You may gather from my somewhat jaundiced observations that my experience of weddings has not always been rosy. You might suspect that I'm a tad cynical about the whole instituton of marriage, but there, you would be mistaken. Marriage is a marvellous thing and I genuinely believe there should be a lot more of it. A holy union between one man and one woman in the sight of God, or even a civil union between Fred and George in the sight of a registrar. It's immaterial to me. So long as the two people involved truly care for each other and are prepared to make a commitment on that basis, then who am I to criticise. The problems only really begin when everyone else gets involved, which is why we had a 'please yourself' variety of wedding with just a handful of friends on a sunny day in Chichester. We enjoyed it. Our friends enjoyed it. Unfortunately our nearest and dearest who did not make the guest list were less delighted, and the subsequent fall-out rivalled Chernobyl!

As I said earlier, I've been to quite a few weddings in my time, and I've learnt an awful lot since my last encounter with a registrar's office. Mainly I guess I've learned that sometimes it's easier to appease people than displease them. I have been fortunate enough to be the guest at some fabulous weddings, some of them set to rival the fantastic extravaganzas on 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', and some of them with village hall receptions where the respective mothers did the catering. My friends Andrew and Stella had an unforgettable ceremony at the Russian Cathedral in London followed by a reception on a Thames River Boat. Jane and Ben held their reception in a friend's garden, but had the best wedding food I've ever tasted courtesy of the staff at Ben's delicattessen. My sister Jo arrived at her wedding in the photographer's three-wheeler after the limo failed to arrive. Dear old Neil and his bride had the least pretentious, but most enjoyable wedding I've ever been to courtesy of generous friends and relatives who literally took the invitation to bring a plate and a bottle to imaginative and indulgent extremes.

So where does this long ramble of mine leave us? Weddings are indeed, best enjoyed as a spectator sport. But don't let that put you off if you're contemplating your own impending nuptials. There is a model to suit each and everyone of us. When it comes down to it, we all love a love story, and if our hero is handsome and dashing, and our heroine is dressed like a fairytale princess, well so much the better. If you don't quite fit that description, well, never fear. In the eyes of those that matter in your life, you may never appear so wondrous fair as you do on your wedding day. So let's charge our glasses and raise a toast to the happy couple. Whoever, or wherever they may be.