Next time around we were living in Singapore and had the wedding at a vineyard south of Adelaide. Only my Dad and my mums dad came from Scotland, which was nice. That time it was only about 20 rellies at a restaurant.

I recommend having the courage to organise it the way you want it. Not the way others want it.

The bride and mother-in-law for a start !

I don’t know why I put up with it.

Younger and less wise I suppose. I had both of them at me – mother-in-law AND fiancee. Good grief ! Nightmare.

He told The Mail on Sunday he had been “optimistic” about his civil partnership, but now he says: “I learned the hard way. It’s a total joke.” Burns accused Simpson, 40, of being unfaithful and admitted he felt disillusioned. Burns added that some homosexual couples had “open marriages” where the partners could be unfaithful. He said: “There’s a lot of promiscuity in the gay community. I don’t understand why they take that union. How low is their self-esteem? “One’s on Hampstead Heath meeting men, the other one’s hiring rent boys. “Surely marriage is throwing anchor and saying, ‘This is where I’m staying, I’ve made my choice and this is all I want because I’ve been on the up and down escalator, through the revolving door and I want to stand still.’ That’s what I expected.” He added: “I don’t know what goes on in many heterosexual marriages but I know mine was 28 years.

Pete Burns was happily married and would have stayed married but his wife needed to separate. He later fell in love with a man and had a civil partnership. Those were his views on them both.

Incidentally Little Britain star Matt Lucas has split from his partner Kevin McGee. The pair were married in a civil partnership ceremony 18 months ago, and will be the
first homosexual celebrity couple to ‘divorce’ since the law was changed to allow same-sex ceremonies two and half years ago. TV producer McGee, 31, will be entitled to a large slice of Lucas’s fortune, which has prompted the comic to employ Mishcon de Reya, the same solicitor used by Heather Mills in her divorce from Paul McCartney, and by Princess Diana.

The court of human rights ruled against them (blog report here).

My point was that people can get married and promise to love each other. They can choose the vows they want. It is not a condition of marriage that the union be a sexual one. The civil partnership law banishes privacy and judges people on their sexuality – you can ONLY enter into a civil partnership if you are homosexual. Therefore the sisters, who clearly love each other and are wholly commited to each other (I would venture that they have proved a deeper commitment than most civil partnerships) are discriminated against. They have a lesser legal claim than two lesbians who have known each other for half a year instead of all their lives.

Re weddings, it depends on who the children are. If members of the immediate family, then of course they should be included if the bride & groom wish it, but taken home if the party goes late. Friends should not expect their children to be invited unless specifically indicated.

My daughter and her husband have been invited, naturally, to her husband’s sister’s wedding and the bride’s attendants called my daughter re the “stagette.” She was expected to cough up multi dollars for her share of the limo, party decorations, food, drink, and a monetary gift! (Doesn’t the maid of honour give the shower?) Of course my daughter declined the invitation and her hubby declined the “stag” invitation which was a weekend in Vegas! (they can’t afford that!) They opted instead to take the bride & groom out to dinner one night as a gift to them before the wedding.

These shindigs are getting out of hand sometimes, in my humble opinion.

My view doesn’t discriminate against homosexual people living together or making a legal commitment. But the law as it stands does discriminate against other people because of their sexuality – because they are NOT homosexual.