Las Vegas and Gretna Green eat your heart out - North Yorkshire is about to take its place at the forefront of the wedding destination market.

Why settle for Elvis playing the wedding march when you could have Count Dracula, Whitby's legendary blood-sucking fiend, as an usher?

An £80,000 grant from Europe will fund the promotion of the county's unique features which could spawn a whole host of theme weddings related to North Yorkshire assets such as TV series Heartbeat and vet James Herriot.

North Yorkshire County Council worked out that improving the county's image as a wedding venue could give it a huge financial boost and applied for a grant to fund marketing and development of wedding-related services.

Since 1995 couples have been able to marry anywhere, irrespective of where they live, and at the same time the law has been relaxed to allow civil ceremonies at 'approved venues' such as stately homes and hotels.

Ripley Castle, near Harrogate, is one example of excellent marketing and its owner, Sir Thomas Ingilby, attracts couples from all over the world to get married there.

Gordon Gresty, head of trading standards and regulatory services, for North Yorkshire County Council, said: "This is the first project of its kind in the country and presents a real opportunity to put North Yorkshire at the forefront of the wedding market in the UK.

"Encouraging people to come into the county to get married presents very real economic development opportunities with each wedding often resulting in significant local expenditure, not only on the cost of the venue, but also money spent by guests on accommodation and food."

A specialist tourism marketing consultant has also been appointed to visit potential wedding venues and encourage them to apply for a licence.

This costs £850, but the grant will allow North Yorkshire County Council to offer subsidies.

Mr Gresty said: "This is another step towards our goal of making North Yorkshire the place to get married."

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