Every woman in the room agreed that Crichton was a cracker of a butler. Even before you began to open your mouth to say, "Crichton, I need" there was a shawl around your cold shoulders, drink in your thirsty hand, and a foot stool under your weary feet.

But for these high-society ladies to have any design on Crichton as a possible lover. Forget it. When all was said and done, Crichton was just a butler. An admirable butler, to be sure. But butler none the less.

When these Lady Marys were looking for a good time, they wanted a man who'd tango them through the night, help them lose a small fortune at the black jack table, and send them into peels of laughter with his after dinner raconteureeing. For all his fetching and carrying, Crichton wasn't such a man.

Then something happened to change all that.

On one of those sea trips that Crichton's employers took from time to time, their vessel struck a reef, and the passengers found themselves stuck on a deserted island.

All the Dukes and Marquises and Freddies and Lords, who comprised the voyagers, stood around fiddling their thumbs wondering what the heck to do.

Not so Crichton.

Unfazed, he cut some wood, build a fire to start boiling the billy, swung through the trees to fetch some bananas, and picked a bundle of fig leaves with which to start weaving a bale or two of cloth for the day when the current wardrobe was beyond repair.

The women were entranced. A man so in tune with his environment and his situation was a man to be admired and desired. And no man or woman show themselves to such advantage as when they are completely at ease and in control of who they are and where they are.

Currently, according to US statistics, the most desired honeymoon destination for American couples is Hawaii, the form of travel a cruise, a resort promising a spa and some activity a definite plus, and a beach near by almost a necessity. But I guess Hawaii gave that away.

In the end, however, whatever type of honeymoon the couple choose, a background against which they both shine is what really matters. It will make them remember what made them so attractive to each other in the first place.

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