St. George's church has 12 rows of pews on each side of a centre aisle or 24 pews in total. Each pew holds 6 people comfortably and can hold 8 people "cozy". The total capacity for the church is 144 people comfortably or 192 people "cozy".
The center aisle is 40 feet from the back of the church to a one step riser (six inches in height and just in front of the first pew) and then another 15 feet to the communion rail.
Anglican priests in good standing may officiate or participate, at the invitation of the rector of St. George's in the Pines.
Retired Anglican priest or one from another province may also officiate or participate, as above. In this case, he or she will have to either (1) request from the Bishop of Calgary a one-time license to officiate at a marriage, or (2) share with the rector of St. George's in the ceremony.
At St. George's you do not have to be Anglican to get married at our church. If either the bride or groom belong to another Christian denomination, St. George's would be pleased to help you celebrate your wedding in our beautiful church in Banff National Park. In all cases, however, St. George's clergy will officiate at your wedding.
Your priest or pastor will be welcome to take a major role: for example leading the prayers, delivering a short homily, reading Scripture, blessing the couple or assisting in communion, but his or her involvement will be under the direction of our clergy. In addition to presiding at your wedding, St. George's clergy will take responsibility for preparing and signing official documentation. Our staff are sensitive to your traditions and all liturgical requests will be carefully considered and responded to. In rare cases, especially with main-line denominations, guest clergy may granted permission to officiate at a wedding in St. George's in the Pines Anglican Church by the Incumbent.
Note: Please have your clergy or wedding commissioner contact the Reverend George Belcher at (403) 762-2128 or via email: weddings@stgeorgesinthepines.org regarding St. George's policies for visiting clergy and wedding commissioners.
St. George's is a holy place, with an active and dedicated parish. We request that you respect the following:
- No pianos, organs, or other furniture in the church are to be moved for your wedding.
This includes Christmas decorations i.e. Christmas tree, nativity scene, advent candles etc. during the Christmas season. We expect that you will plan your wedding to accommodate the the wishes of the parish.
- No special decorations, apart from flowers, candles and/or pew bows, may be used.
- The candles may be placed only in the designated spot, as we have had a problem with dripping wax.
- Please respect the building and leave it clean.
Please note that many weddings are celebrated at St. George's throughout the year. It is St. George's policy to schedule weddings at minimum 2 hour intervals in order to accommodate couples wishing to celebrate their marriage at St. George’s.
Please book early so you are not disappointed. We recognize that sometimes plans change and you may want to consider rescheduling your wedding. We will do our best to accommodate you but please recognize that your choices for rescheduling may be limited.
At St. George's we understand the importance of this very special day and that emotions often increase as your wedding day gets closer. We will do all in our power to accommodate your wishes. In return, we ask that you treat us with the same consideration and respect that we are pleased to extend to you.
Our normal policy is to deal directly with the wedding couple (bride and groom) unless there are extenuating circumstances.
St. George's does reserve the right to cancel any wedding reservation at any time resulting from misconduct of any wedding party member or wedding planner.
We know that you will want to give thanks to God for St. George's ministry and Church. The Parish Executive has established the following expectations for weddings at St. George's. Please see Wedding Pricing.
If you simply want to rent St. George's church for your wedding ceremony, please see Wedding Pricing.
If you wish to have a musician, our parish organist would be pleased to hear from you. Our music director and organist is Eugene Chan.
To listen to a selection of popular wedding music performed at St.George's click here.
There are also other options: you may wish to arrange for an instrumental group to play and you are welcome to arrange for your own musicians. These are important details for early planning.
It is your responsibility to order any flowers you may want for the church. It is the tradition that flowers placed in the sanctuary are left for Sunday worship. If you arrange with a florist to have the flowers delivered to the church the morning of the wedding, we will set them out. You must let us know what time to expect them.
(Photo credit to Peak Photography)
Please remember that the church is a holy place. Flash photographs may be taken during the entrance of the bride and the departure of the couple, but not during the actual ceremony, except at the signing of the Register and the final kiss. Your professional photographer may take photos of the actual ceremony, without flash and without a lot of movement. A person designated to take a video must discuss this with the rector in advance of the service, and be willing to operate the video camera from one position only. Remember that your attention and that of the congregation is to focus on the purpose of the service.
We ask that no confetti, rice, etc. be thrown in or outside the building.
St. George's has two candelabra, each holding five candles. If you wish to use these, you must provide the candles. They should be regular dinner size, 9 to 11 inches in height, and must be pure beeswax so they will not drip. Please bring them to the rehearsal.
If you plan to incorporate the lighting of a Unity or Marriage Candle in the service, please bring this also to the rehearsal.
The appropriate place for a receiving line is at the reception and not at the church. The same is true of signing a guest book.
