FROM photo booths to slick choreographed dance routines, couples are forever on the lookout for the newest marriage craze to make their big day stand out.

But now a Scottish couple are taking the idea to a new level by becoming the first in the UK to commission their own wedding novel.

As Emily Fletcher, a former racing driver from Edinburgh, was making plans for her wedding to fiancee Graeme Crossley, she came up with the idea as an alternative to a wedding video.

After making enquiries with a local writer's group, author Jenny Harper was commissioned to 'novelise' the couple's wedding, which took place yesterday at the luxury Greywalls Hotel near Edinburgh

"Some time ago I was reading Jenny's novels and I thought her descriptions of people were really good." explained Fletcher.

"I thought it would be really funny if you could commission her to describe you...Obviously we all see ourselves differently to how each other see us and I thought it would be an interesting thing to do.

"For some reason, I can't imagine where my crazy brain went, when we were thinking about the wedding people were asking if we were going to get it filmed. I just thought 'let's see if we can gets someone to write it as a story'."

After receiving an email with the project proposal, Jenny Harper admitted she was unsure about taking it on and had reservations.

Harper said: "I thought, 'Oh god no, that would be far too difficult' but then I thought it would be really interesting.

"I met with Emily to talk about it, I felt I needed to meet her, I didn't know what kind of bride she was going to be.

"With some people I might have felt really apprehensive about doing a task like this because it's so open ended and you're not sure what somebody's expecting. Indeed you're not sure how to tackle it."

Along with interviews with the bride and groom, Harper also left comments cards for guests at the wedding asking them for information about the couple and any stories they might have.

She also talked to friends and family to get an idea of all the different characters she will have to include in the novel, which she expects will take some months to finish.

But commercially commissioned books have not always been received with great popularity.

Take the literary giant Fay Weldon, whose novel The Bulgari Connection created controversy within the publishing world after it was sponsored by jewellery firm eponymous jewellry company.

The contract reportedly required at least 12 mentions of the firm's products.

So could the wedding novel really become a new phenomenon?

Quite possibly, according to Hugh Andrew, managing director of of Birlinn Publishing, who said it was a "lovely, imaginative idea".

Andrew said: "Writers have a difficult enough time making a living so if someone wants to commission someone to write about their wedding that's great.

"People all the time are writing books because somebody gives them a cheque, what's the difference?"

Andrew agreed the idea could "quite possibly" become a new trend and said he could see it applied to lots of different areas, not just to weddings.

He added: "Often writers are commissioned to do something for a particular reason or purpose...You can see all sorts of things in areas it could be done.

"Obviously the writer has to be able to respond imaginatively and catch the atmosphere but look back at someone like Charles Dickens and he wrote part works because somebody paid him.

"That's the nature of the beast. I'd congratulate the couple on what I think is a really lovely idea."