A bit of a ding-dong?

Weddings? Don't you love them, those heartwarming family occasions celebrating all that's wonderful about lifelong commitment in marriage?

Or has this particular rite of passage been subverted and corrupted by today's consumer culture?

Well that's the view of the Rev Canon Dr Giles Fraser, expressed in a recent BBC Radio 4 Thought for the Day, causing quite a few ripples of controversy.

Here's a link to the BBC website essay on the topic.

What's your experience of weddings in your church?

Have they become flashier and trashier in recent years? (Current surveys indicate an average wedding spend of £20,000.)

And, if they have, should we be encouraging the happy couples (and their famiies) to take a simpler, greener, gentler approach to tying the knot?