One Upmanship Weddings With Wags

I keep reading that over this weekend a number of British footballers are to marry in a frenzy of tasteless competitive wedding media ‘events’. Exclusive deals with various magazine’s will help cover the cost of each extravagant and vulgar self indulgence.One of the weddings is estimated to be costing in excess of £1 million. A day to remember via Hello magazine and similar sponsorship. I’m surprised the sponsor isn’t printed on the order of service

When I moved to Australia it was refreshing that weddings and partnership dedications could be such low cost and personal affairs. Celebrants could officiate in your own back garden or at a favourite location. Yes there was still the standard meringue dressed brides and suited traditionalism in evidence for heterosexual couples but many people were happy with getting together with a few friends and a celebrant to make their dedications official or even just official in their own eyes.

My partner and I had our own ceremony in Sydney’s Chinese gardens . The celebrant was a little uncomfortable with our relationship status but she was a professional and did her bit whilst a small collection of passing Japanese tourists applauded after we’d spoken our personalised dedications to each other.

The whole day’s costs including hire car and including our two weeks away in Melbourne was around AU$800 and we felt and still feel very pleased with it. To my way of thinking I’d rather save anything more indulgent for future celebrations of still being together and in love after 10, 20, 30, or 40 years later than start a partnership being in debt with little to show but a collection of photographs and some fading memories.

Obviously these obscenely waged footballers,WAGs etc have the money to splash about and if that kind of show makes them truly happy then fine but it really is a bad example and one that I hope few of us wish to emulate in future.