BLOG: Sam Hillas on EasyJet weddings

As well as being a believer in romance, I'm a believer in the power of Google.

Search for DIY divorce and you get 44,000 hits. But search for DIY wedding and you get 5 times that amount. Isn't that enough to restore ones faith in all things nuptial? Maybe not.

A wedding, even a cheap wedding, is a wonderful thing. There may be limits, however, and I was as amazed as the next woman to hear that EasyJet had applied for a licence for pilots to conduct in-flight ceremonies.

Can you imagine? No offence, Stelios, but that has to be just about the most rubbish concept for a wedding I've ever heard.

An EasyJet plane, I ask you. A snake hipped teenage boy would have difficulty walking down that aisle.

Now imagine size 18 hips (to be fair, it's not going to be Tara Palmer-Tompkinson is it?) swathed in ivory netting and accompanied by their dad. No chance. And I have to question whether it would in fact be a cheap option. They might advertise a £19.99 return to Malaga but once you've added taxes, a suitcase (unless said size 18 meringue will suffice for 14 days' honeymoon as well) and a £4.00 mozarella panini for each guest, the final tally is hardly a budget deal, especially if you throw in a Stella each for the bridesmaids (at £3.50 a pop).

Luton Council has apparently turned down the application which, according to EasyJet's communications manager was a case of "faceless bureaucrats" scuppering the "dreams of many who wished to get married in the air". But for the rest of us (i.e. those who would prefer our pilots to actually fly the plane) it's probably a case of Stelios 0: Common sense 1.

If a cheap wedding is difficult, what then of the cheap divorce?

On that subject, the internet comes into its own. As I've said, there are tens of thousands of websites to guide the way.

I've had a look at a few of these sites and to be totally fair (and mindful I have a mortgage to pay) some of them aren't half bad.

However, there's a "but" and it's a big but. (A crass person may add that it is a but so big it would have no chance of walking down an EasyJet aisle).

Call me biased, but I'm a firm believer in the view that there is no substitute for expertise.

People forget that when they engage a lawyer, they are paying not just for their time but for the years of training and experience: I could probably download the instructions to re-wire my house but I have no doubt that if I attempted it, I would blow the place up.

There are some things which are just worth paying for. Some of the most expensive cases (in terms of costs) I've dealt with are those which involve "undoing" problems caused by clients going it alone.

So until EasyJet comes up with a DIY in-flight divorce, you may find it easier and cheaper to trust the experts.

Now back to frivolities. Dress is sorted for legal awards dinner (thank you good friend Betty), tickets are booked and loser face ("no, no, no I'm really pleased for you") face practised.

In the (unlikely) event of success, tips for faux-unrehearsed and sincere acceptance speech will be gratefully received (click "comments" below). In the meantime, I'll see if Stelios has any ideas: he's always good for a laugh.

Sam is a barrister with Atlantic Chambers