GRETNA is breaking all records with an increasing number of couples
marrying there. The boom is set to continue with hundreds of weddings
booked for next year.
Last Friday was one of the busiest days of the year with 21 couples
marrying, including one couple from Germany.
By the end of the Christmas Eve rush the four registrars who work
there had married 3312 couples so far this year which is ll% up on last
year's record figure. The number of married couples will rise to a
record of 3360 by Hogmanay.
The new Gretna office opened l5 months ago has been a huge success and
the numbers being married in the #400,000 office has trebled.
Ms Alison Quigley, area registrar at Gretna, said: ''The numbers of
couples wanting to get married here grows each year and 21 is the
maximum we can cope with in one day.
''This year the majority of the 21 wanting a Christmas Eve wedding
were Scots and English with only a German couple making up the total.
The Scots seem to be getting more romantic.''
Gretna became famous for runaway weddings in the l950s and 60s with
thousands running away to the Border village where they could be married
at l6.
In the past few years the numbers wanting a romantic wedding rose so
quickly that Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council had to build new
premises to cope with the rush.
Earlier this year Gretna station reopened but many couples do not know
and get off the train at Carlisle to get a taxi to the village. ''I
always ask the couples if they use the railway,'' said Ms Quigley, ''but
only a handful have so far''.
Next year the office will be open on St Valentine's Day which falls on
a Monday -- normally a holiday at the office. But such has been the
demand that staff have agreed to open.
''We are already booked for the most romantic day of the year. The
l4th fell on a Sunday last year and so this year we all decided we would
work the holiday so that people who wanted could get married on the
l4th,'' said Ms Quigley.
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