Tale of John and Louise's love match.

Judged against what usually happens during soap weddings - births, deaths, recriminations and even terrorist attack (Dynasty, remember?) - the nuptials of John and Louise from Gateshead were amazingly straightforward.

It's just that you couldn't help noticing the bridegroom seem pre-occupied. His mind was clearly elsewhere.

That's because when the date was set for the wedding, no one knew the significance of that particular day. It turned out the couple were tying the knot on the day of the vital World Cup game between England and Denmark.

This must have provided plenty of ammunition for guests to write jokes about match of the day and scoring on the congratulations cards.

Even worse for soccer-mad John was the timing. The wedding service was set to kick off at exactly the same time as the match. He stood to miss the entire game.

"I might have to break off halfway through to see if they've scored," he said.

This extended home video followed the fortunes of the couple - and the national team - on the big day as John and his mates swapped England shirts for top hats and tails.

Happily, only minor hiccups intruded on the happy day. The makers might have been wishing for greater disasters but, as viewers, we should perhaps have been thankful for some good news in the doom-and-gloom laden documentary genre.

First, Louise was late leaving for the church. The match was already under way by the time she left. This didn't worry her husband-to-be and his friends sitting in church as they had a small TV positioned in the front pew.

By the time the couple walked down the aisle England were three goals up. Guests arriving at the reception could watch the later stages of the game. But the newlyweds were delayed posing for photographs and the final whistle had been blown by the time they made their entrance into the concert room at Pelaw and District Social Club.

The best man tried to cheer them up with his speech, comparing being best man with sleeping with the Queen - "it's a great honour, but nobody wants to do it".

Then just as you thought it was all over, John found out it wasn't. The formalities of the wedding over, he and his mates settled down to watch a video replay of the entire game.