I have discovered the secret of finding the right wedding venue. Choose somewhere that means such a lot to the two of you that nothing else matters. If you want to make it really special choose a venue where no one else has ever been married. And, if you want to add that zing of excitement to whole event choose somewhere outside in Scotland in June and don’t have a back-up plan.

Guests assembled around the sunken garden

Welcome to Georgia and Dan’s wedding day at Little Sparta. Little Sparta was the home and inspiration of Ian Hamilton Finlay CBE the famous Scottish writer and artist.

It is his garden, designed and built around his extraordinary confidence as an artist and is a work of art in its own right. Have a look at the Little Sparta Trust website http://www.littlesparta.co.uk/home.htm and please arrange to visit. It is the most beautiful place.

On a nice day.

Little Sparta meant so much to Georgia and Dan that they decided that it was where they were going to get married. They had to persuade the trustees to let them hold their wedding in the garden but they agreed. It is the first and only wedding to be held at the garden and I have just heard from Georgia that they have decided to offer it as a wedding venue but I suspect that they will limit the number of guests attending.

Dan and Georgia with Annie

As I arrived, after the mile long walk from the car park, the swing quartet were tuning-up – Django Reinhardt’s version of Georgia, what else, I seem to recall – and the ushers and best man were making the final preparations. The guests arrived by coach, Dan with them and we listened to the excellent music and sipped champagne until Georgia was due to arrive. There were little kids everywhere and they were loving it.

We assembled around a small sunken garden and the ceremony got underway – very relaxed, very laid-back. It was a short ceremony because we knew that Georgia and Dan’s wonderful daughter Annie would want to be part of it all (and would get easily bored!). we had one reading, exchanged vows and rings and then, to complete the whole magical event, the quartet struck-up Love and Marriage, the Frank Sinatra classic and we all had a singsong. Brilliant!

..go together like a horse and carriage