Today, Sheila O’Flanagan is telling us all about what she loves about a good wedding. She pretty much ticks all of the boxes I enjoy about weddings, and I’m sure most people will agree with her!

What’s not to like about weddings?

There’s glamour – shoes, hats, bags and at least one gorgeous (and one totally bonkers) dress.
There’s suspense – especially if the bride is more than fashionably late
There’s emotion – when the happy couple are finally married and both mothers can finally shed a tear of joy (or relief)
There’s drama – when people who normally can’t stand each other find themselves sitting at the same table at the reception
There’s more drama – when some of them have too much to drink and allow their feelings to be known
And there’s romance – because somehow there’s nothing more romantic than two people standing up in front of their family and friends and admitting that they love each other now and forever.

Which leads us to perhaps one of the greatest themes of all at weddings – hope. All of us want to believe that somewhere in the world there’s the right person for us. The person who will make us complete. The one to support us when we’re down and share the joy with us when we’re happy. The one we can confide in and depend on and trust completely. And no matter how unlikely it is that one person can fulfil all these needs, when we see two people getting married we think and we hope that maybe they can.

I’ve never been to a wedding that hasn’t, in some way, inspired a novel or a short story. And readers seem to love them too – one of my most popular books is Isobel’s Wedding – in which the heroine attempts to marry the same man twice in the one novel. A wedding also played a big part in Bad Behaviour (where one girl wonders if sabotaging another’s big day will give her the revenge she hopes for); and in the forthcoming All For You the lead character, Lainey, still dreams of making it to the altar despite two previous engagements. Plenty of drama, plenty of emotion but also plenty of hope for the future too.

There’s no doubt that girls, in particular, are constantly led to believe that weddings are the happy ending they deserve – after all, Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty all got their man and their kingdom, despite the obstacles set in their way. Those fairy tales had a point, though. That the course of true love doesn’t run smoothly. That you really have to put the effort in to get the other half of your dreams. The princes and their future princesses all had to suffer before they got their happy ever after.

But for all of us, finding the person who completes us is the happy ever after. We want to believe in it because without someone to share your highs and your lows, without love, what’s the point?

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