Patience – castle is nearly ready for Take That star's Highland wedding

Published on Friday 6 November 2009 21:46

CAWDOR Castle will provide a fairytale setting for the wedding of Take That star Mark Owen and his fiancée Emma Ferguson this weekend.

Staff at the historic castle between Inverness and Nairn in the Highlands have been busy making final preparations for the celebrity nuptials tomorrow afternoon.

Guests will be staying at the Cawdor Estate's Drynachan Lodge, which sleeps up to 22, and five other cottages in the grounds.

Two giant beige teepees, which can hold up to 60 people, have been erected on the grass behind the lodge, overlooking the river Findhorn.

Sources say festivities will get under way some hours before the ceremony begins at 4:30pm at Cawdor Parish Church.

Industrial heaters were being offloaded at the site yesterday and a van-load of flowers was delivered.

A fleet of Range Rovers with blacked-out windows ferried guests into the lodge.

Three police officers, including Chief Inspector Donald Henderson from Nairn, were seen driving into the castle.

The celebrity couple arrived on Thursday, and rehearsed the journey to the church.

Owen spoke to a few villagers who stopped to watch the preparations.

The marriage is the biggest celebrity wedding to hit the Highlands since Madonna wed Guy Ritchie at Skibo Castle in 2000.

Only 50 guests, including fellow band members Gary Barlow, Jason Orange and Howard Donald, and the couple's children, Elwood, three, and Willow Rose, one, will witness the low-key ceremony.

It is believed former Take That member Robbie Williams, who is currently in the UK promoting his new single, will also attend.

The couple, who have turned down glossy magazine offers to cover the ceremony, have spent romantic times in the Highlands before, and have told friends the venue is their dream location.

Excited fans are expected to descend on the normally quiet village in the hope of catching a glimpse of the couple.

However, Cawdor pensioner Alasdair MacLeod was concerned about the impact the fans and the media pack would have on the village.

He said: "The biggest difficulty is parking, and all of the fanatics could be quite a problem."