In their continuous quest for something new and different for their wedding, grooms and brides sometimes make the most awkward choices.

Theres the dawn thing, for example, where guests are expected to turn up at any time between four oclock in the morning on, just for the privilege of hearing two egotistical people recite lengthy poems to each other, on some desolate beach in the middle of nowhere.

If a social columnist were to be asked to describe the event, it would probably be, the guests were seen rubbing their eyes in an effort to stay awake, and straining their ears to hear the words lost in the sound of crashing waves and screaming seagulls. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the celebrant was seen giving chase to the marriage certificate which a gust of wind had picked up and was threatening to dump in the ocean.

But as inconvenient as a dawn ceremony on the beach is, how about those couples who decide to celebrate the event by the light of the moon? Sounds awfully romantic, especially when the moon is full, and the air balmy and the venue itself a fragrant, floriforous parkland.

If it were only a matter of everyone turning up looking their best, a moon-lit wedding would have to be the most romantic thing under the sun. But since the ceremony has to be read, and the certificate has to be signed, torches and candles are poor substitute to the less romantic, but much more powerful, electric light.

Once upon a time there used to be a law prohibiting a wedding ceremony from taking place any time except daytime. While it did tend to put a bit of a damper on creative couples who wanted something different, it was meant to protect the innocent from the rapacious. Apparently there were quite a few guilty people in the form of paupers whose one ambition was to marry a rich heiress whose identity would be lost in the shadows of a dark and gloomy room.