I am staggered at the amount of money that people appear to be prepared (or obliged) to spend on weddings these days. I struggle to believe that this is the best possible use of tens of thousands of pounds at a time when a young couple are starting out on their lives together, when the housing market is so terrifyingly expensive, when jobs are no longer ‘for life’ and when the economic climate remains unpredictable at best and dire at worst.

An acquaintance, recently widowed, is being pressured by the young about-to-be married couple to spend more than the £30,000 already committed to the event later in the year, which is to be attended by around 200 guests. She herself reflected that her own wedding several decades ago cost around £350. My wedding cost even less than that as we decided to get married without announcing the fact to another soul and have never for one second regretted that decision. We had a fantastic day with each other without worrying about guest lists, menus, flowers, entertainment, what to wear and speeches. Our mothers, both widowed and impecunious, were relieved and grateful to us. Only my brother voiced his disapproval and we had never agreed about much anyway.

It strikes me that the only real beneficiaries of these lavish, money guzzling follies are those who work in the mammoth wedding industry that seems to have sprung up recently. The abundance of wedding fairs is evidence of the competition that seems to have burgeoned to have a bigger, better more lavish wedding than anyone else.

I have four (as yet unmarried) daughters. I sincerely hope that they will all find partners that are right for them and make them happy. If I have any funds available when that time arrives, I will happily be as generous as I can without endangering my wife’s and my financial future. But it will be nothing like the figures currently being spent and will be applied to enabling their home together not entertaining two hundred people, at least half of whom would rather be somewhere else.

There is also that awful nagging feeling that girls are considered as a burden that needs to be disposed of at any cost, with echoes of the dowries of yesteryear. I shall miss all my girls and have no intention of throwing money away when they need it the most.