I took my man on a ‘fishing trip’ but it was really our surprise wedding – it cost £650 & our pals joined the honeymoon
A GROOM got the ultimate wedding surprise after finding out about his big day just 30 MINUTES before it was due to start.
Steven Hanton, 39, thought he was heading to Oban for an overnight fishing trip with his fiancee Hannah Knight.
But in reality, tattoo artist Hannah had organised a sneaky registrar wedding followed by a honeymoon with their best pals at Ceol Cholasa folk festival on the nearby island of Colonsay.
The couple, from Aberfeldy, Perthshire, have been together for nine years and got engaged in January.
Hannah, 35, said: “We’re not religious at all so we couldn’t really decide how to go about actually getting married, the legal bit.
“I had this idea that it would be nice to do something really low key.
“So I hoodwinked Steven into thinking he was going on a one-night fishing trip.”
Survival consultant Steven, originally from Edinburgh, only discovered it was his wedding day when he stepped out of a coffee shop to see his best friend walking around the corner in a kilt.
“That was the shock of his life”, Hannah laughed.
“Then he basically had half an hour to get into his kilt and we got married at Oban’s registry office.”
Hannah and Steven – parents to Merlin, six, and Inver, three – tied the knot on September 14 before hopping on a ferry for the weekend.
And the bride, originally from Manchester, admitted there was a lot of “covert emails and planning” involved to pull off the surprise nuptials.
“You have to sign a piece of paper at least a month in advance” she said.
“I thought about forging his signature but I just pretended I was being really organised for when we eventually did get married and got him to sign the form. I didn’t write the location or the date. I felt so crafty.
“The week before I wondered how the hell I was going to get him to the west coast without him suspecting anything.
“I started to wonder if I should tell him the night before or give him some warning in case he freaked out because he’s a guy.
“But then he said he was gutted the fishing season was nearly over, and he’d love one last fishing trip if possible. It was the perfect cover.”
She continued: “He’s usually really switched on and doesn’t miss a trick. And he thinks I’m useless at keeping secrets. So it became a competition in my head as to how long I could keep it going for.
“I even managed to stealthily pack his kilt under a lot of beer in the back of the van.
“He was completely stunned. I’m sure he swore a few times.
“Turns out it’s really easy to get married, it only takes like five minutes.
“And Steven genuinely had the time of his life.”
Hannah, who owns her own tattoo studio Ink and Ember, revealed the big day only cost around £650 in total – including festival tickets, ferry passes and her green wedding dress.
“It’s scary how much weddings cost these days, and can be so stressful”, she said.
“Our weekend proved to me that all you need is a couple of friends. We didn’t even have any family there.
The couple took a campervan so didn’t pay for accomodation and spent around £150 on beer and food for the weekend, with some fuel money thrown in.
Hannah’s wedding dress also only cost £150.
She admitted: “It’s the most I’ve ever spent on a dress. So it still felt really decadent even if I did wear it with my really old baggy jumper which has lost all of its shape.
“The rest of the time I was in walking boots and wooly hats.”
Following their intimate wedding, the newlyweds evening took yet another spontaneous turn as they ended up at an after party with Steven’s favourite band, Dallahan.
Hannah is recently in remission from a chronic knee injury which saw her on crutches for five years, so said being able to dance with her new husband into the early hours of the morning was even more magical.
She added: “Steven was sat next to his favourite musician at 4am requesting all of his favourite tunes. They even played our first dance at like 4 in the morning, May You Never by John Martin.
“It was one of those mad plans that you hatch that just works out perfectly.
“Part of me felt guilty for not having our boys there or close family, but there was just something really different to the experience just having the two of us and a couple of friends.
“We wouldn’t have ended up dancing until 5am and partying with the band otherwise.
“We will still have a party in the woods next year though, and make up our own ceremony to celebrate with all our family and friends.”