Fun & Happy Gretna Green Elopement Held in 2020

What an inspiration Sam and Vanessa are. Despite everything that COVID-19 threw at them in terms of wedding planning, they chose to take control and elope to Gretna Green in Scotland on the 14th November 2020. A Gretna Green elopement is a classic elopement choice, how romantic! However, Sam and Vanessa put their own spin on it, with fun smoke bombs and super stylish outfits, wow.

Sam and Vanessa have rescheduled their original wedding date to 2022 and I truly hope they get to have the wedding reception of their dreams. But for now let’s celebrate their amazing union on this very special day indeed, captured perfectly by Sawyer & Sawyer Photography, thanks for sending over these images Ray!

Gretna Green Elopement

The Proposal

09/08/19 – Krakow, Poland

Sam carried the engagement ring around in his pocket the whole week we were away, waiting for the ‘perfect moment’. He finally asked me just as we were checking out of our apartment to head home.

The Vision

Original date 30^th August 2020

We wanted a very chilled day. We booked Hallgarth Manor, Pittington because we love the gardens and outdoor areas. We were having a BBQ instead of a formal meal and had booked an acoustic singer to play throughout the day. During the national lockdown we had to reschedule our wedding to April 2021.

Elopement 14^th November 2020

With restrictions put in place for 15 guests at weddings from September 2020 to March 2021 we decided to postpone our date at Hallgarth again until May 2022 for the wedding reception and just get married ourselves. When I rang Gretna Green they were able to give us a Saturday date with 6 weeks notice.

Wedding Reception May 2020

We’ve rearranged our wedding reception, at our original venue, until May 2022. We still want to celebrate with everyone, when it is safe to do so.

The Venue

The Old Blacksmiths – Gretna Green

Hallgarth Manor – Pittington

The Ceremony & Music

The ceremony was conducted by Graeme Murray from Gretna Green Baptist Church. Graeme rang a few days before we were due to travel to Gretna Green to run through information or the day. It turns out I work with a girl that Graeme used to teach when he worked in a secondary school in Sunderland. Such a small world.

I walked into Flowers by Effie, an acoustic version of Sweet Female Attitude – Flowers. It’s a song that always reminds Sam of me. I was living in Liverpool the first year Sam and I were together and he used to come and visit me some weekends. We were driving into the city for food one night and Flowers came on the radio. I sang my heart out, word for word and since then if he hears it on the radio, he sends me a voice note.

When signing our wedding schedule, we played an acoustic version of Kygo – Firestone. Sam and I had been together just short of a year, I was still living away at this point, and one morning he sent me a YouTube link to this song. He told me it was going to be played at our wedding, so there we were, five years after sending it to me, playing it at our wedding.

Your Outfits

Sam’s suit was from Suit Culture in Shildon. We had seen them on social media and loved the suit we had seen. We wanted to buy his suit, instead of hiring. We found hiring to be expensive and not as much of a range; everything was quite traditional.

My dress was from Bexbrides in Herworth, Darlington. I met Bex at a wedding fair when I first got engaged and I loved her unique dresses. I had visited a few bridal shops and tried on typical wedding dresses but they just didn’t feel right. Being a curvy bride, I found a lot of the dresses were stereotypical ‘plus size bride’, with capped shoulders and corset back; not what I was looking for. When I visited Bex I fell in love with her quirky shop and her eclectic range of dresses.

Bex made me feel at ease and has amazing ideas to customise dresses. I stood in her shop for about half an hour while she pulled out different dresses, overskirts and capes to try different combinations. Finally, I tried on the dress I chose and I fell in love with it. I loved it on the hanger but it was completely different when I put it on. Bex hunted through her box of tricks and by the time I had left we had customised the dress and it felt perfect. We added a vintage belt to draw in the waist and added detail to the shoulders of the cape.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Sawyer & Sawyer

I first met Ray Sawyer at a wedding fair at Hallgarth Manor. I loved the creativity of his work and the amount of fun that was captured in his photographs. We booked Ray for our original wedding date; however, he wasn’t available on our rescheduled dated. When we decided to elope, I got back in contract with Ray to see if he would meet us at Gretna Green and capture our intimate ceremony.

The Styling & Decor

I got my flowers from a local florist, Roses ‘r’ Red. I had originally asked for sunflowers for our summer wedding but when we had to rearrange, I changed to an autumnal bouquet. I told them I wanted lots of greenery, berries and autumn colours. I absolutely loved my flowers and had so many compliments on the day. I also had a matching headpiece that slid into my hair, above my veil.

The Honeymoon

We haven’t booked anywhere yet, with the current situation with travel we are waiting till closer to the time. Sam has the first two weeks of the summer holidays booked off so hopefully we’ll get away somewhere.

Memorable Moments

I never once thought on my wedding day I would be walking down the aisle wearing a face mask.

We were interviewed by The Telegraph about British couples bringing back the tradition of ‘running away’ to Gretna Green to be married due to lockdown restrictions in England.

Advice For Other Couples

It’s all about you! Do what makes you and your partner happy; don’t worry about pleasing everyone, it isn’t possible. Take some time just you and your partner. As much as we would have loved to celebrate with our nearest and dearest, we loved that we got to spend the day just the two of us.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

So special and how exciting they were interviewed by The Telegraph too.

Sam and Vanessa thank you so much for sharing your very memorable Gretna Green elopement story.