It takes an Anglican archbishop to bring the recent wedding event down to earth.

In this case, the Archbishop of York:

The Archbishop of York has given his backing to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s decision to live together before marriage.

The Archbishop of York backed Prince William and Kate Middleton’s decision to live together before marriage, saying that many modern couples want to “test the milk before they buy the cow”.

Dr John Sentamu argued that the royal couple’s public commitment to live their lives together today would be more important than their past.

But Anglican traditionalists criticised the Archbishop, the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, for failing to reinforce Christian teaching which prohibits sex outside marriage.

The row came as Prince William and Kate Middleton unveiled their choices for the royal wedding service, which include classically British music and hymns, and an updated choice of marriage vows in which the bride omits the word “obey”.

In a television interview, Dr Sentamu was asked whether it was appropriate for the Prince, who is in line to become head of the Church of England as King, to have been living with his bride before marriage.

He said he had conducted wedding services for “many cohabiting couples” during his time as a vicar in south London.

“We are living at a time where some people, as my daughter used to say, they want to test whether the milk is good before they buy the cow,” he said. “For some people that’s where their journeys are.

“But what is important, actually, is not to simply look at the past because they are going to be standing in the Abbey taking these wonderful vows: ‘for better for worse; for richer for poorer; in sickness and in health; till death us do part.’”

I didn’t get up at 3:00 a.m. EST to watch the royal wedding. I didn’t watch the recording of it I made for my wife. I couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for the whole grand pantomime, even though a number of people attempted to entice me with the promise that I would find the music magisterial, the pageantry exquisite and Elton John ducky.

All true, I’m sure, but I’m left pondering the dubious merits of cooing over an exaggerated aesthetic whose purpose was partly to conceal a proportional lack of substance. Will William “honour and keep” the cow he has already milked? The incentive to maintain the appearance of living in “holy matrimony” will undoubtedly be enormous: so perhaps the wedding was a fitting start.