By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent The Telegarph

Brides and grooms seeking the perfect wedding will be allowed choose almost any church, as long as they can prove some link with the parish - even through parents or grandparents.

Idyllic churches which feature in films, or are used for celebrity weddings, are expected to see a surge in applications. As the new rules take effect, clergy are being issued with guidance on how to be more consumer-friendly as the Church tries to fight back against the growing popularity of civil weddings.

Tips for vicars include repeating parts of the ceremony to allow guests to take pictures, dropping some fees for the service and encouraging the congregation to feel free to clap and cheer.  Around 200 clergy have already attended training days to learn how to be more welcoming, but the courses will be stepped up this week when the rule-change takes effect.

There has been a sharp fall in the number of people opting for a church ceremony over the last decade. Since 1994, the number of civil weddings in “approved premises” has risen to more than 50,000 a year, while Church of England marriages have dropped by 40 per cent over 10 years to about 60,000.  At present, vicars are only allowed to marry couples when either the bride or the groom live or worship in the parish, unless they have applied for a special licence, which is a long and costly process. Church leaders believe that relaxing the rules will enable them to challenge stately homes, castles and hotels in the lucrative market for weddings.

As part of the campaign to promote the advantages of a religious ceremony, bishops will attend wedding shows over the next fortnight to publicise the new opportunity available to couples. “We need to let people know that it is possible for them to get married in church,” said the Rt Rev Graham James, the Bishop of Norwich.  “We are making the church more accessible. Hotels and other venues have been strategic in offering their services. Now we’re doing the same.” Churches that are likely to prove particularly popular include St Bartholomew the Great in London, which featured in Four Weddings and Funeral, and St Mary the Virgin in Turville, Buckinghamshire, the setting for The Vicar of Dibley.

These churches will be open to any couple who can show a “demonstrable connection” with the parish, possibly through a link with a parent or grandparent. Some clergy fear that such a flexible law will place huge pressure on a small number of pretty village churches or fashionable city basilicas, while depriving less-popular inner-city churches of much-needed income.

The Rev Rosie Harper, vicar of Great Missenden, Bucks, argues that the reforms.

“Everyone in the country has a right to a church wedding and this will make it much easier to say ‘Yes’ to people,” she said.

“The Church needs to be as relevant to people’s lives as possible and this will help to make sure that we are able to play a role in one of the most important days of their lives.”

Mrs Harper said that the guidelines would help clergy to become more professional in selling the benefits of a church wedding and making it more enjoyable.

The list of advice, which is being published this week, suggests that vicars should set out itemised costs for the couple, to show that a church wedding is relatively cheap, and also brief the guests before the bride arrives.

“Newcomers are often unsure whether they are welcome to laugh at your jokes, clap when the couple are married, or cheer as they walk down the aisle,” it says.

“When you welcome the guests, put them at their ease. Let them know any special arrangements about photos.”

It continues: “You make everyone feel at ease with an informal, positive and friendly welcome before the service begins. Rehearse the congregation in its response, ‘We will.’”

The guidelines also recommend providing “Kodak moments”: “If you restrict photography during the ceremony, why not recreate the moment later? Stand the couple at the front facing each other, and invite the guests out of their pews to take their own shots.”

Research for the Church of England last year found a significant percentage of couples would have had a church wedding if it was open to them.

While many felt they couldn’t get married in church because they weren’t religious, a quarter of those surveyed said they would have opted for such a ceremony.

From the London Idependent newspaper 

She’s a fabulously wealthy Spanish royal with more titles than Queen Elizabeth. But the Duchess of Alba’s hopes of marrying her toyboy have been vetoed – by her children. Elizabeth Nash reports

The Duchess of Alba, the grandest grandee in Spain, is said to be able to cross the country from north to south without leaving her estates, and possess as many titles as the Queen of England and of higher rank.  But despite wealth and her bluest of blue blood, Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva, 82, is being denied her heart’s desire after her children scotched her plans to marry an antique dealer 24 years her junior. Furious at their opposition, the feisty duchess plans to petition Spain’s Queen Sofia to intercede in her favour.

The House of Alba fears for the safety of a sumptuous patrimony should the twice-widowed duchess marry a third time. The duchess is mistress of a fabulous collection of estates, palaces and artworks, including portraits by Goya of an illustrious antecedent said to have been the artist’s lover.

Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, a spectacularly colourful member of Spain’s bizarre celebrity clique, has never been camera shy. With her piping, querulous voice and eye-popping outfits, the duchess is constantly in the public eye at society weddings and bullfights featuring her ex-son-in-law Francisco (”Fran”) Rivera Ordóñez, a popular torero from a distinguished bullfighting family.

Since the death of her second husband seven years ago, she has enjoyed a close relationship with an old family friend, Alfonso Diez Carabantes, 58, and wants to marry him. “It’s true that I planned to marry. We were both full of enthusiasm for the idea,” the duchess told Hola! magazine this month. Plans for a secret ceremony were apparently well advanced before the family found out by chance. Backed, it is said, by King Juan Carlos, they vetoed the match.

Some gossip columnists hint that Mr Diez is little more than a carpet- bagger battening upon a frail old woman estranged from her children. Others say it’s bit much if Spain’s top aristocrat can’t choose her own partner for her twilight years.

Spain’s royals have a deciding voice in matters concerning the House of Alba, so the headstrong Cayetana has sought an audience with Queen Sofia to enlist her support. “They don’t want me to marry, but they change partners more often than I do,” the duchess complained this week about her six children, all of whom made high-profile marriages that ended in divorce.

The saga bounced into public view a week ago when the national news agency Efe published the following brief communiqué issued by the House of Alba: “In the light of reports about the relationship between the Duchess of Alba and Alfonso Diez, this House emphasises only the affectionate friendship between the Duchess and Mr Diez, there being no plans whatsoever of matrimony.”

The curious declaration seems to have been wrenched unwillingly from the duchess in a vain attempt to stem months of tittle-tattle. She admits to furious rows with her children over her marriage plans.

Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva was born in the Liria Palace in Madrid. The palace houses Francisco de Goya’s full-length portrait of Cayetana’s ancestor, The Duchess of Alba, reputed to have been his lover and model for his masterworks, The Clothed Maja and The Naked Maja.

A dazzling beauty in her youth, possessor of 44 noble titles and 150 hereditary ones, today’s duchess is renowned for her forthright character, forged during a high-rolling spell in England in the Second World War where her father, the 17th Duke, was Spanish ambassador in London.

In 1947 She married Luis Martínez de Irujo y Artacoz, son of the Dukes of Sotomayor, in “the most expensive wedding in the world”. The couple lived mostly in the ancestral Las Dueñas palace in Seville, and had six children. She is said to have enjoyed a lively love life. The father of her fourth son, Fernando, is widely reported not to have been her husband but the Sevillian flamenco dancer Antonio el Bailarin.

After her husband’s death in 1972, the duchess controversially married the free-thinking former Jesuit priest Jesus Aguirre y Ortiz de Zarate, in 1978. On his death in 2001, the title and property reverted to Cayetana. Dedicated Alba-watchers say her six children are split over their mother’s marriage plans.

Her sons Carlos, Alfonso and Cayetano, are said to oppose the match, while Jacobo, Fernando and Eugenia want their mother to do what makes her happy. At present, Carlos, her eldest son, stands to inherit everything. He has progressively assumed responsibility for the family holdings since Aguirre’s death. That may change if she marries again.

There was more excitement last week when the duchess’s failing health was said to have deteriorated sharply. She attended the wedding of her grandson Javier Martinez de Irujo Hohenlohe, Alfonso’s son, to Ines Domecq, scion of the sherry dynasty, in Jerez last weekend, in a wheelchair.

She retreated after the reception to her palace in Seville, where she choked on orange juice. Pulmonary, later cardiac, complications set in and a doctor reportedly saved her life. She has suffered circulation problems and reduced mobility for more than a year.

But days later, the duchess sallied from a restaurant and told the press she was fine, fuelling speculation that if she wins over the Queen, the marriage may go ahead after all.