It wasn't the wedding of the century. Six people in all arrived at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York to watch the young man and woman exchange their vows. Two more had been invited but as they were running late ? and this was before the easy communication of mobiles ? too bad for them.

The very young and very attractive bride was fetching in her suit of midnight blue with a matching hat trimmed with leather ribbons and buckles.

For their honeymoon the groom had chosen a near by hotel where the two celebrated so enthusiastically that they were thrown out of their hotel not long after their arrival. Undaunted, they picked themselves off the sidewalk, registered in another hotel, and continued to celebrate.

In one of his more lucid moment, the groom realized that as much as he adored his wife, she was not exactly a fashion plate. Leather ribbons and buckles were fine in Alabama, and may have won her the award of the most attractive debutant alive, but in New York they were very suggestive of country bumpkin.

"Sweetie, you must do something about those Southern Belle clothes you've got. I'll talk to some of my New York female friends. I'm sure they'll be delighted to put you on the right track. After all, this is New York, and we are on our honeymoon."

"But honeybunch, can we afford it? Don't forget we've already trashed two hotels and our honeymoon has barely started."

"My dear girl," he said indulgently, "haven't you ever heard of credit?"

"Credit!" she gasped. "Why my daddy would simply die if he heard me say the word less run around asking for it."

"Baby doll," he answered with a smile. "For a judge he's not a bad sort, your daddy. But when it comes to modern living, your daddy hasn't a clue. Didn't you tell me that he's refused to take out a mortgage on his house because it would put him in debt? I mean to say, it is 1920. Or hasn't he heard?"

"I don't know."

"Look! I absolutely insist! Go out on the town and come back an unflappable New Yorker. We'll be the talk of the town."

And so began the story of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald. And their love affair with credit. A love affair, like most love affairs, that ended in tragedy and tears.

But despite the mark that they have left behind, all too many couples are only too ready to embrace a similar affair, fueled to an even higher pitch by the advent of credit cards.

For them it will be different, they think.

But as the man said, first comes the wedding and the credit card, then comes the honeymoon and the credit card. Then come the bills and the divorce.

Vlady, a Civil Marriage Celebrant, is an author of "The Complete Book of Australian Weddings", "The Small Organisation Handbook", and an ebook "Honeymoon! A Sizzle or a Fizzle?" which you can see on her website http://www.vlady-celebrant.com