Traditionally, the wedding day is hosted by your parents and paid for by your father. Today, the etiquette of old is far less rigid and only about 30% of weddings are paid for by your parents. More and more couples are opting to pay for their own wedding since they are then free to choose exactly what they want without the worry of putting their parents under financial strain. Recent research has shown that about 50% of weddings are now paid for by the bride and groom and about 15% are paid for by everyone contributing in varying degrees. However, many brides' fathers have prepared themselves for their daughter's marriage by saving well in advance and they welcome the opportunity to exercise their prerogative.

One real-life bide and her husband were major Trekkies and wanted to incorporate the theme into their big day. Here's how they did it:

• The bride was dressed in the The Original Series red dress and H2b will be wearing the captain's uniform
• The best man was dressed as Spock and the ushers will be klingons
• The favours were pretend comunicator badges
• The bridesmaids were dressed in TOS gold dresses the two pageboys as Ferengai (the only aliens that are small)
• They found the make up for the klingons and the ferengai from ebay and the costumes from a costume hire shop that specialises in Trekkie stuff
• The cake was a replica of the enterprise from TOS
• The tables were named after various planets such as Cardassia Prime, Ferenghard
• The bride walked down the aisle to The Theme from Deep Space Nine
• The venue walls were decorated in silver lame to give the impression of metal, and the tablecloth made out of a similar material
• The coffee at the end of the meal was served in the Star trek mugs