Couples looking for a traditional church wedding are to be offered a much wider choice of venues say Church leaders.

The hope is that this will enable the Church of England to challenge stately homes, castles and hotels in the lucrative wedding market. The move means permission can now be granted to people wanting to marry in churches they have little association with as long as they can prove “a qualifying connection” with a parish in the area or benefice. Idyllic churches which feature in films, or are used for celebrity weddings, are expected to see a surge in applications.

Members of the General Synod, the Church’s parliament, agreed to the relaxation despite some clergy with attractive buildings having previously warned that they could be overwhelmed with requests. Proposing the motion, the Rt Rev John Packer, argued that the current bar to couples was “hurtful” and difficult to justify. "It is always surprising how many people want to get married in churches at the ends of muddy lanes surrounded by cows,” he said.

The bishop suggested it was important for a parish priest to be able to “work with a couple and their family to create the right ambience for the wedding to take place". The Ven Jan McFarlane, Archdeacon of Norwich, said the Church should be more welcoming to couples getting married and compete with other wedding venues. She said she had seen "queues" of people at wedding shows hoping to get married in hotels. "If we say `no' for whatever reason, we turn people away, we have lost them because they have 101 other places to go,” she added. "On the other hand if we welcome them, and their family and friends, and they have magnificent day then who knows where it will lead.”

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 55,000.