RIPON Cathedral is to host its first wedding show as part of a drive to encourage couples to tie the knot the traditional way.

Almost 50 businesses, offering honeymoons, stationery and dresses, will set up stands in the cathedral, and organisers hope more than 500 brides and bridegrooms-to-be will attend.

The event, to be held between February 11 and 13, is set to raise £10,000 towards the Ripon Cathedral Development Campaign.

The Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev Keith Jukes, said in the past the Church had been slow to promote what it had to offer in terms of wedding venues.

The primary aim was not to make money but to promote marriage and the part the Church could play in it.