Hannah and Mark celebrate their new ring status – caught perfectly by Mark Keogh Photography

By John Leo Scott, Fuze Celebrant

Hannah and Mark’s humanist led wedding day at the stunning Cornhill Castle in Biggar, part of the Manorview Hotel Group, was as magical as such a venue with ‘castle’ in the title would be.

Cornhill Castle is one of Scotland’s most unique and elegant castles. It’s secluded hideaway is a venue for all seasons. From the first snowdrop of spring to the delicate flurry of winter snowflakes, Cornhill Castle’s sprawling grounds and stunning scenery always casts a spell over every happy couples special day. I love driving up it long and winding driveway and anticipation of the castle appearing beyond the trees, not to mention the wonderful saltire flapping in the wind at the top.

Hannah and Mark chose to start their Fuze humanist wedding ceremony with a beautiful Ring Warming symbolic gesture. As you can see from the picture above, they were both pretty pleased and delighted with their new bling. I instructed the guests by saying: “When you receive the rings I’d like you to close your eyes and think a positive thought and best wish for our bride and groom, then pass them on… by the time these rings make their way onto the bride and grooms fingers they’ll be supercharged with all you positive energy and best wishes giving them the perfect start to married life.”

Later in the ceremony they also performed a humanist handfasting symbolic gesture – “Hannah and Mark will now recite their vows, whilst handfasted. Handfasting is an ancient Celtic marriage ritual, and if you ever wondered where the expression tying the knot comes from well now you know. It’s a symbolic way of showing that you are tied to one another for life.”

Hannah and Mark’s dream Cornhill Castle wedding also features on ‘friend’s of Fuze’, the Your Scottish Wedding website.

Click HERE to see the full story.

Hannah and Mark share a castle background kiss following their humanist wedding ceremony – caught perfectly by Mark Keogh Photography

The Love Story

Folks, I’d like to tell you a wee story. It’s not an ordinary story it’s our bride and grooms very own love story, of how they got together, their journey to this moment of commitment. It was so funny when I sat with Hannah and Mark and asked the question of how they met. Mark says their stories both differ, and he insisted Hannah tell her side of the story. Hannah recounted how they both worked with a lady called Mary, who for the purposes of this story we shall call her… Mary the matchmaker.

Mary the Matchmaker

She’d often asked Hannah “what do you think of Mark? Do you like him, he often asks about you”? Meanwhile, Mark had noticed this tall, beautiful bombshell of a babe who’d just started at his work. Mark had to get intel on who she was and asked Mary the matchmaker and the girls at reception about her. It was a little complicated, Mark didn’t want to blur the lines of work and relationships and felt it was unprofessional to ask Hannah out at work. However, this didn’t stop him from requesting to work in her department when they were short staffed.

I love sharing my couples humanist wedding day love story and Hannah and Mark were no exception.

But he couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth and speak. Mark describes this extra-long corridor at work when he’d spot Hannah at the opposite end and as she got closer and closer Mark would desperately try to break the ice and speak as she passed by. Again, his nerves got the better of him, and he embarrassingly blurted out “I will talk to you eventually” … willing the ground to open up and consume him after his cringeworthy outburst.

The Facebook ‘adding’

Everyone, including Mary, was getting impatient and enquired regularly if he’d asked her out yet” … NAE PRESSURE!! It wasn’t till Hannah had gone out to the races, followed with a wedding reception, when she ran into Mary and mentioned “you know what Mary, I’m just gonna add him on Facebook.” From Hannah adding Mark on Facebook, he messaged her that evening and they’d organised a date the following day. This is when I realised that neither Hannah or Mark are compulsive. They are quite measure in their approach to life. But remarkably on their very first date to Braehead for a movie and a munch, they’d talked about… LOVE, MARRIAGE and CHILDREN. Hannah didn’t want to be with someone who didn’t share her life ambition and Mark was completely OK with it.

When I asked Mark what his first impressions of Hannah were he exclaimed “CHRIST she’s tall” she could be taller than me. Which prompted his first purchase of Nike air max to level the playing field.

Falling in Love

Hannah found their commonality striking, shared values and ambition, not just in work but more importantly in their personal lives, and even though they both described their early relationship as a slow burner. They definitely had the foundation of a solid relationship.

It was April 2018, Mark’s month of May was full of stag weekends, and Hannah was off to study in Finland, and even though they didn’t see each other face to face they stayed in contact every day.
A wonderful summer of Bruno Mars, transmit and hill walking… but we’ll not dwell on the hillwalking Hannah will we” came to a close and it was clear they were in a relationship… Or that’s what Mark thought… Hannah on the other hand knew their status hadn’t changed and needed to hear it out loud that they were boyfriend and girlfriend and, on a flight, back from a lovely weekend in Berlin. Hannah mentioned “Is there something you want ask me”? Sheepishly Mark then asked her to be his girlfriend.

They both agreed there wasn’t an overwhelming moment when they fell in love, it was falling in love through that process of getting to know their significant other. They’d demonstrated honesty, integrity and trustworthiness, which nourished their feelings of love and Mark felt secure in the SafePlace he’d found in Hannah. Spending lots of time with each other, it was only natural they moved in together and in July 2019 Hannah moved in. The move was smooth and they both agreed that it felt right.

Hannah and Mark have travelled to some wonderful places around the world and they both love the buzz of not only traveling to exotic places, but planning the trip, although they most certainly pack as much in as they can. Which I realised when I hopped onto Mark’s insta page and checked out his amazing insta reels.

Hannah describes their journey as meeting and planning their life goals together, whether that’s a home improvement project or vacation, the enjoyment is in the process, from conception to completion and then onto the next task. And today is the fulfilment of another successful planning mission.

The Proposal

I asked Mark about the proposal and yet again, he waxed lyrical about the fabulous trip he’d planned to Sicily. He’d asked for Hannah dads blessing before he left.
Although this wasn’t his initial plan. He loved Hannah’s parents’ story of how they got engaged and planned to replicate that when they got to New York. Strolling around Tiffany’s Mark felt compelled to look at the rings, however after a five minute peruse, they walked back out and the moment disappeared. A couple of days later Mark mentioned this to Hannah who, lets just say, wasn’t best pleased.

Back to Sicily. Mark booked a wee boat trip, and off they toddled in the boat and there surrounded by the rugged mountains and aquamarine sea. Mark proposed.

There’s no better end to a wedding than having a little sparkle

The who’s who of Mark and Hannah’s Cornhill Wedding

Celebrant – John Leo Scott, Fuze CeremoniesBand | Velvet Noir
Bride’s dress and veil | Opus Couture
Bridesmaid dress | JJ’s House
Cake | Special Days Cakes
Celebrant | John Leo Scott of Fuze Ceremonies
Decor | Bell’s Florist, Couture Chair Covers & Events
Flower girl dresses | Chi Chi London
Flower girl crowns | Etsy
Flowers | Bell’s Florist
Groom’s outfit | Kilts 4 U
Hair | Cherry Cherry Hair By Loredana
Make-up | Samantha Connor Makeup Artist
Musician | The One Man Wedding Band
Rings | Chisholm Hunter
Stationery | Groom (@McCillustrations)
Videography | dKane Films 

CLICK PICTURE to hear our – Say ‘I DO’ With Fuze Podcast 

Add our smiles to yours

No two couples are the same so no two ceremonies should be the same. At Fuze we work alongside our couples to make their ceremony script is unique, personal and bespoke. It’s your day your way with us, so let us add our smiles to yours. To check out John and all of our amazing celebrant’s live availability for your special date click here!

John Leo Scott
Celebrant at Fuze Ceremonies