There might be 400 guests or there might be 1000. They are en route from Pakistan, Dubai, London, Lossiemouth, and many points between, and will include parliamentarians from Westminster and Edinburgh and a significant slice of the UK business community as well as a host of relatives and friends and an unknown number of children.

The wedding of the only daughter of successful Glasgow businessman and Britain's first Muslim MP, Mohammad Sarwar, while adhering to Islamic tradition, will also be a marriage of two cultures. When Faiza Sarwar marries Dr Shahzad Hanif in a Glasgow hotel on Sunday, the families will cement links that go back 30 years to when the couple's fathers were students at the University of Faisalabad in Pakistan.

Welcome as it is to both families, this union is the result of a friendship between the two that grew from one of Faiza's brothers making friends with Shahzad at school, rather than the behind-the-scenes brokering of an arranged marriage.

As the families' friendship developed beyond the fathers' business dealings to visiting each other's houses, Faiza began to see Shahzad as more than her brother's friend. ''The first time we went to his house, I thought 'this is the man I want to marry,' but I was amazed when he asked his family to ask my family if it would be possible,'' she said.

This 21st-century Scottish-Asian marriage will deliberately combine traditions from both cultures in a way that is quite different from that forced on Faiza's parents, Mohammad and Perveen, when they were married

in 1976.

''At that time, a Muslim religious ceremony was not recognised and so we had to have a Church of Scotland ceremony as well,'' said Perveen, who grew up in Lossiemouth in what was then the only the only Asian family in the town. Her schoolfriend Lesley, who was her bridesmaid, will be one of the guests of honour at Faiza's wedding.

This time the Scottish influence will not be religious, but will consist of a posy of red and cream roses for the bride and additions to the catering in the form of a wedding cake and European options for anyone who does not like eastern dishes. ''They can have steak if they want, or even fish and chips, although I think most people now like curry,'' said Mohammad Sarwar.

He has already stuck his neck out on the subject of arranged marriages, dramatically flying to the rescue of two sisters from Glasgow who were forced into marriages against their will in Pakistan five years ago. Many of the Asian community in Glasgow were critical of his involvement, and there were threats to boycott his wholesale warehouse at a time when his business was 90% dependent on Asian customers. Yet in the same circumstances, he would do exactly the same again.

''The law in Pakistan does not allow anyone to be married under the age of 18. Islam is very clear that a woman has the right to choose a husband and has the right to refuse. Forced marriages are no longer happening in Scotland because everyone knows they can come to me and I will help them, but they do sometimes happen in places like Birmingham and Bradford, because community leaders are not willing to take a stand,'' he says, suddenly catapulted from genial host and father of the bride to a man with a mission.

Whenever he's invited to address an Asian gathering, he makes a point of introducing the subject. ''You cannot take a child who has grown up here and been educated to become a doctor or a pharmacist and marry him or her to a cousin from the sub-continent. If you do that, you are not only hurting their children, but the reputation of our people, and damaging community relations. I tell them they must consult their children.''

The next generation agrees with him: other young women sought

his help in avoiding family pressure after the Haq sisters' case. The younger sister, now working, hopes to attend the wedding if she can get time off.

His 24-year-old daughter makes her appearance, after a late night receiving visitors and accepting gifts, with a quiet confidence. She is a a serious-minded young woman, whose MA in social policy from Glasgow University has led, via voluntary work with children with special needs, to teaching children in Easterhouse who have difficulties with mainstream schooling. They are more rewarding than other children, she says, simply, adding that she will continue her career after marriage.

She acknowledges that perhaps this social conscience is something she has inherited from her father, but confides that, although he was delighted when she studied politics in her first year at university, with the exception of American politics she found it rather boring. The seriousness is quickly replaced by a bubbling enthusiasm as she explains the intricacies of the wedding arrangements, which have been under way for months.

The wedding outfit will be traditional, with a nod to Europe. On a visit to Pakistan they chose a red, hand-made gemevar silk, which will be the background to a red net embroidered in gold, to provide the traditional colour scheme, but in French knots to link the two cultures.

It has been made into a long skirt and tight-fitting top which will be topped with a long shawl. Before she can put it on, however, she has to have her skin decorated with complex patterns, traditionally at the mehndi night, when female relations from both families join forces to beautify the bride. In Faiza's case, it will be a token decoration, with the evening taken up with other traditions, including the younger girls dancing and offering sweetmeats on special plates with candles.

Traditionally the bride is given money, which is then given to charity, an acknowledgment of the needs of the poor in the midst of personal celebration. In this case it will be donated to a relative who requires medical treatment.

On the day of the ceremony itself, she will arrive at the hotel with her family in advance of the bridegroom and his family, and will be asked by the imam in the presence of two

witnesses whether she wants to go ahead with the marriage. The bridegroom will then be asked the

same question in a separate room. After he, his father, and his uncle have been garlanded with fresh flowers, the bride is escorted down to the main hall and the banquet and ceremony take place.

The following day, another reception is hosted by the husband's family, who also provide another outfit to be worn by the bride - and finally, two days after the wedding, the newly-married couple will set off on their honeymoon. They will go to Rome, ''because we wanted a new experience,'' said Faiza.

It will be a new experience for the Sarwar family in their solid, southside home. ''Faiza is the heart of the family, she bosses her brothers,'' says Perveen, who admits she will miss her only daughter - although she will only be a few miles away in Bothwell. In the gentle Highland tones she absorbed as a child in Lossiemouth Perveen orchestrates the doings of her husband and three sons without requiring any help from her daughter.

In this first family wedding in Glasgow - Faiza is the first grandchild to be married - the Sarwars' domestic life and Mohammad's fraught public one finally come together in a celebration unmarred

by controversy.

The criticism he attracted by intervening in the Haq sisters' case was repeated the following year when his general election victory in Govan was the subject of an inquiry into alleged election fraud. Although he was acquitted, the shadow it cast was finally dispatched only this year, when he doubled his majority to 6000. He has since been enhancing his grass-roots credentials by campaigning ceaselessly to retain shipyard jobs.

That personal satisfaction will be boosted even further tomorrow when his cherished daughter - who claims to have no last-minute nerves - seals her own happiness.