Montclair Wedding Sanctuary
A Ministry of First Congregational Church of Montclair
For nearly 150 years, First Congregational Church (FCC) has stood in Montclair, New Jersey for progressive values and a warm welcome to all. We are a church that was founded on the notion of open doors and extravagant welcome, and we are honored to extend that welcome to you and your guests on your wedding day.
We proudly welcome interfaith, unaffiliated, and same-gender couples, or anyone else who might be seeking a venue which offers a combination of traditional and out-of-the ordinary. Your unique ceremony is truly welcome here.
Love, Radical Hospitality and a Warm Welcome
Rev. Ann Ralosky / Senior Minister, First Congregational Church of Montclair
“Joining our lives to one another in marriage is one of the most sacred things we can do. The Montclair Wedding Sanctuary provides a place for couples to make their vows that honors their uniqueness, but also connects them to a larger story of love.”
Our founding church members in Montclair were abolitionists who fought to eradicate slavery, and through the generations our membership has continued to include those who struggled for women’s suffrage, civil rights and LGBT rights. Ours is the first historically-white denomination to ordain an African American (1805), the first to ordain a woman (1853), and the first to ordain an openly gay person (1972).
The first same-gender marriage legally performed in Montclair was at the Montclair Wedding Sanctuary at First Congregational Church.
Much more recently, in October 2013, we were proud to perform the first same gender marriage in Montclair, at the stroke of midnight on the day Marriage Equality was legalized in New Jersey.
Our church is a spiritual home to people at all places along life’s journey, believers and questioners alike. We welcome diverse voices in our sanctuary through song and story, and through service to our community, we strive to be a part of God’s work of healing the world.
Despite his serious expression, the Rev. Amory Bradford, our founding pastor, believed in a joyful church “whose doors were always open to all.”
Link to our church website to learn more about First Congregational Church of Montclair.