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Wedding Magazine News The Return of the Church
| The Return of the Church |
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| Wedding Magazine - News |
 The Church of England stands to benefit financially from growth in the wedding market as couples are charged £260 for each service, providing an annual income of around £13.8 million.The C of E has transformed its approach to the lucrative wedding market in an attempt to compete with civil ceremonies held in venues such as stately homes. The number of couples booking a church wedding has risen dramatically by as much as 50 per cent in one diocese, while other areas are also experiencing a resurgence. Among the more unusual steps it has taken to modernise its appeal, clergy are now marked by newlyweds on their performance in feedback forms designed to improve the standard of services. Bishops are being sent to wedding shows to help sell the advantages of a church service and dispel misconceptions that brides and grooms must be worshippers or that vicars will be unapproachable.  Earlier this month the General Synod, the Church's parliament, passed new laws to allow couples to get married in any part of the country in which they can prove a "qualifying connection", further relaxing the rules following changes in 2008. Couples are now able to choose any Church of England parish or benefice if they can show some link with it, such as a grandparent who lived or was married there.The Church has seen a steady decline in numbers since Parliament reformed the law in 1995 to allow civil weddings to be held outside register offices, in "approved premises" such as castles, hotels and country houses. Over the following decade, the number of such civil weddings rose to more than 50,000 a year, while the number of Church of England marriages fell by 40 per cent to about 55,000 a year. However, since the launch last year of the Church campaign, called the Weddings Project, the two dioceses in which pilot schemes were run, Bradford and Oxford, have seen year-on-year rises of 50 and 10 per cent respectively in the number of wedding bookings. Other dioceses which have since joined the initiative are also experiencing success, according to officials. The campaign has been run in nine dioceses so far and will be extended to another seven by the end of the year before being rolled out across the country. Clergy have been issued with advice on how to promote a church service at wedding shows, with suggestions ranging from ensuring that they look friendly to handing out love heart sweets. Add this page to your favourite Social Bookmarking websites 
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