Faith

A new law comes into force on Monday 1 October to allow couples in England more choice over where to get married.

The Church of England Marriage Measure makes it easier for brides and grooms to have their wedding service in a church where they have a family or special connection.

Previously, couples could get married in a church only if they attended it regularly or lived within the parish.

Full BBC News Online story here:

But, says the Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Reading, this doesn't give the green light for couples to pick and choose the most picturesque churches in Berkshire.

"If you decide that you just like the look of the church because it's in a lovely pretty village then I'm afraid that it's just not going to be possible," he tells BBC Berkshire.

Explaining more about the new law he says: "As from today (1 October) you can get married in church where you have some sort of genuine connection.

"Say somebody was brought up in Reading, their parents live in Reading, Reading is their home. But at university or in their first job they're actually living and working somewhere else.

"When they getting married, Reading is where they want to get married.

"Yesterday, it wasn't impossible to do that, but it was difficult and complicated to make qualifying connections."

He adds: "If this is a community that you've been part of, where you've lived, where you've worshipped, where your parents live or even where your parents got married -  where there's a real connection, then you can get married in that church."

The Bishop also told BBC Berkshire that the new marriage law, which was implemented in response to the increasing mobility of society, initially made a few Berkshire vicars "groan".

"I'd be lying to you if I didn't say that some of my clergy in Berkshire have said 'ugh groan does this mean that if you're the vicar in a pretty little church in a lovely rural part of Berkshire that anybody can now come and get married in my church?'.

"Well the answer is 'no you can't'. It's not about choosing the prettiest, it's about where there is a genuine connection."