Royal Wedding ceremony question

[nightcat]

Is it not customary to receive Communion in the wedding ceremony in CofE? Or is it that the royals don't do it?

The only weddings I have been to where we have received communion was in full Catholic jobs which included mass

I see, mine was RC, hence the question I suppose..

Interesting question. I just read that Catherine had to be Confirmed a few weeks ago. I assumed so she could take Communion but maybe it is so she is allowed to marry the future head of the Church of England.

I married in a CofE chapel but have never been Confirmed.

Some weddings have a communion ceremony, others don't - it's entirely up to the couple (in CofE at least.)

Or could it be that they are not to be seen eating in public? Not even the Communion?

I've only been to one CofE wedding where there was communion.

I think a lot of people view weddings as a very mixed congregation, where many of the guests are either not churchgoers or from traditions not in open communion with the CofE.

Imagine if almost 2000 people had to go up for Communion - they'd still be there now!

And imagine having to climb over those who won't go up for either communion or a blessing.

Well, at the very least, a coup0le + nearest and dearest, blesisng for the others? I think most even large congregations can cope by having additional priests around. For me it would have been another high point in the ceremony.. oh well.

apols for spelling

I think Anglicans would struggle with the notion of watching others receive communion and not participate themselves. The body and blood is not to be gazed at, and all that.

Communion isn't done as standard at weddings at the c of e church I go to.

The extra liturgy would double the length of the service too.

My understanding is that in the CofE if you have communion in the wedding service it has to be offered to the whole congregation - so it's either all or nothing.

I agree it's optional, and I don't think their choice was a royalty issue (probably logistics!).

But this got me thinking. Other than at her Coronation, has there ever been footage of HMQ or other Royals taking Communion? Despite her public role in the established Church, it seems she keeps her personal observances private (or at least off-camera).

I have been to a high church CofE wedding with communion but they usually don't.

Catholic churches will have a "nuptial mass" or "funeral mass" which is the full monty.

I think C of E weddings don't tend to have communion at weddings. I know Catholic funerals generally have Communion but not sure about Weddings, I would guess they might though.

You can have different kinds of marriage services in the Catholic service. Ours wasn't a full Mass as I was marrying a Presbyterian, who wouldn't have been able to go to Communion. So we had a Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) minister officiating alongside the priest, as well.

It is marked in the book of common prayer as part of the service, but it's very rare to do it these days.
DH and I are very regular church-goers, and we thought about having communion, but in the end decided that it wouldn't be a good plan.
We had a lot of guests who aren't church-goers, and my dad is very anti-organised-religion, so it wouldn't have gone down well.

It does say in BCP that if there's no communion, then you should endeavour to take communion as soon as possible after the service, and we had church the next day, so took communion then.

not normal in C of E, also communion is for anyone in the whole congregation who normally takes communion in their own church even if not C of E also as communion is about us all being brothers and sisters in christ, the royal family can have no pre-eminence hence I believe the queen rarely if ever takes communion in public

it is logistically possible to give communion to large group in relatively short space, Iwas in congreation where roughly 400 would take communion had eight leders and eight plates of bread passed along pews and 8 cups of wine took about 15 minutes
so if a royal wedding i would imagine less than half regular communicants so would have been 20-25 minutes with multiple plates/cups/ priests so not impossible but I think it would be inappropiate for all Tv cameras concentrating on who took communion and who allowed plate to go past and you just cannot imagine them agreeing not to film those bits!!!!!!

It was not necessasry for Catherine to be confirmed to get married though i guess just something she had perhasp not got round too and talking about vows before God may have made her want to, but she may have been encouraged !! I liked the fact they wrote a prayer themselves and had real bible readings not some pop star singing secular songs in church

We had communion at our (Anglican) wedding, but it was just for us and the Officiating Priest. I had wanted it to be open for anyone in the congregation, but we didn't want to alienate DH's side, so on the priest's recommendation it was just us.

So they could have just done that, but it might have been thought of as odd. However, they are lucky that there are private chapels around which they could have used after the wedding at some point, and I imagine that this might have happened - especially with the Bishop of London advising them (and having prepared Catherine for her confirmation).

You are supposed to take communion as soon after your wedding as you can if you don't have it as part of the ceremony. But it is rarely part of the ceremony in C of E, although I'm sure I have had it at weddings.