Weddings

Congratulations!  If you are reading these words you are about to embark upon the most exciting and demanding journey of your entire life.  That journey is the journey of Christian marriage.  No other experience will lift you as high or bring you as low as the adventure of a life-long marriage.  No other relationship will test your capacity to love and be loved, forgive and be forgiven, give and receive joy to the extent that being married will afford you.

We at Transfiguration are honored to be your gateway into this new chapter of your life.  We pledge to do our best to make your wedding day a blessed and memorable event.  Please help us do that by being attentive to the information contained in these pages.  Not only will it enable you to better prepare for your wedding, but it will also prepare you for a lifetime.  God is a great host for the wedding service, but even better lifetime companion for husbands and wives.  Three is not a crowd when God is involved!

May God bless you, your relationship and this special time.  We are happy to serve you in the Name of our Lord.

Christian Marriage

We celebrate the Sacrament of Christian Marriage at both Vail and Beaver Creek. We share these chapels with the Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic, Baptist, and Jewish congregations under the administrations of the Vail Religious Foundation and the Beaver Creek Religious Foundation who are in charge for billing for the chapels. Typically, weddings happen on Saturdays with the rehearsals on Fridays, although we have a couple of times on Sundays. We unfortunately cannot usually host them during the week, since most of our wedding stewards have primary jobs that don’t allow them to be present. We perform an Episcopal Wedding Ceremony. You can find the ceremony here.  The ceremony itself allows flexibility and tradition.   Our priests can also officate weddings at other places in the valley.  When inquiring about a wedding, please contact our Director of Wedding Ministires, Kathy Fagan 970-476-3347 or email her at admin@vailchapel.com.

Priests and Visiting Clergy

Our priests can often perform weddings. The weddings they officate are in the Episcopal tradition and follow the Book of Common Prayer.  Please click here for a breakdown of the ceremony we use.  We can also host many visiting clergy, as long as they are Christian and believe in the Holy Trinity, since we have highly efficient wedding stewards which are our congregational representatives at these weddings. Our priests do have to approve all visiting clergy. Since the chapels are a worship space, we cannot host non-Christian officiants . We do not “rent” the chapel; we host or marry couples that wish to be joined in Christian marriage.

You will need to contact Kathy Fagan 970-476-3347 or email her at admin@vailchapel.com to ascertain if a priest is available to perform your wedding at your desired time. Our priests cannot officiate weddings during the penitential Christian season of Advent  (the first three weeks in December) and and Lent (February until Easter), although we are happy to host your wedding by another officiant during this time.

For more information on booking at wedding or reception at the Edwards Interfaith Chapel & Community Center, please contact Jill Chalfant at (970) 376-5320 or jill.eic@gmail.com.

Pre-Marital Requirements

if our priest can officiate your wedding, they will require two or three pre-marital meetings with you before your wedding. They also require confirmation that a premarital “Prepare and Enrich” inventory has been completed.  Attending our wedding retreat will satisfy two of the three requirements, the other one being a private meeting with Father Brooks, so that he may get to know you and your fiancé better.

Alternatively, you are welcome to find a minister and a Prepare and Enrich counselor in your area. We also welcome you to find a minister in your area to do some of the pre-marital preparation meetings. We simply require a letter to be written by both your minister and the Prepare and Enrich Counselor stating that you have completed your pre-marital preparation.

Pre-Martial preparation by visiting clergy is the responsibility of that clergy.