Couple to marry at Water of Leith site of romantic walks

THEY have spent countless afternoons whiling away the hours on romantic walks along one of the Capital’s best-known beauty spots.

Now Rosalind Smith and her fiancé Charles Alexander are going to cement their relationship at the very place where they fell in love.

The couple are getting married on Friday at the Water of Leith Visitor Centre, near the spot where Ms Smith proposed to Mr Alexander, 60, four years ago.

The centre’s classroom is being transformed into Ms Smith’s ideal place to have a wedding ceremony, complete with stuffed animals and ivory drapes.

The couple chose the unusual venue for their wedding as they have spent so much time walking along the Water of Leith together over the years

Ms Smith, 55, said: “That is the place that we had our courtship. We have done a lot of walking together there and it means a lot to us as we have really got to know the place and the people. We wanted our wedding to be special and that place is special to us.

“It’s quite unusual for a wedding venue – it’s going to be a memorable day.”

The couple got together in 2006 after meeting at the Broomhouse Centre.

Ms Smith, from Saughton Mains, proposed a year later at the couple’s favourite spot on the Water of Leith.

She said: “I thought this was the road we were going to go down and I proposed and he said yes. I’m so happy to be fulfilling my destiny and dream of getting married.

“I’m looking forward to having a proper wedding that means so much to me and is built around my faith.”

Ms Smith will be piped into the wedding ceremony and she will be wearing an ivory dress.

Guests will be donating money to the Water of Leith Conservation Trust instead of giving gifts.

Up to 30 guests will attend the ceremony at the visitor centre, in Lanark Road, with more expected to arrive for the reception at Citylife in Inglis Green Road, a Christian charity that Ms Smith volunteers for.

Sandie Boyle, administrator for the Water of Leith Conservation Trust, said: “They’re getting married in what is actually a classroom, but I’m going to take out a lot of the evidence of what we actually do here and lay out chairs and an aisle.

“Rosalind comes to our visitor centre quite regularly for cups of coffee and she thought it would be a lovely place for her to get married.

“I have been here five years and it’s the first time I will have witnessed someone tying the knot.”