I got married at Gretna Green! (Gretna Green)

Member Name: dthpsb

Product:	Gretna Green
Date:	08/11/09 (60 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful place to get married.

Disadvantages: Very quiet and small village, nothing to do.

When my then boyfriend proposed to me back in 2006 I wanted to get married straight away. We had already been together nearly 5 years and had a 1 year old son, I was not bothered about a big wedding costing thousands of pounds I just wanted to get married. After much thought I decided that Gretna Green would be the ideal place and leaving our son with my parents we went and got married in Gretna Green, just the two of us.

Gretna Green is a village in Annandale and Eskdale district in the Dunfries and Galloway. It is just above the border between England and Scotland and it is easy to get to. I live in Yorkshire so I think it only took about 2 hours to get there and it was an easy drive.

I organised the wedding myself and booked everything after receiving a couple of brochures. We stayed in a nice small hotel where everyone was really friendly and welcoming. We were to be married at The Anvil Hall, which is one of a couple of places you can get married. There is also the famous Blacksmiths Shop and other larger hotels that will let you marry there.

The Anvil Hall was such a beautiful place inside and out, I was amazed at how loverly it was when I first walked in. We had two witnesses who had been arranged for us and we had all of our photo's taken outside the Hall which were all really beautiful.

Our wedding was perfect but I must admit and my husband will agree with me that Gretna Green was such a small quiet place with no where to go and nothing to see. I think we were quite unprepared for how small Gretna Green really is. There is one row of shops with a cake shop, newsagents, hairdressers and a few other shops. There is no where to really go on a night.

The first night when we arrived we walked for ages looking for somewhere to eat and I think we ended up in another hotel, once we had eaten there was nothing else to do. There was one pub near where we were staying but we left after one drink as it was full of locals who kind of made you feel that you weren't welcome. After our wedding which was 4 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon we went for a meal and then spent our wedding night watching television because we had no where to go.

Maybe if I had the choice again of where to get married I would choose somewhere abroad because although Anvil Hall where we got married was beautiful our trip was spoiled by the lack of things to do. I think I got swept away with the romantic idea of 'running away' to Gretna Green that I actually didn't research what there is to do in Gretna.

If you want to get married then lock yourself away in your hotel room then Gretna Green would be ideal for you but if you want a bit of nightlife and somewhere to eat then I wouldn't recommend Gretna Green. It is a loverly, small and quiet village though.

Summary: Not as romantic as you may think.