Churches set for wedding boom

A summer boom in church weddings is expected this year after a relaxation of Church of England rules. The Marriage Measure means couples need only have a tenuous link to a church to be eligible to marry in it.

Previously, it was necessary to live and worship in the parish where you wanted to marry.

Clergy from picture-postcard churches say they are inundated. Reverend Deiniol Heywood, at Holy Trinity church in Prestwood, Buckinghamshire, said: "It's a tiny parish of 150 people, so under the old rules it was very hard to marry there. The numbers getting married this summer have gone up by a third. People want a meaningful setting and a beautiful church is part of that."