Wedding Info

Telephone the Gretna Green Wedding Bureau please call Michelle, Lyn or Lisa at Gretna Green Wedding Bureau +44 (0)1461 336 001.

Gretna Green’s “anvil priests” were a colorful set of characters who setup shop in hostelries and Coaching inns in the village of Gretna Green and made their living from the marriage trade. The most famous of these venues being The World Famous Old Blacksmiths Shop.

Many Gretna Green Anvil Priests had other occupations - blacksmith, fisherman, weaver, saddler - none of them had any ‘qualifications’ to perform marriages and used Scotland’s marriage laws as a way of earning extra money.

Some of the more unsavoury Gretna Green anvil priests moved to Gretna Green from London after Lord Hardwicke’s act put them out of a job by making the irregular marriage trade illegal in England.

To perform a marriage, the anvil priest simply asked the couple to plight their troth in front of two witnesses, and, quick as the bang of a hammer on an anvil, their word was law. If a couple had come unaccompanied, the anvil priest would often knock on a neighbour’s door to ask them to come and serve as a witness.

If word came that the angry father was fast approaching Gretna Green and there was a risk of the marriage being interrupted, the anvil priest - so the story goes - told the lovers to nip into bed. When the pursuer arrived, he was shown to the bedroom. On seeing the couple in the bed, he assumed he was too late, as the marriage was well on the way to being consummated.

Even on a small budget, you have many irresistible options.
An alternative to a traditional cake is cupcakes!

Beautifully decorated and displayed on tiers, everyone will want one.
If you have a friend or relative who loves to bake, ask her to bake them as a weding present.
Or hold a cupcake-baking session as a prewedding get-together.

Weding cake on picture was made with cake mix that we flavored with rum and nutmeg
and decorated with store-bought spun-sugar flowers.

Other low-cost options include buying a stacked cake from a local bakery and dressing it up.
Or order your cake from the pastry class at the local culinary school.

Many supermarkets and wholesale club stores also offer bargain-priced customized cakes.

CUPCAKE WEDDING CAKE

Each box of cake mix makes 24
standard cupcakes or 48
minicupcakes. Multiply this
recipe as needed.
Makes 24 cupcakes.

1-pound box pound-cake mix
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup rum
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1-pound can classic white frosting
Natural food coloring (optional)
Cake decorations (purchased; see resource
guide)

Place paper baking cups into 24
medium-size muffin-tin cups (2 1/2-inch-round).
Make cake mix as directed
on package, using milk, rum,
eggs and nutmeg. Fill cups 2/3 full.
Bake until toothpick inserted in center
comes out clean, about 15 to 20
minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remove
from pan to wire rack; cool completely.
If desired, tint frosting, adding
coloring a drop at a time. Spread
cupcakes with frosting. Add your
choice of decorations. Frosted or unfrosted
cupcakes can be loosely covered
and refrigerated up to 2 days.