I got married in Gretna Green. Well, I should say my husband and I got married in Gretna Green.
Greta Green is a small village just across the Scottish border from England and is famous for 'runaway weddings'. It is one of the World's most popular wedding destinations with over 5000 wedding ceremonies performed here every year.
The History Of Gretna Green
Years ago no one under the age of 21 could get married in England and Wales without their parent's consent, however in Scotland this was not the case and boys of 14 and girls of 12 could without their parent's blessing. This fact and the close proximity to the English border made Gretna Green a very popular place to get married.
The local blacksmith and his anvil have become the lasting symbols of Gretna Green weddings. Scottish law allowed for "irregular marriages", meaning that if a declaration was made before two witnesses, almost anybody had the authority to conduct the marriage ceremony. The blacksmiths in Gretna became known as "anvil priests" - they often conducted the ceremony, bringing down a hammer on an anvil at the end of the service, to announce you were married.
When my husband and I got married we decided to go to Gretna Green as we liked the notion of getting married somewhere different, we didn't want a huge wedding with loads of family so this place sounded ideal and it all sounded very romantic, after all, it is the place where couples in love went to elope! However our family still decided to come along, and having a handful of close family did actually add to the experience.
Today the laws have changed but the tradition of going to Gretna Green for a quieter wedding with fewer or no guests still exists. You can get married in a religious or non religious ceremony and many celebrants still bring down a hammer on an anvil at the end of the ceremony.
However if you want a wedding with lots of guests and all the luxuries and extras you can also have this in Gretna Green too but at a much reduced price. This is due to the high number of weddings that take place every year. Our wedding photos were less than £200 for an album with a selection of photos and the rest on CD, the Rolls Royce was £120 and the flowers were beautiful and also very competitive in price too.
Memories Of Our Wedding Day
I am writing this post for the Something Borrowed, Something Blue campaign by Ocean Finance and the idea is to write about my wedding memories and give one tip on how to save money on a wedding.
I have a few lovely memories of our wedding day. We got married in a beautiful place called Anvil Hall and after the service the celebrant did indeed bring down the anvil at the end of the ceremony - it didn't half make me jump! This beautiful hall was the scene of a number of our photos, I like this one below showing everyone cheering.
My Money Saving Tip
Everything in Gretna Green was well priced, so my one tip would be - if you want to save money, get married in Gretna Green. You can have a great wedding that is very special and that doesn't break the bank. Something you will remember forever, and something very special.
* I was compensated a voucher for this post
When my husband and I got married we decided to go to Gretna Green as we liked the notion of getting married somewhere different, we didn't want a huge wedding with loads of family so this place sounded ideal and it all sounded very romantic, after all, it is the place where couples in love went to elope! However our family still decided to come along, and having a handful of close family did actually add to the experience.
Today the laws have changed but the tradition of going to Gretna Green for a quieter wedding with fewer or no guests still exists. You can get married in a religious or non religious ceremony and many celebrants still bring down a hammer on an anvil at the end of the ceremony.
However if you want a wedding with lots of guests and all the luxuries and extras you can also have this in Gretna Green too but at a much reduced price. This is due to the high number of weddings that take place every year. Our wedding photos were less than £200 for an album with a selection of photos and the rest on CD, the Rolls Royce was £120 and the flowers were beautiful and also very competitive in price too.
Memories Of Our Wedding Day
I am writing this post for the Something Borrowed, Something Blue campaign by Ocean Finance and the idea is to write about my wedding memories and give one tip on how to save money on a wedding.
I have a few lovely memories of our wedding day. We got married in a beautiful place called Anvil Hall and after the service the celebrant did indeed bring down the anvil at the end of the ceremony - it didn't half make me jump! This beautiful hall was the scene of a number of our photos, I like this one below showing everyone cheering.
We were taken to Anvil Hall in a gorgeous Rolls Royce which you can see in the top photo, I felt like I was a princess being taken to meet my prince.
It was a lovely sunny but cold day in March. In fact the next day when we arrived at our Edinburgh honeymoon destination it was snowing heavily, but this just added to the excitement and special feeling of going on honeymoon.
We would highly recommend getting married in Gretna Green. Some venues like Anvil Hall even allow you to watch the wedding over the Internet which is a lovely idea for friends who can't be there.
My Money Saving Tip
Everything in Gretna Green was well priced, so my one tip would be - if you want to save money, get married in Gretna Green. You can have a great wedding that is very special and that doesn't break the bank. Something you will remember forever, and something very special.
* I was compensated a voucher for this post
Awwww how sweet, I have never even heard of Gretna before but I want a small wedding and sounds like your budget wasnt too bad either £120 for the car hire that's a bargain.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could look at this option yourself Miranda?
DeleteGretna Green is such a lovely place. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteIt was much nicer than I expected.
DeleteThat sounds like a lovely place to get married, I love the hammer and anvil part. Very exciting! And a snowy honeymoon, how lovely. Ray xx
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly different.
DeleteWow congrats. Never heard of Gretna Green until now. Such a sweet post.
ReplyDeleteThank you Stella.
DeleteI've heard of this before with Gretna Green and the whole back story of people running away to get married there is quite romantic I think! x
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the reasons we wanted to do it as well. The other option was Vegas, but I think I chose the best place!
DeleteThat sounds like the sort of wedding that I would like to have. I'm not keen on having a huge wedding, just some small and personal. Never have I heard of Gretna Green and the whole story behind it is sweet. Congratulations on the wedding :)
ReplyDeleteIt's surprising how many people haven't heard of it, but I hope you enjoyed the post.
DeleteGretna sounds like a fun place to get married if you're looking for somewhere a little different.
ReplyDeleteGretna Green looks fab. I've heard about the runaway weddings thing there before. Some great pics. Glad you both had a great day x
ReplyDeleteThank you Hannah.
DeleteWow that looks like a fab place to get married. Love the story behind it so sweet .
ReplyDeleteI agree, it is a very sweet story :)
DeleteI love the idea of getting married at Gretna. I love the love stories behind the venue. I would love to run away and get married their. Fantastic post!
ReplyDelete