilities for your wedding are available on the date you have chosen. We request that you reserve your wedding date four months prior, to allow time for counseling, meeting with the musician and the wedding coordinator, and for all the other preparation that a special day such as your wedding entails. Please do not print your invitations until you have received final confirmation of your chosen date, time, and location and we have received your agreement to abide by our wedding policy.

You receive confirmation of your wedding date by filling out the Wedding Request and Information Form, along with a deposit of $200, and you have turned in your agreement. This deposit becomes part of your total payment of fees.
[Non-Member Fee] - - [Member Fee] You will receive a receipt for your deposit, which you may use as confirmation of agreement. The deposit is nonrefundable. After the wedding is scheduled, you will want to contact the pastor.

A staff member or designee, when scheduling your wedding and rehearsal, is available to give you a tour of the facilities and answer any questions that may arise.

One of Trinity’s pastors (or pastoral designee) will direct and officiate at your wedding. Visiting clergy are welcome to take part at the invitation of Trinity’s pastor.

You are asked to meet with the pastor. There will be a series of meetings with the pastor, as counseling is vital to establishing a marriage built on love, trust, and a good relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The order of the service will be modeled after the marriage service from the Lutheran Book of Worship (page 202). You may choose from a variety of readings, prayers, wedding promises, hymns, and solos. Other changes must be approved by the officiating pastor.

Trinity’s Director of Music will play for your wedding, as well as assist in the selection of all music to be performed in the service. She will be advised of the wedding date as soon as it has been confirmed. Contact the organist for an appointment by calling the church office (253-537-0201).

A Trinity Wedding Coordinator will call you to set up an appointment. The appointment with the Wedding Coordinator provides a good opportunity to discuss the logistics of your wedding day and to answer any questions you might have. There is usually a brief introduction by phone soon after the date has been secured and then a more detailed face-to-face meeting one to two months before your wedding. If crucial questions arise before that time, please do call for help. We are here to assist you.

Your rehearsal will be directed by the pastor and/or the Wedding Coordinator. All members of the wedding party should attend. It is important that your rehearsal begin at the scheduled time.

Please bring your marriage license and balance owing on the fees to the church two weeks prior to your wedding. The Wedding Coordinator will send a reminder three weeks prior to your wedding.

Trinity’s policy is that there shall be no tolerance of alcohol, drugs or other chemicals in any part of the church property, including the parking lot during your rehearsal, wedding, or reception. We will not hesitate to cancel the wedding at the last minute if this rule is violated, or if any of the wedding party’s functioning is impaired by the use of these substances.

Please do not plan to have rice, bird seed or confetti thrown inside or outside the church building.

If we cannot come to a mutual agreement, we reserve the right to cancel arrangements and refund any unused fees which have been paid to the church.

THE SETTING FOR YOUR WEDDING

The Sanctuary

The primary center of worship at Trinity is the sanctuary, which easily holds over 500 seated guests. There is a large chancel area for large wedding parties. There is a beautiful pipe organ and Steinway grand piano. To emphasize the proper spirit of the Season of the Church year, banners and hangings (paraments) are changed at the specified times of the year. Please note the following colors of the various seasons.

Advent – blue; Christmas – white; Epiphany – green; Transfiguration – white; Lent – purple; Easter – white; Pentecost – red; Holy Trinity – white; Common season – green; Reformation Sunday – red; All Saints Sunday – white; Christ the King Sunday – white.

The sanctuary aisle is 100 feet long. Aisle runners are not necessary in the church. However, if you desire to use one, only the heavy fabric ones are permissible. We have pew-end candelabra every three pews. There are six candelabra on each side of the aisle. They have built-in brackets which make them safe and secure. They can easily be decorated with flowers and/or ribbons that you or your florist provide, but no tape or wire may be used to attach them.

A Special Note about the Sanctuary:

During the academic year, the Saturday evening Community Worship service is held in the Sanctuary at 6:00 p.m. Therefore, weddings should be scheduled no later than 3:00 p.m. (mid-September through mid-May). If this creates a problem for your wedding party, please discuss the matter with the Wedding Coordinator. We want to help make your day the best it can be.

The Chapel

Trinity’s chapel is warm and intimate, lined in pine, backed by modern stained glass windows of much beauty. The chapel holds up to 120 guests. There is an exquisite turn-of-the-century organ and a lovely baby grand piano in this room. Since the chancel area is quite small, we recommend small wedding parties.

The Park

Trinity Park is to the east of the church, providing a lovely wooded setting for small outdoor weddings.

MUSIC

The selection of music for your wedding service shall be made in consultation with the Director of Music. Plan to confer BEFORE you make any decisions or arrangements involving music or musicians, as final approval of all music rests with the director.

Your decisions about music should be made with the following guidelines in mind:

The wedding ceremony is an act of worship. The Director of Music has overall responsibility for the selection of suitable music for all worship services.

If you desire to use an "outside" musician, your request must be submitted to the Director of Music for approval. Approved vocal or instrumental solos, or a congregational hymn, may be used.

The music in the wedding consists of the following:

Prelude as the guests arrive
Processional as the wedding party enters the church
Special music during the Service
Recessional as the wedding party leaves the church
Postlude as guests leave the church

PHOTOGRAPHY

Pictures are important to your wedding. We will work with your photographer and/or videographer so that good photography can be accomplished without interfering with the integrity or dignity of the wedding itself. Photographs in the sanctuary are normally scheduled two hours prior to the start of the service and should be completed forty-five minutes to one hour prior to the start of the service.

We do not allow flash photography during the wedding ceremony, nor should the photographer be visible at the front of the church. Equipment must be set up in the balcony or the back of the church; videographers often set up their equipment on the outside of one of the front side columns or in the back.

FLOWERS

The altar is a sacramental table, and must not have wedding décor or candles on it. Altar flowers are placed to the side of the altar or directly behind the altar. When ordering flowers from your florist they should be in a self-contained vase. Nothing may be placed on the piano. Church furnishings may not be moved. No tape, tacks staples or nails may be put on any stationary surface or objects please.

CANDLES

There are six altar candles at Trinity which are lighted for all worship services. We have lovely brass candelabra which are inserted into two of them for weddings, when requested. If you prefer, we also have a pair of black wrought-iron adjustable candelabra which are quite lovely. Trinity provides the candles, as well as the candles for the pew-end candelabra.

Trinity has a unity candle holder. You must supply the large center candle and two standard dripless long-burning tapers for the sides.

DRESSING ROOMS

Dressing rooms are available for your use on the day of the wedding, along with restrooms and large mirrors.

Please feel free to bring snacks and/or non-alcoholic beverages for the wedding party on the day of the wedding. Please note that Trinity does not supply plates, napkins, cups, and glasses.

Trinity is not responsible for the wedding party’s personal items. It is most important to assign a person to watch over or gather all valuable items from the dressing areas prior to the service. Immediately following the service, remove all personal belongings.

DIRECTIONS TO TRINITY, PARKING

From Interstate 5, take Exit 127 Eastbound (State Route 512). Get off at the Parkland exit and take a right onto Pacific. Proceed south on Pacific Avenue until you reach the stop light at 121^st Street. Take a right onto 121^st, proceed 1½ blocks west. There is a small parking lot across from the double doors into the business offices of the church. You may continue around the church counterclockwise onto Park Avenue, then onto Wheeler, where you will find a very large parking lot. Both the church and chapel face Wheeler Street. - - -Map

A FINAL NOTE

You’ve just been given a lot of information to assimilate all at once. This information is vital to the planning of your wedding. Please keep this packet, as you might want to glance over it again as questions arise.

When Christ came to the wedding at Cana, he made it a happy and joyous occasion by His presence. He should be the first guest you invite. God’s richest blessings to you as you make your plans.

Non-Member Wedding Fees - - [Back]

The Trinity Lutheran Church charge for your wedding will be $1530 (sanctuary wedding) or $1155 (chapel wedding). This charge includes:

Pastor’s honorarium
Musician
Wedding Coordinator
Sound Engineer (sanctuary)
Custodial

A $200 non-refundable deposit is required to place your wedding on Trinity’s schedule. This deposit will be applied to your total wedding fee.

Once your wedding is scheduled and confirmed, a pastor and wedding coordinator will be assigned to work with you.

If fees present a financial hardship, please discuss this with the pastor.

Please return this portion with your deposit of $200.

Checks should be made payable to Trinity Lutheran Church.

Agreement

Enclosed is my deposit of $200. I agree to pay the remainder of the fee two (2) weeks prior to the wedding.

It is understood that the building will be used with dignity and respect, in accordance with its character as a place of worship.

I am aware of the policy prohibiting the use of drugs and alcohol on church premises.

DATE____________________

SIGNED__________________________________

Member Wedding Fees - - -[Back]

The Trinity Lutheran Church charge for your wedding will be $630–730. This charge includes:

Pastor’s honorarium
Musician
Wedding Coordinator
Custodial