Can short romances make for lasting marriages for the rest of us - or is it short-sighted of us to believe in 'love at first sight'?

TREAD CAREFULLY

Be careful - Mr Right or Ms Wonderful might not be all they're cracked up to be, warns Relate counsellor Christine Northam.

She says 'love at first sight' really does exist - but people need to question their actions before doing anything rash. "You might have feelings of being absolutely sure, but as a counsellor I would be wondering what happened in the run up before you met this person. Is it love on the rebound?

Northam says you should ask yourself if you are looking for someone to rescue you from the mistakes of your past.

"If you've got to 33 and there's been no bloke on the horizon for ages, you're highly susceptible to the idea of finding a mate.

"You wouldn't go out and buy a washing machine without doing some research first, so it's ridiculous to leap into spending the rest of your life with someone without doing your homework first."

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

"People have unrealistic expectations of what marriage is about, believing it will be a bit like the Waltons when in fact it may be more like the Simpsons," says GMTV life coach Gladeana McMahon.

While statistics show that people who marry for the second time are almost twice as likely to divorce as they were first time around, McMahon says people can learn from multiple trips down the aisle.

"When people go into their first marriage they've often very little experience of living with partners and have 'an idealised' view of what marriage is really about.

"In the second relationship, what matters is the 'quality' of the relationship and you are more realistic and don't have the Cinderella fairytale image," she says.

"With second marriages, couples generally have more realistic expectations. It's all about two people building a life together, and mutual trust and support."

BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS 'EM

Pop princess Britney Spears takes the cake for the fastest celebrity wedding on record, thanks to her trip down the aisle with childhood friend Jason Alexander. The couple tied the knot in Las Vegas at 5.30am on January 3, 2004 - but met with a lawyer later that day to arrange a quick annulment. The marriage was dissolved within 55 hours.

Spears is one in a long line of stars who have learned the hard way that marrying in haste can mean repenting at leisure.

• Cher and Greg Allman: wed July 1975, split nine days later.
• Drew Barrymore and Jeremy Thomas: wed March 1994, split 30 days later (Drew didn't learn - she married Tom Green in July 2001, but they split after five months).
• Lisa Marie Presley and Nicolas Cage: wed August 2002, split three months and 15 days later.
• Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney: wed May 2005, split four months later.
• Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman: wed November 1998, split five months later (Rodman tried to get an annulment after nine days, but the couple hung in there).
• Jennifer Lopez and Cris Judd: wed October 2001, split eight months later. J.Lo beat her own record - her first marriage to Ojani Noa in February 1997, lasted 13 months.

HAPPILY EVER AFTER

Even though her first trip down the aisle wasn't a success, Britney - like J.Lo and Drew - wasn't put off the marrying game. Wedding number two - this time to dancer Kevin Federline - took place just nine months later. It was another short ceremony, which again took friends and family by surprise, but so far the marriage seems to be holding.

Will Tom and Katie go the distance? Only time will tell.