FORGET designer gowns with four-figure price tags - when Heather Summerton and her husband Bill tied the knot at Pershore Abbey 50 years ago the clothing budget was much more modest.

The blushing bride walked down the aisle in a £10 dress and shoes of about the same price.

Although Mrs Summerton's uncle, who brought her up, had forked out for the reception, the lovebirds struggled to raise the money to pay for drinks.

"My husband was in the forces, so I had to save most of it through hairdressing, which took about two or three years," she says.

Over the decades, gifts for newlyweds have become more extravagant, leaving a much bigger hole in the pocket.

Nowadays, department store wedding lists are all the rage - with prices to match - but such decadence was unheard of then.

Mrs Summerton, aged 70 (her husband is 72), says: "The best wedding gift we had was a blanket.

"I think that it's an awful cheek when people ask for money to pay for their honeymoon; we had to pay those things ourselves."

Other gifts included pairs of mismatched pillowcases, a saucepan and a box of groceries.

The couple, of Claines, Worcester, honeymooned in Bournemouth.

Mrs Summerton says people did not live together before getting married, making the honeymoon extra special.

The whole event set them and their family back about £250.

About 20 years later, teenage sweethearts Jan and Terry Perkins married at Lower Broadheath Church, near Worcester.

It was 1975 and the 19-year-old bride braved the sweltering summer heat in a heavy winter dress.

"It was a boiling hot summer, but I had to have a winter dress, because it was in the January sales," she says.

"It was £30, but that was all my mother could afford."

The couple started planning their wedding when Mrs Perkins, now aged 50 and a receptionist, started work aged 15.

"I used to pay my father £3 a week housekeeping, which he used to save in a suitcase on top of the wardrobe," she says.

"In those days, parents had to pay for the wedding, whereas today they pay for their own."

She says the one advantage of the latter was that couples could choose their guests.

Whereas now it is all about multi-course dinners, flowing wine and silver service, Mr and Mrs Perkins had a tight budget to stick to.

"A friend did a cold buffet at the village hall," said Mrs Perkins.

She remembers how instead of kicking off their shoes and dancing into the early hours, newlyweds would disappear in the afternoon on their honeymoon.

"We went off at 4pm to sunny Rhyl," she said.

The whole event cost about £500.

Last year, weddings leapt forward to the 21st century, with same-sex couples for the first time legally allowed to tie the knot.

Robin and Anthony Cavanagh made history on Monday, December 5, as the first gay couple to get hitched at Worcester Register Office.

Their lavish occasion had all the trappings of a grand wedding, with the couple arriving in style in a classic French 1940s limousine.

Hairdresser and artist Robin Jackson, who has taken Anthony's surname, wore a gold brocade coat with a gold waistcoat and cravat.

Anthony, a 45-year-old painter and decorator, contrasted in black and gold. They emerged from the ceremony under a shower of confetti, before an intimate champagne and canap restaurant reception followed by lunch and a two-tier wedding cake.

Robin, aged 40, says they were touched by how supportive people have been.

"People were lovely, sweet and accepting of us."

"They don't seem to think it was anything out of the ordinary at all.

"We didn't expect that in this day and age, because there's a lot of bigotry about still."

The couple splashed out about £7,000 on the occasion.

But, as supermarkets such as Asda and Tesco start to sell wedding rings, confetti and even dresses, Robin says he would not have been tempted to select his wedding accessories while stocking up on groceries.

"I think it's a bit tacky," he says.