And you thought love and marriage went together like a horse and carriage. Not according to Professor Jeffry Larson, professor and chairman of the Family and Marriage Therapy Program at Brigham Young University in the United States.

And you thought love and marriage went together like a horse and carriage. Not according to Professor Jeffry Larson, professor and chairman of the Family and Marriage Therapy Program at Brigham Young University in the United States.

The professor opines that "not every couple in love should get married. While the timing might be right for some, other couples simply need more time to mature, some have to work through specific issues."

So how do you know if it's the real, living, sweetest thing? Professor Larson has put together tests that couples should consider before they decide to get married in the morning. They encompass age, education, economic status, parental approval, similar ambitions, premarital sex and that sort of thing. Sounds fine in principle but a little unromantic. We prefer an older, more lyrical approach, suggested by the late king of love ballads, Elvis Presley.

Couples should ask themselves, quite simply, if they feel all shook up. The male partner should "itch like a man on a fuzzy tree", and start acting "as wild as a bug". As for the female partner, if she possesses "lips like a volcano that's hot", then the chances are that she'll be his buttercup. Good luck on the love train.