The day of the wedding, Tuesday,
May 23, 2000 - Gretna Green, Scotland.
After the wedding in Annon,
our friends took us to Gretna Green to be married "officially"
as it is called. This is a place that is famous for weddings similiar
to Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. Here is how the wedding tradition
there got started:
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As soon as you
hear the name Gretna Green, you think of Runaway Marriages.
The first rush started in 1753, when a new law in England
passed by Lord Hardwicke made these marriages illegal.
It did not take
long for the young couples to realise that as soon as they
crossed the Scottish Border nothing could prevent their
marriage. The Scottish Law demanded only that the couple
proclaimed in front of two witnesses that they wanted to
get married and a legal marriage from that moment on was
recognised in all countries.
Since the beginning
of the 18th century it was mostly the Blacksmith who functioned
as 'Anvil Priest' - this is why the Anvil is the symbol
of Gretna Green.
One of the oldest
marriage certificates dated 11.6.1772, belongs to Mr. Houston,
the Propreiter of the Famous Old Blacksmiths Shop. One of
the last Anvil Priests Mr. Rennison, (1920's until 1940)
married 5147 couples, over the Anvil.
These weddings
caused a lot of complaints in the Church and this wedding
business was considered scandalous and immoral. Lots of
stories can be told of parents, in carriages or on horseback,
hopping mad; often armed with a gun, who arrived in Scotland,
trying to stop the marriage of their runaway children. But
mostly they were too late, and the marriage had taken place.
In 1857 a new Law was proclaimed, according to which a couple
could only get married if one of them had taken up residence
for 21 days prior to the wedding. This of course brought
a reduction in marriages.
Later on, the Church
brought pressure on Parliament and since 1940 all Anvil Marriages
were made illegal. But all the same, one hears still of Gretna
Green marriages, because in England one has to be 18, before
one can get married without the permission of ones parents,
whilst in Scotland one can do this aged 16. The Ceremony normally
takes place in Church or at the Registary Office. |
And get married there, we did.
Here is proof:
Thank you for being additional
wittnesses to our wedding.
Our
Honeymoon
at Comlongon Castle and our trip to Shrewsbury
will be added to this site soon.
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