Meet our Supporters – Sarah and Gordon
Meet our Supporters – Sarah and Gordon
Sarah and Gordon recently got married and marked the occasion by raising funds for Scottish Mountain Rescue. They tell us more about how they met, their wedding and why they chose to support Scottish Mountain Rescue.
We first met in September 2014 when we were both at uni. Gordon at GCU studying Cyber security and networks and Sarah at Strathclyde studying pharmacy but worked at weekends in the Western House Hotel in Ayr – who knew love could be found through making small talk whilst polishing cutlery haha! Throughout the years we have developed a love for the outdoors and adventure together with travel across Scotland and beyond, paddling across lochs or hiking mountains.
We got married 6th May 2023, 8 years after starting seeing each other. 8 years of getting each other through uni, city breaks across Europe, travelled NZ and Australia together, hiked many a mountain and made a lot of memories along the way! We got engaged 28th January 2022 on a getaway in Scotland near Crieff while overlooking mountains and lochs. There would have been no better location to sum us up more! We got married at Venachar Lochside, keeping with the mountain and Loch theme. On one of our first visits to the venue we discovered Ben Venue sat facing it – we knew then:
1. it was fate we had to have this venue.
2. We had to climb it before our big day.
3. It was the perfect setting for our special day!
We continued the wedding celebrations on day 2 with a BBQ with our guests and we began married life paddling across the loch surrounded by our nearest and dearest!
Having worked at many weddings in the hotel over the years at uni we learnt that many favors were left behind by guests and ended up binned at the end of the night. My parents supported a charity close to their hearts at their wedding and it only made sense to us to put the money to good use and support SMR at ours!
We choose Scottish Mountain Rescue because unfortunately, we had to make a call to a Scottish Mountain Rescue Team in 2021 when Gordon had a misfooting when at the Devils pulpit, The team responded so quickly and immediately got to work and essentially saved Gordons life – so without SMR, there would have been no wedding! We had heard of mountain rescue but didn’t realise till this day that they were volunteer run. It hit home when they said they thought they were coming to a fatality and we knew then that we needed to give back somehow.
Some guests knew previously about Gordons need for SMR but he decided to address it briefly in his grooms speech with great thanks to the team and explanation on why we were choosing SMR. Many of our guests commented on the lovely gesture and loved that it also tied in with our outdoorsy theme for our wedding.
Our venue and suppliers were exceptional and the wedding weekend went so smoothly. It was absolutely perfect and everything we dreamt of! It had rained a few days before and even the morning of but just as I arrived to the venue, the sun came out and we were able to get married outdoors with a beautiful backdrop! We had a very personal humanist ceremony which really captured us as a couple and our guests are still commenting now on how special the weekend was – I don’t think I stopped smiling the entire time! Post ceremony, we took some time together outdoors taking it all in and it really is such a lovely memory! We ate delicious food, had a gorgeous cake made by my mum, ceilidhed and danced the night away surrounded by our favourite people! Waking up Sunday morning as husband and wife, getting on the loch on our paddle board and kayaks and reminiscing of the day was extremely beautiful!
You can find more information about Scottish Mountain Rescue Wedding Favours on our website: Wedding Favours – Scottish Mountain Rescue