Wedding joy
Couple fly in 22 years after drunken phone call
An American couple decided to get married at Rutherglen Town Hall – because of a drunken phone call over 22 years ago.
Bill Frame and Tracy Gibbons befriended Cambuslang pair Danny and Angie McKillop in 1994 when the pair called them at random weeks before a holiday in Florida.
An American couple decided to get married at Rutherglen Town Hall - all because of a drunken phone call over 22 years ago.
Danny and Angie McKillop were planning a holiday to Florida in the summer of 1994 when they headed to the Braes pub for a night out.
After downing a few drinks, Angie and her friend decided to call random numbers in the US state as Danny was worried about a spate of crime there in the lead up to their holiday.
Incredibly, after much dialling, the phone was answered by Tracy Gibbons, who was staying with her boyfriend Bill Frame in Jacksonville.
After passing the phone to Bill, he invited the Cambuslang pair to his home for a party when they arrived in the States.
They made the two-hour drive from Orlando after they arrived and the foursome became firm friends.
So when Bill and Tracy decided to tie the knot, the couple could think of no better place to do it than in Scotland with their best pals.
Looking back on how they met, Danny, 47, laughed: “It was so random, I remember it was just before the World Cup. I came back from the pub and Angie and her pal were dialling, they must have got the dialling code from the operator.
“I told them to pass me the phone and just tried random numbers until I heard a dialing tone.
“I’m told now that it was actually Tracy who answered the phone, which probably shows how drunk I was. She obviously couldn’t make me out and passed me to Bill.
“I said to him I was a bit apprehensive because of some driveby shootings where tourists had been targeted, but he assured me we’d have a blast.
“We went to his house and he had a barbecue for us, it was just madness. We’ve been friends ever since.”
Bill, 54, and Tracy, 46, got engaged in December. Although Danny and Angie, along with other family members, had been to Florida to see them numerous times, this was their first trip here and Tracy’s first trip outside the USA.
After much running about to get things organised, and with the help of the registry office at the town hall, they tied the knot on Monday, September 12 in front of family and friends, including their son, Luke, and Tracy’s mum, brother and her other son, Jake.
Afterwards, they headed for Whitefield Bowling Club for a party.
Danny, who was living in Whitlawburn at the time of the phone call but now stays in Lightburn, said: “It was a fantastic day, they were over the moon with it. It was a proper Celtic wedding with tying the knot and things like that.
“It was surreal, just one drunken phone call and their they were standing here with their kilts and Tracy looking beautiful.
“Every time we go over there the hospitality is incredible so we were returning that favour to them.
“Our families are really, really tight. Angie and I started going out around the same time they did so our lives have been very similar, like a mirror of each other.”