By Cara Sulieman
TWO primary school children are celebrating – after getting married in a traditional church wedding.
The bride and groom – both aged seven – took their vows in front of friends and family in Dunfermline before returning to class.
The primary three pupils, dressed in traditional white dress and kilt, looked into each other’s eyes as the reverend blessed their marriage.
But the children weren’t getting hitched for real – the ceremony was simply part of a school activity to let the kids experience a traditional Christian wedding.
Sophie Mcbride and Calum McMeekin were married in front of their 23 classmates and members of all the children’s families.
Reverend Andrew J Philip oversaw the service in St Leonard’s Parish Church before the class returned to school for the reception.
There were even speeches given by the best man, father-of the bride, and the groom.
The big day was organised by teacher Wendy Anthony who came up with the idea whilst teaching the children about special days.
She said: “We had been talking a lot in class about wedding ceremonies from different religions including Sikh and Hindi. When we talked about Christian weddings I discovered a lot of the children had never been to one.
“They started asking what happened during the ceremony so I suggested we had our own.”
The class then threw themselves into preparations for the big day and voted for who should take on the main roles of the wedding party.
Invitations were sent, an order of service was prepared, and dresses and kilts were borrowed in a week-long operation not dissimilar to the planning of a real wedding.
The children quickly dismissed the idea of holding the ceremony in the school hall and asked if it could be done in a church.
It was then up to Wendy to make their dream wedding a reality – something that caused quite a bit of a confusion to begin with.
She explained: “I went to speak to the minister about the possibility of having the wedding in the church. At first he thought I was talking about my own wedding. Once I explained it to him he was really helpful and was great with the kids on the day.
“He talked them through the ceremony and explained each part to them. He even put his full robes on.
“The children all enjoyed the big day despite their suggestion of a honeymoon trip falling through.”
