Weddings at South Main

Wide shot of traditional wedding in SMBC sanctuary

Blessings on your upcoming marriage!

At South Main Baptist Church, we celebrate your upcoming wedding—and more importantly, we celebrate the covenant and the beautiful journey that you are beginning together. We believe that the union of husband and wife was established by God in creation, and intended by God for your mutual joy, for help and comfort in prosperity and adversity, and, when it is God’s will, for the procreation of children and their nurture in the knowledge and love of the Lord. Therefore we want to plan and build your marriage with as much love and care as we plan and celebrate your wedding.

If you wish to learn more about getting married at South Main Baptist Church, please contact our Wedding Coordinator, Jennifer Gribble.

Premarital Counseling

We want to equip you for a marriage that will last a lifetime, as much as we want to help you plan a wonderful wedding. For this reason, we require all couples to complete premarital counseling in order for the church to host your wedding. Please note that the cost of premarital counseling is already built into wedding service fees.

Premarital counseling consists of approximately four one-hour meetings with one of our ministers. Ideally, these occur on Wednesday evenings or during the workday. If that is not an option for you, we will do our best to work with your schedules. Before meeting, each of you will be asked to fill out an online questionnaire independently; it will take each of you about an hour to complete. This is not a test, and there are no right or wrong answers. It will simply provide our minister with some personalized talking points for your meetings.

  • Goals for this time together include helping you as a couple:
  • Explore strengths and areas for growth
  • Strengthen communication skills and understand conflict resolution
  • Identify and manage major stressors
  • Develop a more balanced relationship and explore your expectations about marriage roles
  • Discuss financial planning and budgeting
  • Establish personal, couple, and family goals
  • Explore the role of spirituality in your relationship
  • Understand and appreciate your personality differences
  • Communicate with each other about your sexual relationship

Please contact Susan Moore to schedule your premarital counseling meetings well in advance of your planned wedding date. Any consideration for alternative counseling arrangements (for example, if one or both of you lives out of state) must be discussed in advance with the Wedding Coordinator and approved by our Ministers. Your wedding service contract is not complete, and your wedding date cannot be finalized, until we confirm that you have registered for premarital counseling.

Marriage Enrichment for Couples of All Ages

At South Main, we believe that nurturing your marriage is always important—no matter how long you’ve been married. The Scripture says that your life is to be “rooted and established in love.” That is a way of describing a life that is continually nurtured and fed by life-giving soil and water. We believe your marriage has the best opportunity to thrive when your life is planted in a community of people sharing the same trials and triumphs, and in Bible study that equips you to live your life in God’s world in God’s way. To help meet these needs, twice a year we offer marriage enrichment events, inviting you to set aside a few hours to check in with each other, breathe in the Word of God, and hear from other couples at all ages and stages of married life.

Ongoing Community

Even better than marriage enrichment events are the relationships you form in ongoing adult community groups. You will find many small groups of vibrant, committed couples meeting weekly for Bible study and fellowship—on Sundays at 11:00 AM and at other times through South Main At Home. Check out our Adult Ministry to learn more about all the offerings that are available.