We will - in the boiler-room, the Chevvy or on TV

Fancy a marriage among the cows? Or down at the docks, perhaps? Register Offices have been shedding their drab image, and that was before Richmond, south-west London, staged Imran Kahn's marriage to Jemima Goldsmith.

Weekly, the list of sites for those day-to-remember ceremonies grows as local authorities approve applications fulfilling criteria imposed by regulations that came into being at the beginning of April.

Tighter rules for England and Wales than those that have been the norm in Scotland for more than two decades mean the kind of wacky ceremonies north of the border will still not be seen in the south.

Weddings have been conducted on beaches, mountain tops and even the centre circle of Dundee United football club's ground at half-time north of the border. All a couple has to do is find a willing member of the clergy.

Not content with such apparently outlandish venues, Scots now appear to have one to beat all-comers: the Elvis Presley Chapel of Love at Butlin's in the Lanarkshire seaside town of Ayr. The re- consecrated chapel, divided into two for traditional and themed weddings, can also accommodate those wishing to have a Country and Western flavour, rock 'n' roll, or the Highland version with a backdrop of tartan.

None has yet taken up the themed options, which include a '57 Chevvy for the rock 'n' roll wedding car, or a Redcoat guard of honour, with a night in the Las Vegas-style honeymoon suite. But it if proves successful, Butlin's believes it could be extended around Britain.

For the time being, though, brides and grooms in the south will have to make do with more mundane, if perhaps more tasteful, settings. Invariably hotels and reception venues view the changes as a way to enhance their attractiveness to couples wishing to hold the whole event in one place.

Still, even within the tighter confines of the new regulations, which decree that authorised sites should be in a permanent structure - precluding marquees and the great outdoors - and a place that is deemed to preserve the dignity of the occasion, such as Brighton Pavilion, several more imaginative venues have crept under the wire.

The boiler-room of the SS Great Britain, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's iron masterpiece permanently tethered in Bristol's docks, is one, though it should be said the boiler has gone and it now sports a sprung floor.

The cost is pounds 295 for the couple and 50 guests, plus the registration officer's fees. A reception for about 100 people would bring a bill of about pounds 3,000.

The first wedding aboard the 150-year-old vessel is scheduled for August, with more due to take place throughout the autumn. On top of that, bookings are already flooding in for next year. "Couples are really picking up on the flavour of the ship," said the purser, Carol Wilkins. "Many are saying they want to marry in Victorian dress."

Tewin Bury Farm, near Welwyn, in Hertfordshire, is a working farm, but it has a converted 17th-century barn that is available for weddings and receptions. Guests can also be found accommodation in renovated tractor sheds.

All a bit low key? Perhaps plighting your troth before a television audience is a sufficiently big public spectacle.

The Mirror Group's cable station LiveTV! is awaiting authorisation for a corner of its studio of the 24th floor of Canary Wharf tower in London's Docklands.

"We're just putting the finishing touches to our application," a spokeswoman said. "But we don't think it'll be a problem. People will get married live on LiveTV!"