Congratulations on your engagement! You are about to embark on an exciting adventure called marriage. 

Weddings and receptions may be done at Hope Church for Hope members or regular attenders moving towards membership.

Hope Church events have priority in scheduling (including set-up and tear-down times). We do not schedule weddings on the weekends of major occasions (i.e. Christmas and Easter). 

We ask that facilities be reserved at least 6 months in advance (or as close to 6 months as possible). 

PLEASE NOTE: Saturday weddings must be scheduled to begin no later than 2:00pm and everything must be cleaned up with everyone on their way out of the building by 6:00pm.

To check on availability and to reserve a date, contact care@hopechurch.com.

Seating capacity in Town Hall is 325.

Weddings usually require the use of the building for:

• decorating
• a rehearsal
• the ceremony 
• a reception*
• clean-up (returning the facility to usability for Sunday morning)

There is a fee for use of the facility (to cover A/C, security, A/V technician, janitorial services, etc.). Please see Wedding Options at Hope below.

Set up and cleanup is the responsibility of the wedding party. For detailed set-up and clean-up check lists, see Weddings at Hope Game Plan below.

For decorating details see Decorating for Weddings and Showers below.

*If you wish to have dancing or serve alcohol at the reception, we ask that you have the reception at another facility.

Premarital counseling is a prerequisite to getting married at Hope Church. Once you have reserved a date, please contact care@hopechurch.com to schedule your premarital counseling. 

You may contact any of the following Associate Pastors to confirm their availability to perform your wedding. The church office number is 817.535.5555.

• Jerry Roberts, jroberts@hopechurch.com
• Brian Cropp, bcropp@hopechurch.com
• David Ludwig, david@hopechurch.com
• Jeremy Good, jgood@hopechurch.com

NOTE: If you would like to have a pastor outside of Hope Church perform the ceremony, a letter stating his credentials should be submitted to the Hope Wedding coordinator one month prior to the wedding. The letter should include where he went to school (institutions of higher learning) and where he received his licensing/ordination.

The State of Texas requires that a minister performing a wedding ceremony be listed as a minister by his denomination or group of churches. This usually involves being “licensed” or “ordained” in Texas.

We require that all wedding parties use the Hope Church Wedding Coordinator.

The wedding coordinator is familiar with Hope’s policies as well as where supplies/available decorations are located. The coordinator can answer questions you have regarding the facilities, the program, or other logistics. The wedding coordinator will be a valuable asset to you during the rehearsal and on the wedding day because they will keep everything running smoothly and on time.

Once the wedding date has been confirmed with the Hope office, the Hope wedding coordinator will contact you to schedule a meeting.

A marriage license is required for any couple wishing to be married in the state of Texas.  

Be sure to apply for your marriage license in plenty of time:

1. An application for a license must be made at the Tarrant County Plaza Building, 200 Taylor Street—3rd Floor, Fort Worth, TX 76102, between the hours of 8AM-5PM, Monday-Friday.
2. You must apply together with a valid, government-issued picture identification and your social security numbers. Valid forms of ID are: driver’s license, state ID, Passport, and Military ID. 
3. A blood test is NOT required in Texas.
4. The application fee is $71.00 Cash, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover. (Credit card use adds an additional 3% fee).
5. There is a marriage license discount for premarital counseling. Please contact the county for details.
6. There is a 72-hour waiting period after the license is issued before the marriage ceremony can take place.  
7. The license is good for 30 days from the date of issuance.
8. For more information http://www.tarrantcounty.com/ecountyclerk/cwp/view.asp?A=735&Q=473434

Weddings and receptions at Hope require the use of approved Audio/Visual technicians who are familiar with the Hope Church equipment. 

Be sure to include all desired forms of A/V in your initial meeting with the Hope wedding coordinator.  

A/V is usually needed for the rehearsal and for the wedding, including:

• Lights
• Sound (i.e. We have found it helpful to give a lapel mic to the pastor and the groom. The microphone on the groom will also pick up what the bride is saying.)  
• Projectors (for videos and pictures)

During the rehearsal and the wedding, the Hope A/V technician will run the sound, lights, and projection in Town Hall. We ask that you provide Brian Cropp, Pastor of Arts & Communications, with a written schedule of the wedding ceremony, what songs will be played and in what order, along with lighting cues prior to the wedding rehearsal. Please email this to Brian Cropp one week before the wedding rehearsal (bcropp@hopechurch.com). 

The traditional chair arrangement can be altered for your wedding ceremony. We ask that the chairs are returned to the normal layout after the wedding is over. A copy of the Sunday morning layout is attached to this document. Please see Weddings at Hope Game Plan above.

The wedding coordinator and the pastor facilitating the wedding will run the rehearsal. This is a time where everyone in the wedding party, along with our Hope Church A/V technician, runs through the order of the ceremony with music, sound, and lighting cues in order to eliminate as many distractions as possible during the actual ceremony.

For the rehearsal, it is helpful if you ask your wedding party to arrive 15 minutes prior to the actual rehearsal start time, which allows the rehearsal to start and end on time for the party to leave for the rehearsal dinner.  

NOTE: Rehearsals generally take (2) hours and the police officers who will be at the building for your rehearsal are hired in (4) hours increments. You may want to utilize the remaining (2) hours to finish decorating before the rehearsal. 

Hope Church facilities may be used for the rehearsal dinner. 

• Room 45 & 54 (The Mega Zone) opens into one large room that can be utilized for the dinner. These rooms are equipped with sound and projection capabilities.
• The hallway in the boys Stockyard Station also makes a charming BBQ/Rodeo themed area. A mobile sound unit is available for this area, but projection capabilities are not.
• A kitchen that can be utilized to prepare and serve the food is located near each of these locations.

Rehearsal dinners (including clean-up) must be completed by 9:00pm.  

Set-up and clean-up for the rehearsal is the responsibility of the wedding party. 

Please see Wedding Options at Hope Church (above) for pricing of commonly used items such as tablecloths and coffee makers.

If you would like access to any A/V equipment for the rehearsal dinner, please let Brian Cropp know two weeks in advance. 

The wedding coordinator will assist with access to the facilities on the day of the wedding.

At the end of the reception, when the bride and groom depart, you may throw real flower petals or use bubbles* outside to send them off. Birdseed, rice, and confetti are not allowed.

*For safety purposes, bubbles may only be blown outside. 

Cleanup is the responsibility of the wedding party and must be done during rented hours. Hope Church does not provide manpower for the set-up or takedown of events.*  

Please carefully read Weddings at Hope Game Plan (above) for clean-up details.

When the wedding is over the entire facility must be returned to its prior set-up.  

*This is a great opportunity for family, friends, and the wedding party to serve the bride and groom by helping move the furniture and put away food and decorations.  

If you are holding your reception at Hope, having an emcee is important. The role of the emcee is to keep the reception agenda moving and to highlight activities the guest will want to notice, such as:

• introducing the wedding party
• announcing that the couple will be cutting the cake 
• introducing those giving speeches (best man and maid of honor)
• announcing other activities that may take place  

Couples typically choose a friend from Hope who will do a good job of keeping the reception on schedule, enjoys speaking in public, and will honor both the couple and the Lord in how he acts and what he says. We can also recommend an emcee if needed. Please note that the wedding coordinator will keep the schedule of the reception and direct the emcee as to when to announce the next activity that is happening.

Bride’s Room. The bride and her attendants may dress for the wedding in Room 4 (located across from the church offices, near the family restroom). Please be sure to cover the window for privacy. It is also recommended to bring personal floor length mirrors that you would like to use, as there are none in this room (nor in the building). 

Groom’s Room.  The groom and his attendants may prepare for the ceremony in Room 32 (located on the west end of Main Street). Please be sure to cover the window for privacy. It is also recommended to bring personal floor length mirrors that you would like to use, as there are none in this room (nor in the building).

Your photographer may use flash photography and move around Town Hall as they please. They are not allowed to move anything on the stage or to change any of the lighting that is fixed to the building. There is a lighting que set up in Town Hall that your photographer can utilize to create more lighting for your pictures. If you have questions about where this is located, please contact Brian Cropp at bcropp@hopechurch.com. 

Any outside catering service is responsible to provide its own serving items, plates, and utensils. They are able to access the building during the time you have reserved the building for your rehearsal dinner and/or wedding. They may only be in the building while the police officer is on duty. They are required to do all of their own clean-up. The catering service must also provide a proof of insurance and worker’s compensation.

Childcare is not available and no rooms are available for childcare. If childcare is desired, please make arrangements for it to take place at a location other than Hope Church.

Once the wedding date has been approved, please contact the church at care@hopechurch.com to set up a meeting with Brian Cropp, the Arts and Communications Pastor, and the wedding coordinator. This meeting will be scheduled one month before the wedding date. At this meeting you will discuss the details of decorating the building, the rehearsal, the wedding ceremony, and the wedding reception. 

For pricing and payment information, please reference Wedding Options at Hope Church below.

• A $250 non-refundable deposit is required to reserve the date on the Hope Church calendar.
• The remaining fee is due one week before the wedding date.
• Please keep track of how many tablecloths are used at the rehearsal dinner and/or wedding reception. Give this number to the wedding coordinator. We will send you an invoice approximately 10 days after the wedding for the cleaning fee of the tablecloths.

 Final payments are due one week before the wedding.

 Tablecloths payments are due 10 days after your wedding date.

Any questions related to decorating, the rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner, the wedding ceremony, or reception, please contact care@hopechurch.com.

For payment of fees, please contact care@hopechurch.com.