Upstaging the bride at her wedding has been voted the nation’s top matrimonial faux pas – according to new research.

The poll, by discount shopping website NetVoucherCodes.co.uk, gave respondents a list of ten wedding day no no’s and asked them to pick the one they thought was the most inappropriate.

Wearing an outfit which outshone the bride came top of the poll with 19%; however, this was closely followed by someone’s mobile phone going off during the ceremony on 18%.

For 14% of respondents, forgetting to buy a wedding present was the top gaffe, but for more than one in seven (13%) arriving late was the principle faux pas.

Drinking too much bubbly and getting drunk at the reception polled top for more than one in ten (11%) respondents bringing it in at fifth place.

In sixth came spoiling the bridal gown by either spilling food or drink on it or by treading on the train which scored nine per cent of the vote.

Seventh and eighth place were occupied by parents letting their children misbehave and laughing at the wedding vows which scored seven and five per cent respectively.

In ninth place was having a family spat at the reception, voted for by three per cent of respondents and in tenth place with one per cent came pushing people out of the way to catch the bridal bouquet.

One respondent commented: “Granted you mustn’t go to a wedding in a full gown and tiara but I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t wear white. If anything it would be more appropriate to dress in white than it would be to go in black – what would that say about your thoughts on the marriage?”

Another person who took part in the survey said: “There is always one person who ends up getting drunk at the reception afterwards; you just have to hope it is not the best man before he does his speech. I’ve seen that happen before and what you end up with is a furious bride, a very embarrassed groom and a cringing audience.”

A spokesperson from NetVoucherCodes.co.uk commented: “Some brides spend years planning their perfect wedding, so it’s no wonder respondents thought upstaging her was the top no-no. Mobile phones ringing during the ceremony was another big no for respondents. After all, who wants to hear a dreadful ringtone just as the happy couple are about to exchange their vows? I’d be furious if it happened to me. Everyone wants to remember a wedding for the right reasons, not the wrong, so if you’re attending one this summer, our top tip is don’t upstage the bride and be on your very best behaviour.”

Britain is a nation of romantics with a new survey revealing that the vast majority of us still believe in love at first sight. The poll by TheLoveBuggy.com revealed that almost three quarters of Britons (72%) still believe it is possible to fall in love with someone just by setting eyes on them.

Only a hard hearted 28% of us believe love at first sight is impossible with more than half of those saying it takes months rather than weeks to fall in love and a cynical four per cent stating it takes years.

Respondents were also asked if they could name a celebrity couple who had fallen in love at first sight with David and Victoria Beckham the most popular answer with almost one in ten (eight per cent) apparently aware of how they met. Altogether 41% were able to mention a famous couple who had fallen for each other on sight, with Prince William and Kate Middleton named by four per cent of those polled.

Yet the study found that while most of us believe that love at first sight is possible it seems elusive – with more than nine out of ten questioned saying they had never experienced it, although an overwhelming number of those polled - 96% - said they had experienced lust at first sight. The figure was even higher for men – with every man questioned agreeing he’d felt lust at first sight compared to 92% of women.

TheLoveBuggy.com is a new website which lets people send dating messages to drivers by inputting their car number plate. The site questioned 500 men and 500 women, aged between 18 and 55 years of age, from across the UK.

London seems to be the least romantic city in the country, despite its status as a tourist destination for couples from across the world, just 59% of Londoners acknowledged the possibility of love at first sight.

The North West was revealed to be our most romantic region with almost eight out of ten (79%) believing it was possible to fall for a stranger just by looking at them.

The Welsh were also shown to wear their hearts on their sleeves with more than three quarters (77%) declaring their belief in the power of love at first sight.

But Scotland’s brave hearts were revealed to be a more pragmatic bunch with just under two thirds, 65%, stating it was possible to fall in love with someone by setting eyes on them for the first time.

A spokesman for TheLoveBuggy.com, who commissioned the research, said the survey results confirmed that romance was far from dead. He said: “The concept of love at first sight has been around ever since Adam first set eyes on Eve’s shiny apple, but with everyone these days leading such hectic and busy lives we thought it would be interesting to find out if anyone out there still believed in it. It’s fair to say we’ve been surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to our survey. It seems most of us still believe that it’s possible to fall for a stranger just by sight, even if the vast majority of us have never had the experience. The regional differences are interesting as well. Londoners are so busy avoiding eye contact on the tube so perhaps it’s only to be expected that less of them would entertain the idea although a clear majority still did. The further north you go the more romantic people seem to become, at least until you get as far as Manchester; after that it dips a little with Geordies proving a little more cynical and then the Scots taking a much cooler view of things. The overall picture was hugely heart-warming for those of us who believe that love at first sight can happen anywhere any time.”