Let's get married up on Arthur's love Seat

AS wedding venues go, it would be hard to choose a more spectacular backdrop.

Edinburgh couple Tom Hirons and Louisa Morrigan tied the knot at the weekend surrounded by family and friends not in a church or registry office, but on the blustery slopes of Arthur's Seat.

They picked the unusual venue as it was the scene of their first date just over three years ago, and arranged for 150 guests to make their way up the slope for the ceremony. Two strapping friends were on hand to carry the more elderly up and down the hill in a comfy sedan chair.

All the guests had been warned to prepare for bad weather but thankfully the sun shone on the area of Dunsapie Hill set aside for the marriage.

The couple, who now live together in Merchiston, first met as Mr Hirons played the role of the Green Man at the city's annual Samhuin celebrations.

Ms Morrigan, 37, was instantly smitten and decided to track him down. When she did, it not only emerged that they had lived opposite each other in Newington for years, but that writer Mr Hirons, 35, had been equally keen to meet her.

Ms Morrigan said: "We decided months ago that we didn't want to just get married in a registry office, and Arthur's Seat is my favourite place in Edinburgh, so we looked into getting married there. I wasn't sure if it was even possible, but we were told as long as there was a minister prepared to carry out the service, it would be fine.

"I'm just so delighted. I go to the park about three times a week, and because we had our first date there it is even more special, and we just wanted it to be a really happy day for everyone involved."

The wedding would certainly have caught the eye of any passing hillwalkers, with the bride's golden dress modelled on Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, complete with a golden crown.

After the ceremony, guests headed off to enjoy a reception and ceilidh at the Rudolph Steiner School. The service was conducted by inter-faith minister Natasha Hood, who said Arthur's Seat was among the more unusual places she had performed a marriage.

"Unusual locations are becoming more popular and I've performed wedding ceremonies on a canal boat in Ratho and on the banks of Loch Tay, but Arthur's Seat was a new one for me," she said. "It is very fitting for the couple, though, and it is nice that we are able now to perform a legal ceremony at a place that is truly special to them."

Historic Scotland, which maintain Holyrood Park, said this weekend's wedding was not the first there, and Shauna Readman, wedding sales executive, said it was becoming an increasingly popular idea.

"There is a trend emerging for humanist ceremonies, which is making outdoor locations, such as Holyrood Park, more popular for wedding ceremonies," she said. "It has always been a popular setting for bridal photography and it's great to see more couples choosing to hold religious or humanist ceremonies there."