IT IS a ceremony steeped in tradition. The bride tentatively walking down the aisle in the white dress of her childhood dreams. The groom waiting nervously while the sound of organ music reverberates around a centuries old building.

However, one church is finding the traditional white wedding is in decline.

An explosion in marriage ceremonies at hotels, stately homes, restaurants and other venues across Hampshire has prompted a battle for business.

Pretty St Matthew's Church in Netley Marsh has seen the number of weddings within its doors drop by a third in as many years.

Fearful it is a sign of a downward trend, the vicar and church council have organised a wedding fair with related businesses to show couples what they could be missing.

They believe the 150-year-old church provides a "traditional and uplifting venue".

The Rev John Reeve said he decided to take action after wedding bookings dropped from about 35 to 20 in the past three years.

He added: "We don't want to leave it if there is a trend. We wanted to act before it's too late.

"We know the couples who come to us have a wonderful wedding.

"We just feel a lot of couples are not aware of the positive benefits of a church wedding."

He said the full meaning of the service was explored to make the day a really special celebration of the love between couples.

Mr Reeve said: "No hotel can come near that."

He added: "I think hotels are great for some couples but the church is here and very affordable.

"We are confident of what we've got and it's a chance to show that."

"We are now in a market place and there is a far greater choice of wedding venue out there than there was ten years ago."

He said some young couples in their 20s may not have set foot in the church and could be put off if they were not churchgoers.

However, he added: "It is maybe a lot easier than they think."

The law changed in April 1995 allowing weddings outside the formal confines of churches and registry offices.

Although most weddings are still carried out in register offices, figures obtained by the Daily Echo reveal these have been hit hardest by the rise in popularity of alternative venues.

In the past five years weddings at Hampshire County Council's 14 register offices dropped by 42 per cent to 1,711 while at Southampton Civic Centre wedding numbers are down 20 per cent to 708.

In the same period, weddings at non-church venues have jumped by 48 per cent in Hampshire to 2,079. Southampton has seen a four-fold increase, from 11 to 48, each year.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Winchester, the church of England diocese which covers most of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, said church weddings were up by 25 per cent between 2000 and 2005 to 1,670 a year.

She said there may be some churches suffering a decline, but overall the number of church weddings and blessings was rising.