'Madonna effect' rings wedding bells

New figures from the General Register of Scotland have revealed that an astonishing one in three marriages north of the Border involve couples who do not live in the country but want a Scottish wedding.

Brides and grooms from around the world are flocking to picturesque castles and stately homes from the Borders to the northern-most tip of Scotland, injecting tens of millions pounds a year into Scotland’s economy.

According to experts, the demand for Scottish nuptials has been fuelled in large part by Madonna’s wedding three years ago at Skibo Castle in the Highlands. The figures show the number of marriage ceremonies between non-residents has risen by more than 20% since the American superstar exchanged vows with English film director Guy Ritchie in 2000.

Visitscotland, the national tourism agency, estimates the boom in weddings between partners from elsewhere in the UK or overseas is injecting 20m into the economy every year. "The Madonna effect shows no signs of diminishing," said a spokesman for the agency, which receives 30 wedding-related inquiries from outside Scotland every day.

Further boosts to the Scottish wedding industry are on the horizon. Stella McCartney, the fashion designer daughter of pop legend Sir Paul, is believed to be planning a wedding in Scotland later this year, possibly on the Isle of Bute.

If the celebrity-laden event goes ahead, it will have a similar effect on the island as Madonna’s wedding had on the small town of Dornoch, near Inverness. The singer’s nuptials, and the public christening of her son in the town’s church, brought an immediate 2.5m into the Dornoch area with the media spending 250,000 on accommodation alone.

Last year, 29,826 weddings took place in Scotland, down from 41,000 in 1951. But although the total number of marriages is falling in line with changes in society, some parts of the wedding industry are enjoying an upward trend.

The annual report from the General Register of Scotland reveals 30% of all weddings - 8,947 last year - are now between partners who do not live in Scotland.

The proportion of those weddings that take place at Gretna Green, the traditional destination for elopers from England, has also fallen dramatically, indicating that the ceremonies are now taking place in a much wider range of locations.

Popular venues in the Highlands include Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, Eilean Donan Castle on Loch Duich in Wester Ross, and the Dornoch Castle Hotel in Dornoch. This year 19 of its 21 weddings have involved overseas couples, including one pair from Zimbabwe. Skibo Castle, which has also hosted the weddings of racing driver Dario Franchitti and actors Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle, also retains its popularity among the wealthy set.

One benefit of a Highland wedding is relative anonymity for the rich and famous. Susan Smith, wedding planner with the firm Highland Wedding Belles, said Highlanders refuse to be starstruck. "It doesn’t interest us. It’s just another wedding. Celebrities can feel more anonymous and it is certainly easier to keep the wedding quiet."

Beverley Tricker has become a self-confessed Scottish weddings expert after taking on the role of promoting Visitscotland’s Romantic Scotland campaign, aimed at cashing in on the Madonna effect.

"The appeal of Scotland is that you can get married in a wonderful castle, on a beach or even on a mountain top," said Tricker. "It is everyone’s ideal, romantic location and, after Madonna, particularly appeals to the American market."

Many people are now getting married at a later, more affluent, age, so are demanding more discerning and stylish locations, Tricker explained. "It’s not only that we have castles, which they adore, but we have castles that suit every pocket.

"You can get married beside an atmospheric ruin or inside a beautifully-preserved private castle with its own chapel."

Putting a figure on the value to the economy of the industry was difficult, Tricker said. "But what we do know is that the people who come to Scotland to get married are high spenders. They also tend to bring high-spending relatives and friends who don’t just come for a day but stay on for a week or two."

One company that set up in business to exploit the growing demand for weddings in Scotland is Scottish Borders Wedding Consultants in Melrose.

"All of our business involves customers from outside Scotland," said joint owner Sheila Scott. "The clients are predominantly American, English and Japanese but we have had inquiries from all over the world.

"First they want a castle. If not, a ruined abbey. Then they want all the Scottish trimmings, with a piper top of the list. One group of Japanese with no Scottish connections insisted on wearing kilts. We almost had to dress them as they didn’t have a clue about how to put all the regalia on."

One of the most popular lowland venues is Dundas Castle, the baronial pile of Sir Jack Stewart-Clark, set in a 1,000-acre estate overlooking the Firth of Forth near South Queensferry. At least 80% of weddings at Dundas, which costs up to 5,500 to hire for one night, now involve couples from outside Scotland.

Sir Jack, a former Tory MEP who went into the wedding business five years ago to prevent the family home from being sold off, said: "We had one wedding in the first year. This year so far we have had 92, including four last week."

One couple who decided to hold their wedding in Scotland last week wereSimon Rains and his bride Sue Nicol from Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire. "We just wanted something different," said Rains, a radio technician.

Sue, a personal assistant, said they had thought about going abroad to get married but the lure of Scotland proved too strong. "I love the kilts and the sound of the pipes," she said. "All those things give the day such a sense of occasion."

Nuptials beyond the norm

SCOTLAND has become one of the world’s leading locations for unusual weddings, thanks to its liberal rules on religious ceremonies. Thrill-seekers and exhibitionists have tied the knot in their droves.

Joanna George and Dave Cuthbertson were married on top of Ben Nevis in 1995. Not content with tying the knot on Britain’s highest peak, the couple scaled Tower Ridge on its notorious north face before the ceremony. As a concession to less-adventurous friends and relatives, guests were allowed to arrive by helicopter.

In 1998, Cathy Seagrave and Andrew Wainwright became the first couple for almost a millennium to swap vows among the famous Neolithic Callanish stones on Lewis. It is believed that the stones were last used for wedding ceremonies in druidical times.

Eileen and Gavin Anderson exchanged vows in the safari tank at Deep Sea World, North Queensferry, in 1998, with more than 3,500 fish and seven sand tiger sharks in attendance. The couple wore diving suits adapted to look like real wedding outfits.

Jackie and Kenny Brydon, of Edinburgh, became part of a surge of couples for whom football was the closest thing they had to religion. The two devoted Hearts fans married at Tynecastle in 2001.

In 2002, Joanne Hamlyn married Charles Heffernan in the restaurant of Asda in Elgin, after the store’s events manager suggested the venue as a joke. The couple became the first couple to marry in a supermarket in Scotland.

In the same year, Freyja Moyes and Gordon Macpherson became the first couple to marry in Edinburgh Zoo, in front of Mercedes the polar bear. However, the ceremony was a compromise: Macpherson preferred hippos and tigers to polar bears.