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TV newly-
A Free Church wedding on Lewis has beaten more colourful marriage ceremonies to win
a TV reality show contest.
Mairead Nicholson and her new husband Jim Kennaway were
astonished when their traditional Hebridean nuptials scored top marks in last night’s
episode of Four Weddings on Living TV.
The excited couple won £10,000 towards a luxury
honeymoon in Tobago which they are taking in May.
A film crew tracked the Glasgow
couple making long distance preparations for their marriage in Borve Free Church
on the westside of Lewis.
Four couples competed to score highly on the dress, the
venue, the catering and the overall presentation.
Mairead and her new husband Jim,
who are both 28, held a typical island wedding with a village church service followed
by a meal in a local hotel and a ceilidh in the local hall.
But she feared her fellow
TV contestants “wouldn’t get” the traditional Hebridean nuptials.
They moaned about
the music-
They were startled by the psalm-
Female guests were told to wear a dress as trousers
were strictly banned at the service and hats were essential.
Mairead, who was brought
up in Baillieston, Glasgow, who choose to get married in her father Murdo’s home
village, wore a vintage style dress made by Ness designer Sallie Jayne Avis, who
also made the bridesmaids’ dresses.
Mairead loved the retro look of a 1950s Scottish
bride’s dress. It has a white flared full skirt bottom with lace sleeves and sparkled
v-
Carrying a Harris Tweed bouquet, the 28-
The
service was conducted by Inverness minister Rev David Meredith, the present moderator
of the Free Church and her mother Fiona’s cousin.
Bridesmaids were her sister Catriona,
34, best friend Mhari Kennedy, 28, and Jim’s nieces Kelsey Walsh and Robyn Walsh.
As
the happy couple had their photos taken on the beach at Ness, guests were accompanied
down the village by a piper to the reception in Borve House Hotel.
The sound of the
bagpipes scared rival groom Jamie Law who complained it was like a cow being slaughtered.
Later,
about 200 guests danced into the early hours as ceilidh band Skippinish kept the
footstomping music playing at the Clan Macquarrie community centre.
The couple first
met in school in Glasgow but only started a romance many years later. Since their
marriage n August they moved to Lewis where Mairead works in the Caladh Hotel and
Jim has a job with Edmunson Electrical.
Jim proposed to Mairead on a boat sailing
down the River Seine in Paris after asking her father for her hand in marriage.
Mairead
said it was a very romantic night: “Jim proposed in Paris in November 2008. It was
lovely with a gorgeous setting. We had a long dinner looking at Eiffel Tower and
then he proposed.”
Later, the pair chose her art deco-
The wedding organisation went smoothly though she had to travel from Glasgow
to Lewis a few times as her vintage style dress was being custom made by island designer
Sallie Jayne Avis, who also made the bridesmaids’ dresses and the mother-
The bride said: “We were stunned when we won. I didn’t think the contestants
would get what it was all about.”
“I was a big fan of Four Weddings so I knew a traditional
Hebridean wedding in a Free Church setting would be good for the show.”
But when the
big day crept closer “I didn’t feel the other contestants were going to like my wedding.
I was hoping I would get all women from the couples to come. But I ended up with
two men -
Her opponents all opted for non-
Sandy Owens got married in the Spinnaker Tower
attraction in Portsmouth; Dibs MacCallum outdoor theme was washed out when it poured
down and Jamie Law celebrated his civil partnership with Stephen Green in a nightclub.
Despite
her Glaswegian upbringing Mairead was pricked by her Lewis heritage and declined
to dance at Jamie’s nuptials which were held on the Sabbath.
She said: “I participated
as much as I could but I didn’t feel it right to be dancing on Sunday. I am not a
born again Christian but I was brought up to observe the Sabbath.”