The proposal survived Covid, a cancelled musical, Chicago and The Mousetrap. Then came the candles.

Their story

January 2019. Hazel was working in Brighton and had been single for three years. Matt was living near Hove station, working as a paraplanner. Both of them were thoroughly sick of online dating, and Matt was on the verge of giving up. Then they both swiped right on Hinge. Hazel liked the look of this sporty, marathon-running man and was, in her words, ready to meet someone normal. Matt always replied late, because he was busy making the most of his independence: cinema, football, gigs.

They met in Temple Bar in Hove, and it went so well that Hazel invited Matt to Paris. Hazel was definitely keen: she had decided this cute, tall, Hugh Grant-type was worth getting to know. Matt thought the Paris invitation was a bit crazy, but the bubbly person who had made him laugh all night had him intrigued. Date two was a few drinks in town with a limping Matt, who had managed to get himself injured at football.

Then came the New Forest. Hazel has many strengths, and cycling may not be one of them: she fell off her bike and somehow landed in a bar window. A horse started following them after they passed a field, and every time they stopped, so did the horse. Back home, Matt had to win over Hazel's cats, Smokey and Chivers. Smokey took some convincing and is now Matt's lap cat.

They moved in together just before the world shut down in March 2020 and spent lockdown watching Disney and eating toasties. Somewhere in there Hazel was coerced into becoming a Southampton supporter, which rules out ever moving to Portsmouth. Matt's love of Radiohead, on the other hand, remains a red line.

The proposal, eventually

Matt bought the ring in November 2021 and planned to propose after Moulin Rouge. The cast got Covid, the show was off, and they went to see The Mousetrap instead, which gives off no engagement vibes whatsoever. Next plan: a trip to New York and Matt's favourite city, Chicago. On the Chicago leg Matt got ill, then Hazel did, and the ring went back in the drawer for a few more months.

In July 2022 they went to a Hans Zimmer concert, then out for dinner, then home. Hazel walked into the living room and something looked different: petals and candles everywhere. It took her a moment to see that the candles on the coffee table spelled out "Marry me". There was a lot of laughing, and she said yes.

The ceremony

Matt's mum played the piano as Hazel came in with her bridesmaids, and Matt's brother Andy stood up front with us as best man and keeper of the rings. The couple asked for an unplugged ceremony, with a promise that everyone could come up for a wee photo once the Marriage Schedule was signed.

I told their story, then the secrets. I'd asked each of them for three things they love about the other and one wee thing that could do with some work. Hazel's favourite: Matt used to have a strict no-cats-on-the-couch rule, and these days he spends his nights curled up at the edge of the bed because there's a cat in his space. Her one complaint: he doesn't see mess. Matt's: she gets wound up when she's driving, although, he admitted, so does he.

We held a moment of silence before the vows, the room gave me a loud "We do!", and Andy brought up the rings. Matt's mum played again while they signed, and a piper played them back out.

Two years on, I get to work with her

When I married them, Hazel and Matt had just moved to Scotland and were starting the hunt for new jobs. Hazel found hers. She works at Pollokshields Burgh Hall now, and she has set up Hazel's Wedding Coordination, looking after the day for couples at venues without an in-house wedding team. In September 2026 I walked into the Burgh Hall to take Nadia and Rob's wedding and there she was, running the show. Two years ago I was marrying her. Now I get to work with her, and there aren't many parts of this job I enjoy more than that.

Marrying at the Mackintosh Church yourself?

Queen's Cross is on Garscube Road in Maryhill, and it's a room with real character: dark timber, a big barrel-vaulted roof, deep windows and Mackintosh's details everywhere you look, down to the chair behind the signing table. The oak signing table sits at the front and photographs beautifully, so it's worth inviting guests up for a wee photo after the signing, the way Hazel and Matt did. If there's a musician in the family, a live pianist suits this room far better than a speaker. And if you want something just as characterful for getting there, a vintage bus makes a grand entrance.

I live in Kelvinbridge, ten minutes away, and couples booking me for Glasgow weddings pay no travel fee. My Glasgow page covers the rest of the city, and if you want to know how the day actually runs, from the secrets to the "We do!", read what happens at a humanist wedding. Every ceremony I write is built from scratch and legally binding anywhere in Scotland.