When Thomas Mackintosh and his fiancée, Paige, spotted an opportunity to get married in a £100 ceremony along with 99 other couples they jumped at the chance.
Yes, there was the incentive of getting wed at Old Marylebone Town Hall in London, an iconic venue in the heart of London which is celebrating its 100 year anniversary.
But the main reason was to save some cash on the nuptials to fund Tartan Army trips.
Tom, 31, and Paige, 27 – who are both mad football fans – married at the historic venue after Paige spotted a post on social media earlier this year offering 100 couples the chance to wed between 8am until 10.30pm on October 1.
She messaged her partner saying: “Hi. Do you want to get married for £100. Then we can spend more money on football trips. Lol.”
Her partner excitedly replied: “Go for it!!”
Paige told The Press and Journal: “Like many women, I’d always dreamed about my wedding day—the venue, the dress, and, of course, the partner.
“But when I met Tom, I knew that marrying him, no matter the place or time would make it the best day of my life.
“Like many football fans, saving up for the Germany trip (and a house) was our priority, which meant cutting costs elsewhere.
“A £100 wedding ceremony seemed like a great place to start.”
Dream £100 wedding for football-loving couple
Heading to the venue on the tube, the happy couple and their guests were greeted by onlookers.
Former Harlaw Academy pupil Tom said: “We all bundled in on the tube with our wedding attires on.
“Everyone was being really kind and just very loving towards us.
“We even received a few compliments in Italian from some tourists.
“Our photographer has got some brilliant photos of Londoners in the middle of a wedding party often looking completely bemused.”
Tom, a BBC journalist, and Paige, a PR manager, were fully aware the ceremony would be short and swift.
“Each slot was around 15 minutes and if you arrived early you were taken early to help them out,” Tom added.
“We were doing so many interviews outside that our guests had to wait outside on our confetti shots, but I suppose that’s the nature of something like this.
“After that, we headed to a pub in Greenwich to carry on the celebrations.”
There was even a little reminder of home for Aberdeen-born Tom throughout the proceedings.
“It was raining so a dreich day, but nothing I’m not used to in Aberdeen,” he said.
“In a way we actually quite liked it – we adapted, and everyone was carrying brollies.
“There’s absolutely nothing that we regret about the way that we did it, we’re still laughing even now.”
Newly-wed couple save cash to spend on matches
Paige, originally from Cheltenham, could not have cared less about football before meeting Tom.
“Who would’ve thought an English woman like me would end up so dedicated to supporting the Scotland National Team?” she said.
“My English father is still fuming about it.”
The couple have received lots of congratulatory messages from people they’ve met on their travels supporting Tom’s home team.
“Many of the Tartan Army have sent their well wishes,” he said.
“Someone has even put a bottle of champagne behind a bar for us.”
They will be coming up to Aberdeen in the next couple of weeks for the Dundee United game.
“This will be Paige’s first time at Pittodrie,” said Tom.
“I told her that she was very lucky that the weddings already happened because I could be close to marrying Jimmy Thelin!”
Honeymoon trips to watch Scotland play in Poland and Croatia were a no-brainer for the pair.
Paige said: “’And where’s the honeymoon?’ people ask.
‘The Nations League,’ we reply. Our friends and family shake their heads, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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