Let's be honest: To be able to look back at the exes who broke your heart and think, 'Haha sucker, I won!'... isn't that the ultimate dream?

I'm sure a therapist would suggest otherwise, but come on; we all know there's some truth there.

Well, that's what Taylor Swift served up last weekend with a grandiose wedding that had us all in a chokehold.

Sure, every bride is full of love on their big day. But this is a woman who has written songs about every man who has done her wrong, so who could blame her for feeling a sense of pride, a bit of schadenfreude and a hint of something deliciously like revenge?

After all, nothing bruises the ego quite like watching your ex marry a 6ft 5in hunk of a man. 

After years of dating the wrong guys, Taylor changed her dating pattern (an almost impossible task) and finally found Travis Kelce, a beloved golden retriever who not only openly adores her but acts as her biggest cheerleader.

But a curious thing happened in the week leading up to her wedding. 

All those scoundrel exes just seemed to... appear.

Joe Alwyn, a man so fiercely protective of his privacy, that he once declared, 'Someone's private life is, by definition, private,' was caught kissing his rumored new girlfriend, actress Sarah Pidgeon, on London's Hampstead Heath, one of the city's most photographed celebrity hotspots.

This is the man Taylor later appeared to mourn in songs, painting a heartbreaking picture of a woman waiting for a commitment that never came. In So Long, London, she sings, 'I died on the altar waiting for the proof.' Those nine words speak volumes.

Sure, he may not have deliberately stepped into the spotlight because his ex was about to get married, but it's interesting timing.

And then there's Matty Healy, who just happened to be photographed taking his fiancée Gabbriette Bechtel out for lunch on the very day Taylor married Travis.

Healy told Q Magazine in 2016 that he would find it 'emasculating' to be known as 'Taylor Swift's boyfriend'. (I would prefer to call what he was feeling jealous and threatened, but to each their own.)

History has quietly filed him under one very specific category: Taylor Swift's ex-boyfriend.

Of course, we also have Harry Styles, who broke Taylor's heart after their whirlwind romance reportedly came crashing down during a romantic Caribbean holiday in 2013.

After ringing in New Year with a kiss in Times Square, the pair jetted off to the British Virgin Islands. Within days, reports emerged that they'd had a fight. Taylor cut the holiday short, boarded a boat alone and flew home, while Styles stayed behind in paradise and was later photographed partying and island-hopping with friends.

It wasn't just another celebrity breakup. That image of Taylor sitting alone in a blue dress on a tiny boat became one of the defining chapters in Taylor lore. The picture was so iconic that she included the line 'Blue dress on a boat,' in the song of their breakup, Is It Over Now?

Fast forward to Taylor's wedding day and Styles, 3,475 miles away in London, added an extra song to his Wembley Stadium setlist: Two Ghosts - widely believed to be about Swift.

Meanwhile, his fiancée Zoë Kravitz attended Taylor's wedding. That's one way to make sure he had to think about it.

But why is it that whenever we finally move on, our exes suddenly seem to reappear? If anyone knows why the ghosts of boyfriends past always seem to manifest when we feel even an ounce of happiness, please enlighten me.

Perhaps Taylor's ghosts all came out of the woodwork because Travis couldn't be further from her usual 'type' - moody musicians and artsy-fartsy actors.

Travis is the type of man women start going for once they've got the bad boys well and truly out of their system; the golden retriever.

What sets these lovable hounds apart is that they aren't threatened by their partner's success. They're not upset by, or jealous of, their partner's breadwinner status.

And in this current dumpster fire of a dating climate, that's outrageously attractive.

Don't get me wrong, I was cynical at the start. I thought: 'Here's a big, dumb jock who's going to cheat on her with the closest groupie during an away game or at team celebrations.'

But not once did this man trip up. No sordid pictures of him at a strip club or dive bar emerged.

Instead, he was just happy to follow Taylor around like a big doe-eyed puppy dog. I still remember in the early days of their courtship when she was performing in Sydney.

He jumped on a plane and flew 16 hours just to spend 36 hours with her before turning around, flying home and heading straight to football training.

He also showed up to *double checks notes* 15 of her concerts around the world to actively support her.

He clocked up some serious air miles travelling to see her perform in Indianapolis, Buenos Aires, Singapore, Sydney, Paris, Amsterdam, Gelsenkirchen, Dublin and London... where he even jumped up on stage as a backup dancer.

Meanwhile, I barely manage to get a 'good morning' text.

The ridiculous joy it gives to see a woman who has been in the horrid dating trenches like the rest of us suddenly fall for the 'nice guy,' is a reminder that they are out there and we've just got to give them a chance.

As for the show that Taylor put on last weekend - when she delivered a masterclass in how to metaphorically kick all your exes in the groin - it was glorious proof that, however rough the break-ups, it's possible to come out the almighty winner in the end.