TV has been bitten by the wedding bug

Now that the marriage season has well and truly begun, it should come as no surprise that wedding planning is in the air. There is nothing more uplifting than seeing a bride and her father pull up to a church with nervous smiles and excitement on a warm sunny day. But, it now seems that TV programmers want to conjure up that drama onscreen. 

This week, I watched two shows on BBC3 about weddings. The first was Don't Tell the Bride - a programme which sees a bride-to-be submit control over the big day to her fiance as he scrambles until the last minute to make all the arrangements. The catch is that the bride has to stay away from her groom until the wedding day and has absolutely no say over a thing, including the all-important wedding dress.    

The other show I watched was Claire Richards: My Big Fat Wedding, which followed the former Steps singer as she endeavoured to shift a massive five stone. Although her case was extreme - she went from a dress size of 20 to a ten - it made me realise the pressures that brides face to look their best. 

Love them or loathe them, shows like these offer a degree of insight into just how much time and effort goes into planning a wedding. I think any bride-to-be would be doing herself a favour by channel hopping to this kind of programme - purely to pick up ideas and tips, and maybe some inspiration and motivation.

What do you think? Would you give your better half full control over the big day? Or would you be willing to lose a massive amount of weight to squeeze into that perfect bridal couture?