Church offers a prayer for wedding day nerves

A bouquet is seen in the snow as a bride poses for a photograph after a group wedding ceremony during the 26th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, Heilongjiang province January 6, 2010.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - The Church of England is offering to pray for lovestruck couples to help ease any jitters ahead of their wedding day.

"Your wedding day is the best day of your life. The last thing you want is to feel terribly nervous, worry about a speech or fret about the arrangements," said Reverend Rosie Harper.

"If couples tell us what they're worried about, we'll remember them in our prayers in the run-up to their wedding."

Couples can hand specially designed postcards, complete with a list of wedding worries or pre-speech nerves, to a priest who will offer a prayer for them a week prior to their ceremony.

The service also allows couples to listen to popular hymns or view readings on the Church of England's website (www.yourchurchwedding.org) and get advice on planning church weddings.

"Research tells us that more couples would marry in church if they knew they could," added Harper in a statement.

"But they worry that they aren't eligible for a church wedding, especially if they don't go to church or they aren't baptized. It's great to be able to meet couples and reassure them that we'd love to marry them.

"Of course some people just like the idea of being prayed for and we are happy to do so -- whether or not couples are having a church wedding."

(Writing by Neil Maidment; Editing by Steve Addison)