Lindsey & Stuart’s Humanist Wedding at Stobo Kirk

Yes – you read that correctly. Stobo Kirk is still a working church, so it was very kind of the minister not only to allow a humanist ceremony to take place there, but also to allow Lindsey and Stuart’s dog Bobby to be a part of the proceedings!

Dogs are such a huge part of so many couples’ lives. Often I find myself having to explain their absence from the ceremony, usually on the grounds that they’d be too excited to behave themselves, but Bobby comported himself with great dignity on the day, and it was very touching to see how much his presence meant to Stuart and Lindsey.

They first got in touch with me in April of last year, not long before their wedding in August. What made it very special was that I remembered Lindsey’s face when she sent me their photograph because we’d met many years before in Caffè Nero in Stockbridge, where she was the manager and Mrs M and I often stopped in for coffee. 

It turned out that not only had I married their friends Connor & Lorna but that it was at their wedding she and Stuart decided they wanted me to marry them too. When Lindsey got in touch, she said that although they’d been together for 11 years, they now wanted to get married as soon as they possibly could, so it was only four months later that we were all reunited at Stobo!

Lindsey and Stuart’s story began in an accounts tutorial at Queen Margaret University where they had a heated debate about serial entrepreneur and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and it wasn’t until a Business Research Methods tutorial many weeks later that Stuart snuck back into Lindsey’s good books by letting her share his notes. 

He opened her mind to the music of Supergrass and Gaz Coombes while she introduced him to the world of musicals, dragging him along to Dirty Dancing, The Bodyguard and the first half of Lord of the Dance…

In the course of their relationship, they both made big career changes. Stuart helped support Lindsey through her second university degree to become a midwife, while she supported him in becoming a qualified teacher. 

They chose to keep their vows a secret until the day,

and they ended with a handfasting using their family tartans.

It was a very moving and powerfully moving ceremony, so I was delighted when Lindsey got in touch afterwards and sent me these great photos by Eilidh Johnstone

We can’t thank you enough, for marrying us and providing us ‘lovework’ to help us with our ‘script’, it made it even more special and personal. It was lovely to share with our friends and family about how Stuart and I meet and formed our relationship before choosing to get married. 

Stuart and I are both from divorced parents, so early in our relationship, we were both open about having no real desire to get married as we watched our own parents struggle with marriage. As we thought about starting our own family, we want our children to have positive thoughts about marriage and hope they can see how much love and happiness, Stuart and I bring to each other as a married couple. 

In hindsight, we love being husband and wife, and actually wish we didn’t wait almost 12 years to make it happen! 

We are very happy for you to share our story. It is lovely to think that the story of our journey to marriage might inspire another couple to make theirs. 

We have been back to Stobo Kirk numerous times since our wedding. We feel so lucky that the church gave us permission to have our dream wedding with a humanist in such an old, historic and beautiful building. Not forgetting them also allowing Bobby to be a feature in the day. 

We love Eilidh’s photos of him from the ceremony, although my favourite is one that a friend took, where he is lying in front of the altar with his toy as we sign the marriage certificate. 

He was a very well behaved boy, Lindsey! Mind you, he was the unofficial Best Man, so he’d have known to be on his best behaviour…

To be honest, I’m surprised that more people don’t make their dogs part of their wedding.

Next time someone mentions that they’re thinking about it, I’ll definitely be pointing them towards your story to inspire them!

Thank you so much again for choosing to work with me, for sharing your story and of course thank you to Eilidh for her wonderful photos!

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