The Wedding of Christy & Manny - Duns Castle - Scotland

Story _&_ Photographs

Christy & Manny’s Wedding Story

March 17, 2001

          “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even the woman next to me my future spouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

in hopes that St.Patricks Day and our wedding in Scotland would soon be there.

The family was all nestled and snug in their beds,

While visions of marriage and our life together danced in our heads.

Christy in her ‘kerchief’ and I in my cap, had wondered if I wear a kilt

For the wedding, will it need a flap?



                When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

            I sprang from the bed, tripped over the dog, and realized it didn’t matter.



            Because Steve & Yvonne would be there to help us on this day,

          And with that in mind - it was all OK.”

Actually that wasn’t really how it went….

It was over a nice bottle of wine on a cold January evening two years ago watching a John Wayne movie on the television – the Quiet Man. I remember speaking with Christy and discussing that I loved that movie and would like to go over to Ireland and be married in a quiet simple wedding just like the ‘DUKE’.

Well during the days to come we agreed that the best day for us to be married was on the day which we me – St.Patricks Day, and that 2001 would be the year. I had asked Christy to do all of the coordination for this – (the reason is that she could take pride in her accomplishment when it was all done).

Roughly 18 months before the wedding day the process began.

What we found out was that being married in Ireland was not an easy thing to do, and Scotland offered more of what we wanted with a marriage on the day we met, and a religious ceremony for our wedding.

By luck Christy got in contact with Steve and Yvonne Towle from the Scottish Wedding Consultants.

There was 9 months left to go before St.Patricks Day 2001 and we were feeling panicked. I thought that maybe we would have to postpone the wedding for another year in order to be married on March 17^th.

Initially Christy and Steve began emailing one another. Then one day Yvonne called our house and left a message on the answering machine. When I heard her voice, I heard a sweet Scottish accent and thought, “Wow this is really going to happen.”

Now it is 15 March 2001 and the time since it all began has flown by. (Those of you reading this will soon experience this too!).

It is in the morning in Scotland and we hailed a Scottish Taxi from the airport to the IBIS hotel by High Street. Tired from the flight we dragged our bags and ourselves up to the room and sleep for a couple of hours. When we woke up I told Christy that I wanted to get something to eat. Next to the hotel, which Yvonne had booked for us, were all types of interesting places to eat and do things. Somehow the very first business next to the hotel was a Scottish Pub called the Firkin (I believe a Firkin is the wooden barrel which beer comes in Scotland).

We met a bartender with purple hair who was into Elvis and the Stray Cats his name was Paul. From him we ordered fish and chips with a few pints of beer. Boy that sure tasted good that night after the long trip, which we had just traveled.

Yvonne picked us up the day before our wedding on the 16^th at 9:00am in the hotel lobby to take us to the registrar in the town where we would wed.

On the trip to Duns we saw beautiful countryside while Yvonne broke the ice while assuring us that all would turn out well. I remember seeing massive amounts of pheasants in the countryside on the way there. As we arrived into Duns the village was small and nice.

We walked into the registrar’s office I saw that on the front of the building was Christy’s and my name posted announcing to the village that we would wed on Saturday afternoon at the Duns Castle. I felt so proud when I saw that posting – can’t explain why I just remember the feeling.

The night before the wedding we stayed at a pretty Bed & Breakfast it wasn’t far from the castle. In the morning we woke and had a very a good breakfast – I even tried Haggis and didn’t mind it. At about 10:00am the chaos began :) All of our clothes needed pressing and our hosts helped out and made us feel like family. We left the Bed & Breakfast wanting to come back soon and see the new friends that we had just made.

It seemed as if there were 400 steps just going to the top where our rooms were located.

After one trip upstairs with the bags Lord Hay smiled at me and dropped the bag he was carrying said, “There that should do now you know which rooms are yours.” He then disappeared through one of the many hallways. So now I am left with 3 more trips up and down. “I could tell that the concern for the groom and what he was going to take part in 4 hours didn’t matter too much at this point to our wedding party”. So I carried everyone’s bags to their rooms from downstairs,

I was so out of breath - when I finished that I laid down on one of the beds to catch my breath. At that point in time my best man Nick walked in and said, “What are you sleeping? Get up lazy bones!”

I have often wondered if the wedding party thought that castles have elevators?

Now the time is approaching 2:00pm, and I have one hour to prepare before the wedding. I found one of the 7 bathrooms that were on the floor, which we were on, and got ready for the ceremony.

I remember thinking, “Boy this sure is a big bat tub”. Somewhat like a child feels while taking a bath with his toys because this one was about 7 feet long. But I knew that I wasn’t a child, due to my new shampoo - Mohawk - that I was wearing, and the song I was singing by the Clash,

“Should I stay or should I go? If you say that you are mine I'll be here 'til the end of time. So you got to let know. Should I stay or should I go?”

At 2:30pm, Nick and I are getting ready with our tuxedos. It had been a long time since I wore a tuxedo so I asked Nick to help me with the cummerbund. He joked that he might need a role of duct tape to secure it around me – guess he wasn’t used to a well conditioned ex-football player – Harley Davidson biker type body.

When I finished dressing I went down stairs from our rooms to where the wedding would take place. I met the piper proudly wearing his full ceremonial dress – his name was Iain. I asked him if there were any Leprechauns around that we could use as a ring bearer for the wedding. He told me that I wouldn’t find any Leprechauns in Scotland, that I might find a Pixie – but not to mention them.

I asked why? He said, “Because they will come, and then cause problems”. After that he said “Touch wood!” reached around and touched his dagger handle that was on his belt. He told me that Highlanders are a superstitious bunch, and touching wood will bring luck.


Pixies: pixie, also spelled PIXY, in the folklore of southwestern England/Scotland, tiny elflike spirit or mischievous fairy dressed in green who dances in the moonlight to the music of frogs and crickets. Its favorite pastimes are leading travelers astray and frightening young maidens. Pixies also delight in rapping on walls, blowing out candles, and playing in water.

At this point I began asking Ian what it was like when he was married as a young man. He said that he couldn’t remember because he was in a haze the day of his marriage. When he told me that – I felt as if I had been hexed. It was as if I had stepped back and was looking through a long hazy tunnel and smelled something burning. Later I found out that the bridesmaid had brought a curling iron from the United States and plugged it into a 220 volt European outlet and it got really hot and fried her do before the makeup and hair ladies arrived.

The next thing that I remember was the bagpipes playing, and Ian leading Christy in prettier than I had ever seen her before.

We took our positions then it all began and the minister gave a beautiful ceremony. I remember as he said, “As John and Paul said…” I thought to myself, “Oh yeah – Love, love me do. You know I love you, I’ll always be true. So please love me do, Whoa, love me do.”

This is one good minister – Yvonne has really outdone herself today! But unfortunately I was wrong he was quoting the apostles and not the Beatles !

Now comes the time to say our vows. Yvonne is in the corner filming this for us. I smile at her and then do my part. By now Christy is crying, and it is her turn to say her vows. Then I begin to well up with tear and let one go. But I know that I am on film so I stand tall and never loose my composure.

The ceremony is complete our wedding has been done greater than anything we could have ever asked for. Now Ian begins the pipes and marches us out and announces us as Christy and Manny Barriger with a Scottish blessing.

We are led out of the castle and our photographer begins shooting pictures. His wit was so engaging and wonderful that he had all of us laughing and smiling. Meanwhile Yvonne is still filming footage of us while we are having pictures shot.

After a long cold photo shoot Ian leads us back into the castle and the official toasts were give. Yvonne presented us with a Quaich and toasts are made with it.

Later in the evening dinner was wonderful. More pictures were taken by the photographer of us by the fireplace as we warmed up.

While sitting by the fireplace Christy told me how nice the ladies were who did the makeup and hair. They had wonderful stories to share with them about doing work for musicians such as De-Peche-Mode & Flock of Seagulls for ‘Pop up videos’. At that point in time I thanked my stars that the ladies didn’t decide on the 80’s music scene look for our wedding that day.

Christy and I went to bed early that night at about 10:00pm– you know how cold those old castles can be on your wedding night ;}!

Somewhere in the early hours of the morning at about 3:00am I heard footsteps on the floor above us that we weren’t allowed on. Lord Hayes had assured me that there weren’t any ghosts! But he did remember ones that he and his sister had created as children that stayed on the top floor.

I tried to wake Christy up so she could get out of bed and see what was there and chase it away, but it was just like the beginning of the story “Not a creature was stirring – not even my spouse”. So I finally got out of bed with my pillow for protection and looked about the room the footsteps vanished.

I went into the bathroom and looked out the window and saw the most beautiful evening sky with a fresh snow on the ground covering everything that was green this afternoon. I woke Christy up to come and see how pretty it was that night, and as we looked out of the window we saw a shooting star.

Now the wedding day is done, Scotland is in our hearts forever. The pictures we got are beautiful memories. The film that Yvonne made of our wedding is phenomenal. All we can say is thank you so much for that wedding of a lifetime that we will cherish forever. Additionally it was so nice that we have decided to renew our vows on our milestone anniversary, and this time I think I will wear a kilt!