Wired up weddings

Big Fat Gypsy Weddings is a televisual guilty pleasure that is just finishing its run on Channel 4. It is a warts and all - well, mainly warts - ‘documentary’ about travellers that provides an ideal platform for middle class viewers of impeccable taste to chortle at the vulgar excesses of a group of gypsies as they prepare for their weddings.

Not wanting to be left out, Lighting tuned in and couldn’t help but notice how these folk who so jealously guard their traditions have embraced the latest in lighting technology. Over the course of several episodes we saw how fibre optics have been pressed into service to light cakes and even the voluminous dresses sported by the wives-to-be.

And these dresses aren’t some slinky little numbers - oh no, lighting one of these babies would be a task akin to illuminating St Paul’s. Each one of dressmaker-cum-electrician Thelma Madine’s frocks is laden with miles of fabric and weighs enough to jeopardise a walk down even the shortest of aisles.

In fact, Thelma was so concerned about the build-up of heat in bride Sam’s wedding dress, shown here, that she lugged a fire extinguisher along to the reception.

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