COUPLES will be encouraged to be creative at a wedding fair held in a historic Hampshire church.

Alice and Christopher Snell on their wedding day at St Mary's Church, Portchester

They’ll be asked to have a go at making everything from their own wedding invitations to table decorations, and from tiaras to wedding favours at St Mary’s Church, inside the picturesque setting of Portchester Castle. The church-run wedding fair takes place on Saturday 26 March, from 11am-4pm.

The home-made theme comes courtesy of the Havant branch of Hobbycraft. It’s their first ever wedding fair and they are full of ideas to inspire wedding couples.  Rather than demonstrate ideas, they will invite guests to try making things themselves.

The event will also feature wedding cars on show, photographers, jewellers and hats for all occasions created by local designer Andrea, ideas for decorating the wedding venue, hair stylists and florists. There will be musical entertainment and a spot of magic, and refreshments will be available in St Mary’s tearoom, adjoining the church itself.

It’s the second successive year that St Mary’s has held a wedding show designed to show off the church as an ideal place to get married. Recent statistics show it’s the second most popular church in Portsmouth’s Church of England diocese for weddings – there were 34 there in 2008. Only St Mary’s, Alverstoke, in Gosport, hosted more weddings that year.

Among those who would recommend the church are Alice and Christopher Snell, who now live in Hayling Island. They had no connection with the church to start with, but joined the congregation for six months before their wedding which entitled them to marry there.

“My parents live in Fareham and my husband was from Hayling Island, so it was nice to find somewhere in-between,” said Alice. “We also had happy memories of visiting Portchester Castle as children. At the time we were actually in London, but came to Hayling each weekend and went to church in Portchester each Sunday. Going to church was never a problem as we both have a strong faith.

“It was important to both of us to get married in church, and we fell in love with St Mary’s. The vicar couldn’t have been more welcoming, and so were the congregation. We were given an extraordinary amount of freedom to organise our service.”

Admission to the Portchester wedding fair is free and all are welcome, whether planning for a wedding or any other occasion.