Almost two years after winning an all-inclusive wedding in a competition, two NHS nurses have finally celebrated their marriage at the award-winning Eskmills Venue.

Sarah Hunter and Greg Turner were due to get married on 12th February 2021, and won their dream wedding back in May 2020, but their plans were put on hold by the global pandemic.

On Friday, the couple, who both work at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, were at long last able to tie the knot at Eskmills Venue along with their 121 guests.

The wedding competition was launched as a thank you to NHS workers, and included a prize wedding package worth around £12,000 with exclusive use of Eskmills Venue, a converted historic riverside mill building in Musselburgh.

The package included drinks, canapés, a three-course wedding meal, a live band The Klones, and other services provided by local suppliers: flowers by Liberty Blooms, kilt hire from 8 Yards, classic wedding car from Edinburgh Classic Wedding Cars, a wedding dress from Christina Rae, photography by Tony Marsh Photography, videography by Craig Heaslip Film & Photography, pipers from GD bagpiping, stationery by 2Flux Stationary Studio, gin from Holyrood Distillery and a wedding cake from Truly Scrumptious.

Celebrant Jane Patmore of Your Service in Scotland conducted the service, helping to deliver a tailor-made ceremony for the young couple.

Sarah, a nurse who cares for premature babies in the neonatal unit, and Greg, who cares for very poorly patients in the acute medical unit have been together for nine years. The nurses got engaged in Venice in 2019, and have been working in the Royal throughout the pandemic. 

Sarah, who is expecting a baby in May, said: “It’s been a very long wait it has absolutely been worth it! We couldn’t have dreamt of a better way to celebrate than in such a beautiful location with our family and friends, plus the amazing food and drinks and all the wonderful things provided by so many kind local businesses. The planning of the wedding was made easy by Eskmills’ expertise, and we worked together to create the wedding that we envisioned when we got engaged all the way back in 2019. We couldn’t be happier.” 

Libby Harrison, Director of Client Services at Eskmills Venue, added: “We were so pleased to finally host Sarah and Greg’s wedding. It’s been a long time coming but it was wonderful to see them enjoy their big day together with their friends and family in one of our most popular wedding venues. The competition was originally launched to say thank you to amazing NHS frontline staff who are doing such incredible and selfless work during the Covid-19 pandemic and Sarah and Greg are a great example of that. We wish them all the very best in their married life together.” 

PHOTO Tony Marsh Photography
Website | + posts

Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.