MARITIME BLISS Just six guests attend micro-wedding
A COUPLE enjoyed the perfect wedding day when they got hitched on board a yacht on a loch with just six guests present.
Alan Bell, 68, and his wife Joyce, 58, opted for a micro-wedding at Rhu Marina on Gare Loch in Argyll.
Alan said: “It was absolutely perfect. It was a beautiful day, a real scorcher and everything was just superb.”
His Hunter Legend 310 sailing boat Marise was perfect for their wedding as the couple first met on board the 31ft vessel.
Seamstress Joyce was working for a company who make curtains and other textiles.
Retired salesman Alan said: “I needed sheets for the boat and Joyce came to measure up.”
The couple, who live in Garelochhead, Argyll, have six children and 11 grandchildren between them from previous relationships. They had been together for five years before Alan popped the question.
Writing out the wedding guest invitations was an easy task. Alan said: “We thought, ‘Do we want a big wedding?’ We both agreed we didn’t and chose six close friends to be there. The local registrar conducted the service in the boat’s cockpit and we signed the marriage certificate below deck. Rhu Marina allowed us to berth the boat there for three nights free of charge.”
The newlyweds and their guests stayed at Knockderry Country House Hotel in Cove and the honeymooners then sailed to Lochgoilhead.