Let us help you make your big day special.
Thank you for considering The Church on the Mall for your Wedding Ceremony. This beautiful, historical, sandstone chapel is perfect for celebrating your special day of marriage, with an all-inclusive modern worship service & a centre isle for the bride’s grand entrance. The church offers the melodies of a historical organ and/or modern sound/audio vision to be played during the ceremony.
The regular fee for a marriage ceremony conducted in the Church on the Mall is $1,000.00 including a non-refundable booking fee of $50.00. This includes the use of the church, the flowers, the organist, the services of a verger and the minister. A commemorative Bible is available, should you require one, at an additional cost of $16.00.
Click or tap on the following button for a form that will allow you to give basic information to the Church Office and to indicate the date on which you wish to have your wedding ceremony. The Church Office will contact you to confirm the arrangements and to arrange for your payment of the deposit.
Arrangements you make with car hire firms, professional photographers and others are purely between you and the person or company concerned. Your wedding cars (maximum of three) are normally able to come into the Mall and park at the front of the church – the minister will make it clear to you how this should be done. Please note that, for Friday weddings, because of the weekly markets in the Mall, wedding cars may enter the Mall to deliver the bridal party and return later to collect the bridal party but cannot remain in the Mall for the duration of the marriage ceremony.
Photography and videoing is permitted within the church but there are some important requirements. Please click below for those requirements. Failure to meet them could cause embarrassment to everyone present.
Want more information on the legal requirements or other aspects of marraige? Check below.
Under Australian law, you must complete and sign a Notice of Intended Marriage, not less than one month before the date of the ceremony and no more than one year before.
The minister also needs to see your Birth Certificates and photo ID and, if appropriate, evidence of a divorce (the Decree Absolute, not Decree Nisi) or of a death (Death Certificate).
The other legal requirements are that you must be of marriageable age; you must not be closely related to each other; and you must not have a previous marriage that still stands.
Please provide your photographer with the information below prior to the wedding day. This will ensure that the photographer can take videos and photos in ways that keep the day special for the bride and groom, but without causing disruption to the service and guests.
Photographs may be taken before the service, that is whilst the bride and bridesmaids are entering the church, coming down the aisle etc.
The official photographer may take photographs throughout the ceremony, provided there is no distraction caused by his/her activities. If a distraction is caused, the minister will stop the ceremony until the situation is rectified. This could be embarrassing to the photographer.
There must be NO standing on seats. The photographer must respect the sanctuary area (the fenced-off section at the front of the church) and enter it only on invitation by the minister.
This is a church service and a sacred place, so please give this occasion and this place the respect they deserve.
Video cameras may be used during the service but the video photographer must remain in the one location for the entire service and must not cause any interruption or distraction.
NO strong lights are permitted. Only the normal church lighting is permitted. If in any doubt, check with the minister before the bride arrives.
Thank you for your co-operation. Please adhere to these requirements to prevent difficulties or unnecessary embarrassment. If in any doubt on any point, please check with the minister before the bride arrives.
Marriage counselling is available from:
Relationships Australia
Level 1, 63b Market Street
Wollongong
Tel: (02) 4228 7711
It is in your interests to check out the health of your relationship before you make the solemn commitment that marriage entails. This organisation is available for counselling and support at other times as well. Or you may prefer to go to some other body able to give appropriate counselling. If you are concerned about any aspect of your relationship, please talk to the minister or to a counsellor now to avoid potential problems after you are married.
Another possibility is PREPARE/ENRICH Australia. PREPARE/ENRICH is a custom tailored assessment and skills-building program designed to improve a couple's relationship. Built on a solid research foundation, the PREPARE/ENRICH assessment tool identifies a couple's strength and growth areas, assisting awareness and through effective facilitation, couple exercises to build relationship skills. You can see a Youtube video about PREPARE/ENRICH here.
You will need to arrange with the minister to have a rehearsal, usually in the week before the wedding. At that rehearsal the minister will go through the ceremony with you, dealing with any particular requirements you may have and with the requirements of the Uniting Church. The minister will also have the legal document known as The Declaration ready for you to sign. It is required by law that this be signed before the ceremony can take place.
The ceremony used is the official Marriage Service of the Uniting Church in Australia, adapted specifically for use in this church. You can see a copy of it by clicking on the button below. A printed copy of the vows will be given to you when you complete the Notice of Intended Marriage (see Legal Requirements above).
The minister is happy to discuss the ceremony with you. There ARE choices available for the particular wording of vows and prayers and there are other options you can choose, such as hymns and specific Bible readings you may want. Please feel free to discuss these matters with the minister.
Please be on time for your wedding. It may well be that another wedding ceremony will follow yours and it is not fair to the second couple if your ceremony runs over time. Please check with your wedding car drivers that they know what time they must arrive at the church.
If you will have a large number of people attending your wedding, you should arrange for one or two ushers to guide people to their seats. Please note also that confetti, flower petals and rice must NOT be thrown within the church or in such a way that they may blow into, or be walked into, the church. Wollongong City Council has similar requirements in the Mall.
At the end of the wedding ceremony, you will be given a commemorative marriage certificate. This is for you to keep.
However, if you need to produce a marriage certificate for legal purposes (such as applying for a passport, applying for a bank loan, changing driving licence details) this commemorative certificate is not acceptable. You will need an official Marriage Certificate issued by the New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Here is the webpage to order your official Marriage Certificate Marriage certificates | NSW Government
Can we have our own minister to host our wedding?
Normally a Uniting Church minister conducts the wedding other ministers may be involved at the discretion of the minister at Wollongong Mission.
Is there a data projector available?
There is a data projector in the Church.
What music is available?
We will arrange an organist or you may involve other musicians or use recorded music.
What flowers are included?
There will be two arrangements of flowers placed on the stands either side of the organ.
Are we allowed to decorate the church?
You can decorate the end of the pews by attaching it to the rings provided.
Morning Service: Sunday 10am
Afternoon Service: Sunday 12:30pm
Evening Gathering: Sunday 5pm
Wollongong Uniting Church
116 Crown Street, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
