UK: Anglicans to relax rules on church weddings

Church of England responds to venue competition by loosening strict regulations on parish links
Riazat Butt
Religious affairs correspondent
Tuesday 13 July 2010

The Church of England agreed today to relax its rules on couples marrying in churches where they have little connection with the local parish, after hearing of the competition it faced from secular venues such as hotels.

Members of the General Synod, the church's national assembly, supported a call for a rule that would allow marrying couples to choose from a greater range of churches for their ceremony.

Clergy would no longer have to apply for a special licence for couples with a "qualifying connection" to one church who want to marry at another church within the same group of parishes. the rest