Meeting my bride to be at Gretna Green

This is a story of how I met my wife at a Gretna Green wedding.

Firstly let me introduce myself.
My Name is Graham Smith and I am General Manager of The Mill Forge a Gretna Green hotel and wedding venue.

I was at work on the 24th of September 2001. Miss Alison Sudworth had married Stephen Gough at the World Famous Blacksmith's Shop in Gretna Green and they had returned to The Mill Forge for their reception as they and their guests were staying with us.

Towards the end of the evening I was collecting glasses and cleaing up when I struck up a conversation with Helen Prior who was a guest at their wedding. We stayed behind talking until the early hours finding out lots of information about each other.

We talked regularly on the telephone and then started travelling up and down the motorway to see each other. Helen was from Ashton-Makerfield near Wigan which is only an hour and a half's drive away which allowed us to conduct a long distance relationship with relative ease.

I asked Helen to marry me on the 15th of February 2002 (typically i was at work on the 14th) and she agreed.

We were married on December the 4th that year in The Mill Forge with a reception fopr family and friends afterwards.

We did not take a bridal suite at The Mill Forge only because we lived on site and there was little point in having a different room 50 yards from home. Instead we went and stayed at Dalston Hall Hotel travelling there by stretch limousine courtesy of my bestman and Helen's bridesmaid.

Helen gave birth to our son Daniel on the 24th of January 2005.

The history of Gretna Green weddings

Gretna Green weddings became popular in 1754 when Lord Hardwicke introduced an Act of Parliament which stated firstly that any marriages performed in a church would have to be recorded in the parish records which both bride and groom have to sign, secondly that weddings carried out in places or at times which were deemed illegal in the 1604 canons were not legal ceremonies, thirdly that only weddings performed in a church would be deemed legal and finally that both bride and groom must be at least 21 years of age to marry without parental consent.

This law was introduced to prevent the thousands of marriages which were taking place illegally around the country, causing outcry as these ceremonies were never properly recorded and led to many disputes where landowner's daughters had married against their father's wishes. To be married in this way all that the bride and groom had to do was appear before a parson and two witnesses declaring their wish to be married. Irregular marriages were most common around Fleet prison in London where there were 50 marriage houses.

Over the years couples would runaway to one of the Gretna Green wedding venues for a marriage over the anvil. The ceremonies were performed by the local blacksmith who was at the heart of the community. When angry fathers appeared before the ceremony was complete the young couple would be ushered into the next room where they would climb into bed and the father would then think he was too late to prevent the ceremony and ride off in disgust, after a suitable wait proceedings would then recommence.

The next change in the law occurred in 1977 when the 3 week cooling off period was abolished and a new system was brought in whereby couples must give a minimum of 14 days written notice to Gretna Registry Office of their wedding.Anvil weddings started becoming popular again in 1994 when Ministers began to conduct ceremonies over the anvil for many couples.In 2002 the law changed yet again allowing Registrars to come out of the office and perform a civil wedding ceremony over a Gretna Green anvil. The first civil ceremony in Scotland to take place outside a Registration Office took place at The Mill Forge.

The advantages of a Gretna Green wedding or a destination wedding.

Why would you consider a wedding away from your home town?



Below are a number of reasons why running away to Gretna Green or planning a beach wedding might appeal to you rather than having your wedding locally and repeating what your friends and family have done.

1. You want your wedding to be special and different from your friends and families weddings.


2. It can often work out cheaper (how often have you heard someone remark " I wish I had given her £xxxx and told her to get married on a beach)


3. You and your partner may be from different areas of the country and want to find a place where both families can easily travel to.


4. You can slash the guest list to a size of party which suits your budget, which means that the distant cousins who you have never seen or spoken to for years do not have to be invited. By limiting your numbers, then the people who are there are the people you want at your wedding not the people who you have to invite because "so and so" is invited.


5. By limiting your numbers you can also leave the undesirables who you know will get drunk, start a fight or spend all day complaining about things behind which gives great peace of mind to you on you special day.


6. Places like Gretna Green are renowned for weddings and have many wedding specialists who can help you with planning and organising your "big day". You can draw on their expertise and benefit from their local knowledge as to which service providers are reliable, trustworthy and most of all good at what they do.


7. Wedding service providers in places like Gretna Green often provide a better service much cheaper than the "at home" alternatives. For instance there are photographers in Gretna Green who will take your wedding photo's, print them, put them in an album and deliver them to your hotel for you to take home with you the day after the wedding all for less tghan £150


8. Limit the amount of interfering (or helping as they call it) from mothers and mother in laws to be, by simply telling them where the wedding is and that the venue has got everything in hand in accordance with your plans.


9. Weddings at home often fall foul to routine and family tradition (ever heard the words "that's where cousin thingy married whatsname and they had "such and such" which you must have because it was lovely). Forget that this is your wedding and you want it YOUR way!


10. Everyone who is special enough to you to merit an invitation will go away you for a couple of days for the wedding which turns the whole occaision in to an extended party rather than just one day.


11. By going somewhere different your wedding will benefit from the lack of comparison to other weddings which were held locally.


12. Many wedding destinations have much more stunning photographic locations that the local hotel or social club may offer.
13. Venues such as The Mill Forge Gretna Green have the ceremony venue, accommodation and reception facilities in one location which means that you do not have to fork out for expensive wedding cars or worry about how all of your guests will get home after the wedding.
14. You can always return to your wedding venue for anniversaries.
15. You stand a much better chance of good weather with a beach wedding rather than a UK wedding.
16. You can incorporate your wedding and honeymoon together.

I hope this helps to highlight some of the positives in travelling away from home for your wedding, whether you choose Las Vegas (with or without Elvis) a beach wedding, a Gretna Green anvil wedding or simply choose a country house hotel an hour or two away from home.

I have been a guest at a wedding over 3 hours away from home and it was a wonderful experience with the 3 days we were away flying by. It was a marvellous occasion and great to spend time with friends in a place other than the pub or around a dinner table.