HOW wrong is it, on a scale of one to ten, that the other day I spent half an hour absolutely captivated by pictures of the wedding of a footballer and a pop star? I always suffer huge intellectual guilt about reading glossy celebrity magazines but I find

HOW wrong is it, on a scale of one to ten, that the other day I spent half an hour absolutely captivated by pictures of the wedding of a footballer and a pop star?

I always suffer huge intellectual guilt about reading glossy celebrity magazines but I find I just can't help myself, and with an extensive spread of pictures of Cheryl Tweedy and Ashley Cole's nuptials, the draw was stronger than ever.

Let's face it, deep down inside we know it's morally questionable to be interested in celebrity weddings (They got married? Is that all? And who are they anyway?) but a lot of us love it nonetheless.

Weddings, as well as being about love and lifetime commitment etc, etc, are also a valid excuse for us plebs out there to be treated like royalty for the day.

Huge, over-priced dress you most definitely won't wear again? Check.

Men in ridiculously uncomfortable suits which look like something from the 19th century? Check.

Random, 50-year-old car with a bit of ribbon on it? Then you're all sorted.

And so on.

We love it when the rich and/or gorgeous tie the knot because they show us how it's done, or at least how it's done when you've got a £1m magazine deal.

Of course, nothing can compare to when royalty gets hitched - something that the 750 million viewers worldwide who tuned in to watch Charles and Diana tie the knot on July 29, 1981, will testify.

That was the ultimate treat for wedding fans - royalty doing ceremonial excess as only they can.

I'm guessing that for the rest of the 80s, a lot of blushing young brides headed into the bridal shop aiming for as close an approximation to Diana's gown as they could afford, or fit in the church.

The flip side of pouring over other people's weddings for inspiration is that you also get the chance to have a good old-fashioned bitch about it.

Cheryl and Ashley's wedding (I feel I can call them that, I've seen so many pictures of their do I feel like I was there) was a prime example of this - the bridesmaids' orange dresses and his satin suit were a sight to behold.

This does not, I realise, make me seem like a nice person but I'm guessing I'm not alone in this desire to slag off the style choices of the famous - very few things seem to make people as happy as confirming our suspicions that money doesn't always buy taste.

I'm sure that when the Coles signed up for their deal with the magazine, their intention was to inspire awe rather than criticism, but either way, the 20-odd pages dedicated to this one event helped me while away a sleepy lunch hour.