Ever since Madonna had her wedding in Dornoch cathedral and Skibo Castle, Highland weddings have been in vogue for the 'beautiful people'. Recently I officiated at such a wedding in the beautiful county of Sutherland. It was not quite in the Madonna league - there were no press photographers, no police and no thousand pound suites in luxury castles. And yet it was something special.

I arrived at a beach on the East coast of Sutherland. The sky was overcast and the beach was quiet. Eventually I found a gazebo tastefully decorated with flowers. A wood fire was lit and the wedding party arrived. It was not a big wedding - bride, groom and six guests. The couple to be, asked if they could be married on the rocks at the edge of the beach. I stood on the rocks facing the mountains, the bride and groom looking out to sea.

The setting was beautiful and yet also somewhat surreal. The groom was dressed in a kilt, a leather jacket and a Grateful Dead t-shirt. The bride wanted her dog to be her chief bridesmaid (and assured me that the dog was gay!), the best man was the photographer and the reception was a vegetarian bar-b-que. It was not exactly your run of the mill wedding. Yet I do not want to give the wrong impression. It may sound as though a wedding complete with a gay canine bridesmaid, a Grateful Dead t-shirt wearing groom, and vegetarian burgers, was more suited to the beaches of California rather than the Highlands of Scotland. Not so. Despite the unusual and more individual aspects of this somewhat unconventional wedding it was a real and serious occasion. There was great beauty and spirituality. The setting was fabulous. It was so easy to speak of the wonder of the Creator in the midst of his creation. The ceremony was meaningful and the love the couple had for each other was obvious. The food was good, the music great and the company excellent. It had everything a wedding should. The fact that it did not cost a fortune and did not follow all the usual conventions served as much to enhance it as to denigrate it. What made it even more special for me was the fact that I had known the groom when he was very near death’s door. Yet he recovered and here he was, fit and healthy, getting married in the presence of God and the cathedral of his own creation. It was a special wedding.

Speaking of weddings there must be something in the water in Dundee just now. St Peter’s is in the midst of wedding mania - eight of our young people are marrying each other. So far we have had three of the weddings with a fourth to come. The youth pastor and the doctor, the deacon and the optician, the student and the doctor have all been 'done' - only the deacon and the research scientist to go! Each of these weddings has been spiritual, encouraging and an occasion of great joy. It has been great to see how each of these young couples have wanted to put Christ at the centre of their wedding. And each of the receptions has put paid to the lie that Christians do not know how to enjoy themselves and celebrate. The folk band at the Reception last Friday even requested that we all came to their next wedding! I was equally impressed with the band who managed to perform "the wheels on the bus" for my three year old and make it sound cool.

One aspect of all these weddings has been their individuality. They were not formulaic and each has managed to reflect something of the personalities and aspirations of the different couples involved. There is no ‘correct’ way to do a wedding. Far too often the wedding day is a stressful occasion with tensions caused by unrealistic expectations of the ‘perfect day’. It really does not matter when the cake is cut or even if there is a cake at all. The important thing is that the main elements are present.

What is the recipe for a perfect wedding? It must be a public ceremony and celebration. Food, drink, music, family and friends are all essential. But above all there must be the presence of Jesus Christ, the acknowledgement that marriage is given to us by him and that he is the only one who can bring blessing and turn the water into wine. With Christ at the centre every Christian wedding is a witness – not necessarily because the minister preaches the gospel at the congregation but primarily because the wedding itself acts as a parable and an illustration. The two weddings we had last week were a great witness – to the community as they witnessed the congregation spilling out from the church, to the guests as these young people acknowledged their faith in Christ, to the hotel staff as the Christians managed to enjoy themselves without getting drunk. They were a parable of the wedding feast of the lamb and a foretaste of the ultimate celebration. May we see many more such occasions. And may the Lord sustain and bless those who have recently pledged themselves to each other.

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