We rejoice with you in your upcoming wedding, and welcome the opportunity to plan with you for a Christian wedding. Our team consists of the Bethel Pastors, Director of Music, Wedding Secretary, Wedding Coordinator, and you!
A Christian wedding takes place within a service of worship. Wedding planning is done with careful and prayerful consideration. The joy of the marriage ceremony is reflected in the prayers, praise, and thanksgiving of those who come together for this special occasion.
The first step for a wedding at Bethel is to contact the Wedding Secretary, Sandy Ripp, by phone 608.257.3577 x 231, or email. She will help secure the date for use of our Sanctuary. This must be done before you reserve a reception venue, photographer or musicians. Bethel’s Sanctuary is available for weddings on Saturdays at 12:30pm and 3:30pm, and on some Fridays and Sundays. Our Sanctuary accommodates 800 people. Rehearsals are scheduled on Friday nights.
As is true of all worship, we gather to praise God and to invite God to be present to bless and shape the marriage. Everything in the ceremony points towards God – the readings, the sermon and the music. Your wedding, in every sense, will reflect the unique character of you as a couple, your interests and your commitments all within the context of worship. The Director of Music will help you select music that speaks of God’s love for us and our love for God. This includes all music played or sung in the Sanctuary from the prelude through the postlude.
In case you didn’t know, Bethel currently has two Wedding Coordinators to assist with our wedding couples; they are Bethel members Linda Scheid and Stephanie Meister.
If you’re looking to have a wedding that incorporates the Word, top-notch musicians, beautiful architecture, and an experienced and outgoing staff, Bethel is your place. Even if we both were not already members of Bethel, we couldn’t have imagined a more perfect place to hold our wedding ceremony. Some might be scared away by how big Bethel is; instead we saw it as an opportunity. Just about anything you need, Bethel has it or knows how to get it. The friendly staff was there for us from the beginning and was always there to answer any question we had.
From the moment Pastor Joe welcomed Andrea and I to Bethel on our first visit, to every single smiling, and friendly staff member we encountered, we knew Bethel was the place for us. Being a same-sex couple walking into a church can be a very stressful event, so to have such a pleasant and warm welcome was certainly a relief. Bethel became our home and the decision to have our wedding at Bethel was one of the easiest decisions we made.
