A SCOTS woman has booked her dream wedding – 370 miles away at a venue that hasn’t been built yet.
Megan Crofts and her Florida-born fiance Eric Hewlett plan to marry at a new venue being built by the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh.
They are set to make their vows on May 23 – but the building has yet to be completed, with workmen still on-site.
To make matters worse, the venue won’t be ready until just days before the ceremony.
Miss Crofts, a former James Gillespie’s High pupil who also went to Glasgow University, booked the venue months ago despite never having had the chance to take a tour around it.
But the bride-to-be insisted she was confident everything would go to plan on the big day.
Miss Crofts, who now lives a six-and-a-half hour drive away in Bristol, met her fiance through a mutual friend.
She said: “It may seem a little risky to book a wedding in a venue that we haven’t yet seen and is so far from home, but the team at the venue have made everything so easy, so we know we are in excellent hands.
“Of course, some aspects of the planning have been difficult, for example figuring out flowers and themes was a little tricky because we haven’t seen the interior or any colour scheme.”
She added: “Living so far away has also been a little tricky but the team at the venue have been great at liasing with my parents.”
It won’t be the first time the family have celebrated at the Royal College of Surgeons.
Miss Crofts’ father, who worked as a surgeon at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, is a Fellow of the College of Surgeons.
She said: “A retirement party was held for my dad at the Royal College and it was such a stunning setting that I always had it in mind as a potential wedding venue.
“When we heard that the new venue was under construction, we asked the co-ordinators to show us the plans and after a few sneak peeks of the space during its renovation, we could really see the venue’s potential as the ideal setting for our wedding.”
The new conference and events venue is a three-floor former languages school on Hill Place in Scotland’s capital.
Scott Mitchell, the College’s commercial director, said: “We are thrilled to have a wedding already booked at the new venue, it is the perfect start for us and we’ll be doing everything we possibly can to make sure it gives the perfect start to Megan and Eric’s marriage.”
The Royal College of Surgeons is best known for its Playfair Building which dates back to 1832.
Other venues include the modern Quincentenary Building – created to mark the college’s 500th anniversary in 2005 – and the neighbouring King Khalid Building, formerly St Michael’s Church, which has been transformed into an 158-seated auditorium.
