As well as keeping maternity wards busy this year, celebrities have also been keeping wedding planners and confetti manufacturers in business - especially since most of the cool kids had multiple weddings and receptions to celebrate their nuptials.

In March, Elizabeth Hurley and Arun Nayar married in a civil ceremony at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire before holding a lavish reception for celebrity friends and family the following day - and then a week of celebrations in Arun’s native India.

Eva Longoria and Tony Parker also said their vows twice - first at a civil ceremony in Paris then at an extravagant palace outside of the city.

Others went for just a single ceremony but still maintained the opulence. Rod Stewart & Penny Lancaster married in a yacht off the coast of Italy; Katherine Heigl & Josh Kelley married in a snow storm in Utah; and a whole host of England footballers married one sunny day in June, with designer suits and miles and miles of white tulle the order of the day. Team captain John Terry & Toni Poole married first, followed by Steven Gerrard & Alex Curran, Gary Neville & Emma Hadfield and finally Michael Carrick & Lisa Roughead.

Usher and fiance Tameka Foster were supposed to have a no-holds-barred wedding in the Hamptons in July but it was postponed at the last minute and they married in a private civil ceremony a week later in Atlanta instead.

The idea of a private civil ceremony was favoured by other stars too: Spice Girl Melanie Brown married Stephen Belafonte in a quickee ceremony in Las Vegas in June; Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil had a similarly rushed affair in Miami in May; and Pamela Anderson married Rick Salomon in between magic show performances in Las Vegas in October (and filed for divorce less than two months later).

And even though the year might be drawing to an end, there is still time for a couple more trips down the aisle: Eddie Murphy is said to be marrying Tracey Edmonds sometime around Christmas and Billie Piper & Laurence Fox are set to marry on New Year’s Eve.