Congratulations!!!!

Premarital counseling is required and free. This is not to talk you into or out of anything. We figure you have made up your mind before you got here. It is to bring up issues that come up in every marriage and it is easier beforehand then after when everything else is happening. The counseling is conducted by the pastor and normally takes approximately 4 -5 hours. It consists usually of two sessions. The first session consists of a one hour talk with the couple. The second actually involves three sessions all rolled into one. I find it easier to remember what we have talked about if we haven't really left. I meet with both of you for a few moments, then each of you separately for an hour while the other fills out a questionnaire. All of what we talk about is considered confidential and I will not discuss the answers the partner made at anytime. We will then discuss for about 20 minutes at the end. Some will be triggered by the conversations, some by the questionnaire, and something s I just save until the end. Nothing you say during the counseling will talk me out of doing the wedding.

A valid marriage license must be in the pastor's hand before he can marry you. In Maryland that must be form the county where the service is performed. Grace Church is in Baltimore County and may be obtained at the Towson Court House.

Marriage is a worship service but it is a special worship service, it's your wedding. I give out samples of temporary and traditional services and you can make any changes that you feel is necessary. You are not saying anything that you do not believe just because it's in the sample. With multiple religious backgrounds, each will share from their own perspective including the pastor.

Because it is a worship service there are some limits in music, such as camp town races and the Mickey Mouse march as a processional. I also do not marry people while jumping out of airplanes. This might encourage prayer but not the concentration on the promises made.

Homosexuality: The United Methodist Church while welcoming and ministering to all persons does not allow homosexual union, consecration, or blessings to be done on our property and no pastor can participate in such on or off church property. For exact wording of the United Methodist Church's discipline see the pastor. We believe the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with the church's teachings.