N-ice day for a white
Determined couple get best of the Beast with wedding at Castle
A Hillfoots couple left for their honeymoon on Sunday after defying the Beast from East and pressing ahead with their wedding plans.
Cameron Watt and Angela Bearsdley were due to marry on Saturday at Rowardennan Lodge Youth Hostel, Loch Lomond.
Last week’s snowfall made access to the hostel impossible and it looked as if the couple’s big day would have to be cancelled.
However, thanks to family and friends and the sterling work of Balfron registrar Lynn Phillips and her husband Robert, Cameron and Angela were able to marry on Saturday as planned – on the snow-covered Esplanade at Stirling Castle in temperatures hovering around freezing.
The couple, guests and registrar Lynn were ferried to the deserted Castle car park in four-by-fours and after exchanging vows the newlyweds celebrated with an impromptu snowball fight.
Cameron, 58, is formerly from Irvine Place in Stirling and runs the Sign Shop in Ward Street, Alloa, while 50-year-old Angela, originally from Nottingham, is founder and executive director of social enterprise Resonate Together, also based in Alloa.
Their only guests were best man Martin Cook and two witnesses: Angela’s best friend Fiona Jones and Cameron’s sister Marina Donaldson, who runs Marelle’s beauty treatments in Riverside, Stirling.
The couple, who live in Alva, have been together for seven years and booked Rowardennan Lodge in November. About 26 guests were due to attend but the plans looked likely to be ruined as the snow continued to fall last week.
After signing their wedding papers in the Portcullis Hotel a relieved Cameron told the Observer: “By Thursday we were getting desperate and managed to speak to the manager at Rowardennan, who said the road up to the lodge was impassable and they didn’t have the equipment to clear the road.”
Angela added: “We still wanted to go ahead with the wedding although, because the warnings were so severe, we told guests not to risk it.”