Wedding

Every so often you get to witness the laws in the culture you live in take a creaky step, tortoise-like, towards catching up with the hare that is our fast-evolving collective value system; in this case, the move towards recognising gay marriage.

For the gay community, and for the forward-thinking among the rest of us, it’s great to think we will probably no longer discriminate in granting of the legal rights and status of marriage. Like millions of other Aussies, I’m all for equality.

But the first question that springs to mind in 2011 is what, exactly, have gays won the right to? What on earth does “marriage” mean right now? And is it possible that even before homosexuals have the right to partake of it, us matrimonially-elastic and readily-divorcing straights have left the marital meringue out in the rain?

Continue reading "Good luck gays, us straight people have ruined marriage" »

When former Sydney real estate agent Mary Donaldson married Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik in 2004, one of the couple’s first, big post-honeymoon tasks was to sort through the monster pile of wedding gifts.

Apparently their haul included five cars (including a stretch limousine and a Saab convertible), a $200,000 yacht, six bicycles, a row boat, two Harley-Davidson motorcycle jackets, a traditional sealskin outfit from Greenland, 93 ceramic badges, a $3 million crockery set, a handcrafted Iranian rug, a miniature lounge suite for a royal baby, and a 120-kilogram stone swan.

In addition to the 37,000 gifts sent by Danish subjects, offerings from Australia included an anthology of Tasmanian love poems (from a writing centre), a stand of trees (from the government) and a hamper of Tim Tams (from Arnott’s).

Continue reading "Cash or cheque? The delicate art of marriage merchantry" »

Chelsea Clinton is getting married and cash registers in Upstate New York are going to chime. The one day event that will be held this Saturday is estimated to cost $US2 million and I just hope she doesn’t turn up.

I think she should run to the nearest airport instead and with Marc Mezvinsky in tow, hop on a plane and elope herself right out of there. But not before checking her maiden name at the door and leaving the pressure of being a Clinton, especially a Clinton on her wedding day, far, far behind.

Continue reading "Chelsea Clinton should change her name" »