Did anybody notice I already failed my promise for 2006 of an article a month? The article I had in mind for January is near completion. I just need to put a night aside to get it finished. Easier said than done at the moment though.

January has been a hectic month of ups and downs at our house. Without dwelling on the downs I'm happy to report that the major up of the month has been Karen and I deciding to tie the knot.

Neither of us are exactly traditionalists, so it's going to be a little different. So far we've told all the people who are invited and even booked the venue, although I'm yet to get down on one knee and formerly propose. We went to Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter last weekend and chose the ring. Now I'm just waiting for it to get delivered. The wedding date is set in early April, so it's all getting a little tight.

By keeping the date so close I'm hoping we can keep the costs from spiralling out of control. Reports suggests that the average price of a wedding nowadays is around £20k. To me this is absolutely ridiculous. By my reckoning our "cheap" wedding will cost us between 7 and 8k. Cheap? Hmm. To do this we are just being sensible. It's not that we are denying ourselves luxuries. It's just that neither of us really want them. What's the point of arriving in a white Rolls Royce? To me it's a frivolous waste of money. Maybe I'm just a tight sod? Either way, I'm probably lucky that Karen's a divorcee, who's already had a church-based white wedding and gotten it all out of her system.

With both of us being completely irreligious we've opted for a civil wedding in a local, newly-restored hall. The alternative is to start attending a weekly mass, to convince the vicar we're believers, only to never return after the wedding. This is not something I'd be happy doing. Either you do or don't believe. I don't and so I'm not interested about a matrimony in the "eyes of the lord". All I care about is the eyes of the law.

The guess list is being kept to fifty close friends and family. No cousins and nobody who we've not seen for more than a year. At one point we'd thought about eloping with a handful of people and just getting it over and done with, but I think this will just upset people and isn't worth it.

There are lots of other things we won't doing. Like two weeks in the Maldives and other luxuries. Will any of this make the day any less special? Personally, I don't think so. It's going to be an amazing day! I've been to £20k weddings and, while they're amazing events, I know of couples who look back and wish they'd not spent quite so much on it.

Anyway, I'll let you know whether she actually says yes when I get down on one knee and pop the big question. For now I've got a lot to do in the mean time. Not forgetting a couple of articles for you guys.