Wedded bliss

Joyce McMillan (Opinion, 13 March) is right that the ostentatious froth of expensive weddings can obscure the substance of solemn and public commitments. I also agree that encouraging marriage is desirable, as it correlates with stable relationships, which in turn tend to allow children to flourish.

However, Ms McMillan overlooks the way that marriage functions as a package: love, commitment, domesticity and sex.

When these four strands are bound into a single agreement, in the traditional Christian view of marriage, spouses are more likely to persevere through a frustration in one area because they value the others.

If the strands are regarded as separable, relationships are less stable. Marriages are most successful between people who have never had sex before marriage, and who do not cohabit before marriage.

RICHARD LUCAS

Cowan Road

Edinburgh