Love is God’s greatest and most wonderful gift to humankind. It is an attitude of self-less self-giving and lasting commitment. It draws its inspiration from God’s nature and from his love for us.

When two people discover their mutual love for one another, they may want to make a commitment to share the rest of their lives together “for better or for worse”. In marriage, they make that commitment public and official. Marriage provides them with a solid foundation for life as a family.

As Christians, we recognise that marriage is a covenant given by God. Therefore, we want him to be our witness as we make the marriage vows and ask him for his special blessing on our lifelong journey together. In Finland, the official wedding ceremony can be held in church with a pastor officiating. It is also possible to have a civil wedding and come to church to receive a blessing.

If you are planning to get married and want to have a church wedding, you will find a wealth of information on this website to help you prepare for the great day. If you don’t find what you are looking for or want to discuss about the wedding in more depth, please contact your local parish.

Most Finnish pastors are able to assist you in English and to arrange a wedding with the service conducted in English or a mixture of languages such as Finnish and English, or indeed several other languages as well. If you would like to discuss your English language related church wedding aspects with a pastor who serves the English-speaking community of greater Helsinki region, please contact the English-language congretation of Helsinki. It is called St. Matthew's International Lutheran Church, and is physically located at St. Matthew's Church (Matteuksenkirkko) which is right next to the Itäkeskus metro station. The link to the St. Matthew's Church web pages is St Matthew's Church.

T‍he pastor of St. Matthew's International Lutheran Chuch is: