SINCE getting engaged I’ve become slightly obsessed with all things wedding related, especially the copious amounts of TV shows that deal with the wedding itself and all the preparation and organisation.

My absolute favourite is Say Yes to The Dress Atlanta on TLC. 

Lori Allen owns the featured bridal store and, along with her fabulous fashion director Monte Durham, they have the difficult and challenging task of finding the perfect dress for every bride who walks through their doors. 

If only I could fly to Atlanta and ask dear Monte to ‘Jack me up’ I’d be one happy lady. 

That’s the lovely fun side, although there are plenty of horror shows to choose from. Top of my list has to be Don’t Tell The Bride.

I had palpitations watching that show for the first time a few weeks ago. 
What are these women thinking letting their husbands-to-be organise a wedding when by their own admission they are rubbish with budgets, organising, planning and the most important item on their checklist is the stag do?

I watched an episode where the groom decided to organise the wedding in New York but blew almost the entire budget on getting himself and his best man there just to have a look around.

In another episode, the groom organised for the bride to be picked up at 9am on the morning of her wedding and be taken to Thorpe Park to go on a roller coaster in her wedding dress before the service. 

Finally, in the episode I watched last night, the groom spent more money on plastic buckets and spades than he did on the bride’s wedding dress. Someone pass me the smelling salts please.

I have genuinely been blissfully unaware as to just how much of a big business weddings are and that there is a whole industry dedicated to ‘the big day’. 

I’ve attended wedding fairs in the past and been utterly terrified at some of the bridezillas I’ve encountered. 

I’ve been a bridesmaid and, when I was younger, I worked at a four-star hotel in Glasgow and served at many weddings, but there’s nothing quite like getting engaged to really open up your eyes to this utterly bonkers world. 
Firstly, there’s the expectation from everyone that the minute you get engaged you’ll start to plan your wedding the very next day.

I got engaged three months ago and I’m still so overwhelmed by it all – although that might be down to all the beautiful bottles of bubbly we were given from friends and family. 

Then there’s the guest list to think about, because the last thing you want to do is offend someone who might not be invited because you have more than one hundred members in your immediate family alone, and your mother will kill you if your old auntie you’ve not seen in 20 years isn’t invited. 

There’s the venue, food, drink, photographer, table settings, flowers and that’s not even scratching the surface of things to tick off your to-do list.

I don’t know how people do it. I wish I could what my granny and granda McManus did. They got married at a wee chapel in the morning with their nearest and dearest and went for wedding breakfast.

And that was an actual breakfast after the service and then they all went back to my granda’s sister’s house and had a right old tenement party. It was the kind Billy Connolly talks about with drams flowing, people singing and someone bringing in 40 fish suppers for the evening buffet. Sadly it doesn’t happen like that anymore, and with all the organising and planning ahead it all feels quite daunting.  Maybe letting the groom organise things and roller coaster ride before the ceremony doesn’t sound so bad after all.

MY WONDERFULLY talented friend and artist Robert Miller will be exhibiting all month at the East Kilbride Arts Centre with his Retrospective collection.

Most of you will know Robert’s work, as he painted everyone from Amy Winehouse to the Pope. 

Robert recently painted the original cast members of the The Rocky Horror Show, including Tim Curry and Patricia Quinn, who loved his work so much they signed the portraits and had their pictures taken with them.

The Retrospective exhibition opens tonight and will run for the entire month, so make sure you get yourself along to see Robert’s work. 

WELL, today’s the day my show opens at the Edinburgh Festival.

Michelle McManus: Pop Goes The Idol will run all month at The Stand in the Square at 8.20pm, so if you’re in the capital come along for a laugh and a sing-song. 

On Sunday, at the same venue, Vive La Cabaret will be donating all ticket sales to MacMillan Cancer Support, which is just such a fantastic gesture, so why not come along to the show at 7pm and be spectacularly entertained while supporting a great cause? 

l For tickets, head online to outstandingtickets.com/whats-on/87/vive_la_varieté.