A History Surrounding Gretna Green Weddings

Gretna Green - An Introduction

Gretna Green is a famous Scottish town near the border with England. It is the first town in Scotland on the way from England. It is famous for its runaway weddings where eloping couples from other countries with strict marriage legislation go to in order to conduct their weddings.

Gretna Green Weddings - The Beginning to Now...

Gretna Green weddings have a long history dating back from the year 1754 when the marriage act was legislated in England. Under this act, the legal age for marriage in England was brought up from 16 to 21. The law also gave parents the power to prevent the marriage between minors going ahead if they objected to it. Originally, the law was meant to control the desires of young couple getting married too quickly.

However, the law was not adopted in Scotland. Being a neighbouring country to England, it presented a loophole for young couples who wanted to become husband and wife. Gretna Green was the first stop on the way from England to Scotland. It became the perfect choice for eloping couples to hold marriage ceremonies there.

Scotland's law originally allowed for couples aged over 16 to hold a wedding ceremony famously known as a hand fasting ceremony. In this ceremony, the couple simply declared their wish to get married before two witnesses and they became legally bound.

Blacksmiths in Gretna Green became the priests who conducted the weddings and by hitting the anvil with a hammer, the whole village would know that a couple had been wedded. This became a booming business for the blacksmiths in Gretna Greens. These blacksmiths conducted the weddings for hundreds of years. One such notable blacksmith was Richard Rennison who oversaw 5,147 Gretna Green weddings. However, this was put to an end by parliament in 1940 when a law to end blacksmith priests and marriages over the anvil was put into place. The law specifies that only a minister of religion or an authorized registrar could perform wedding ceremonies.

Nowadays Gretna Greens is fondly recognized worldwide and hundreds of couples flock to the place every year to conduct their wedding ceremonies. The couples arrive by many means of transport including horses, boats, bicycles, motorbikes and buses.

This has brought about a whole new industry including businesses such as hotels near Carlisle; lodgings, wedding venues, catering industry, photography and fashion just to mention a few. Many jobs have been created in these industries thus making it an income earner for the many people who work here.

This also preserves the history of both England and Scotland and spreading the stories and folklore all over the world. Understanding the origin of such events and their importance is also very helpful since it helps us to appreciate our past and present culture. It also shows the power of love and what lovers can do just to be with each other for the rest of their lives.

Finally, Gretna Green weddings will always remind us what hurdles have been placed in the way of love in the past but in the end, love will always triumph.