READING about the preparations for the latest royal wedding leaves me feeling exhausted. Which dress designer has been chosen, who’s doing the flowers, what’s on the menu, who is on – and off – the guest list…

Of course Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will have an army of helpers to sort out every last detail from the venue to the napkins.

Let’s hope the only hitch on the day is to each other, as weddings – which according to Bride magazine now cost an average of £30,000 – are in no way plain sailing. A recent survey found four in 10 Britons regret the amount they spent on their big day.

Other regrets include brides feeling obliged to invite people they barely knew or relatives they didn't like, not having the event filmed, having too small a venue, not ordering enough food and being unable to relax.

Of that list, only the last applies to me. My husband and I had only 11 guests at my simple, register office wedding, all immediate family. I worried for weeks about how they would all get on, and who should sit next to who, and was convinced it was better to sit the families on separate tables at the meal we had afterwards. I quickly realised that my fears were irrational and unfounded, and that both families were normal, nice, civilized people, not members of rival street gangs. But I did not like to ask for last minute changes, and have regretted it ever since. I can’t understand to this day why I was not more relaxed about the occasion.

One thing of which I am proud, and for which I have no regrets, is that we spent no more than £350 on the whole thing, ring (£19) included. I did not want a lavish wedding, and my husband would wince at the very idea. I would have liked a church wedding, but as neither of us are in any way religious, it seemed wrong, and 11 people in a church would not have created much of an atmosphere.

We married in the Register Office in York, an elegant Georgian building with a pretty garden behind where we took photographs using our own cameras (another saving), then had a meal at a hotel. And that was it.

I haven’t been to many weddings, but of the few I have attended I would say the simpler the better - and the more long-lasting the unions. Of the two most opulent weddings I have attended, neither couple is still together – although I imagine they are still forking out for the occasion.

One involved what felt like a 12-hour boat trip (in reality it was only three or four) with no food on board. Having been given no food at the hotel ceremony beforehand, as everyone expected, guests were becoming more and more inebriated and it was a miracle no-one fell overboard.

Another, to which I was invited but did not attend, dictated what sort of clothing we should wear, sent contact numbers for morning suit hire and a John Lewis wedding list with nothing under £50. With travel and accommodation, I reckoned it would have cost us the best part of £500.

The last wedding I attended, at a register officer, took place in winter.

Photos were taken by family and friends in the snowy garden, and then it was on to a village pub for a buffet. It was simple and enjoyable.

Of course the one thing you can’t budget for, at any wedding, at any time of year, is the weather. Even Harry and Meghan can’t pre-order that.