(Media) Here comes the bride... at NightChurch

The big day is approaching for happy couple Erika Davies and David Morgan but it will be a wedding day with a difference at Exeter Cathedral.

On 21st May, Erika and David will exchange vows and rings at their marriage service. On the evening of the same day, they will have a blessing as part of their NightChurch community – a fresh expression of church that meets in the Cathedral on Friday nights.

Among those expected to attend are many of the homeless people who see NightChurch as 'their' church. David, who is also manager of the Big Issue Exeter office, said:

We will be surrounded by family, friends, NightChurch regulars - and anyone else who happens to be visiting the Cathedral at the time. It will certainly be more open than most weddings, as we'll have a lot of homeless guys and members of the public who will still be wandering in.

David had been a member of Exeter Network Church (ENC) when he was invited to join a new community meeting in the city's traditional centre of worship. NightChurch, set up by the cathedral's then Canon Missioner Mark Rylands in 2007, was to offer a different way of 'doing' church on Friday nights within the medieval building.

David said:

In the early days of NightChurch, we would get a brazier and have a fire at the front door of the cathedral to attract people in. After a few months it developed into a barbecue. I used to be a chef so it was natural for me to get involved in that!

The first time I met Erika was on one of our pioneer training meetings. We became friends very quickly, but it was no more than that. Then after about a year, we were at NightChurch when one of the Big Issue sellers I knew came up to me and said 'Is this your girlfriend?' We were very coy about it for quite a long time but it was when we were planning for a Good Friday event, and suddenly our planning session also felt like a date.

And so it went on until we proposed to each other on holiday. We decided our engagement should be private between us and God because we wanted our wedding to be at NightChurch, and so knew that would be a very public declaration. In saying that, we weren't sure whether it would be possible to get married there at all but as we met at NightChurch, and were both very passionate about it, it made sense.

The bride-to-be spent three years on Mercy Ships before moving to Exeter in 2006. Her parents were part of the cathedral congregation and it wasn't long before Erika found herself preparing for the launch of NightChurch.

She explains more about the wedding plans:

We found that we could not have a marriage service after 6pm (only in exceptional circumstances can weddings take place outside the hours of 8am to 6pm). Instead we will have the ceremony during the day at the Cathedral and later a blessing, followed by our first Holy Communion as a married couple, during NightChurch. Our celebration will allow us to share the experience in a different way. NightChurch is a special place and we want to reflect that on our special day.