Scottish Independent Media

By Claire Elliot

WHEN shooting enthusiasts Lisa and Andy Illston tied the knot they took the meaning of a shotgun wedding to a whole new extreme.

The happy couple dressed in hunting gear and posed for their recent wedding snaps - each sporting a twin-barrel shotgun.
 

Their eight-year-old gundog, Duncan, was even ring bearer for the day. He carried the bands in pouches on a toy pheasant, clutched in his mouth.
 

Mr and Mrs Illston are both members of a gun club and he often beats for grouse, pheasant and partridge so they ditched the traditional white wedding dress and kilt for a big day that would truly represent them.
 

They even personalised their vows, promising to “laugh, cuddle and grope each other everyday”.
 

Mrs Illston, 36, of Lhanbryde, near Elgin, Moray, said: “The most important thing was the service and to marry as us and not me all dressed up in a fluffy dress and him in a kilt because we wouldn’t normally wear that.
 

“I don’t know if it’s an age thing or just feeling comfortable enough with someone that you don’t need to put on a mask, but it just felt totally normal.
 

“It was only afterwards that I thought: ‘I must be the least pampered bride ever.’ I didn’t even wear heels.”
 

It was such a relaxed occasion that just hours before the service, the couple travelled to Elgin for lunch at Jimmy Chung’s Chinese restaurant.
 

On their return, they quickly got changed into their outdoor clothes, before Mr Illston drove his wife-to-be, her 13-year-old son Ryan, and the dog, to the ceremony - in the family’s Skoda.
 

They were then married by a registrar under a beech tree in the grounds of a bed and breakfast two miles from their home.
 

There was nothing conventional about the best man either, as Mr Illston had two. He could not choose between pals Paul Newlands and Dom Buxton.
 

Mrs Illston, who was given away by her son, said: “People have asked us if we would have done it differently if we had the money.
 

“But even if we had millions we wouldn’t have changed a thing. It was just how we wanted it to be.”
 

The couple have both been married before and Mrs Illston admitted that she wore a traditional white dress the first time around.
 

But her new husband., 39, said: “We just wanted our wedding to be enjoyable and not formal so the dress code was that there was no dress code.”
 

The couple first met after her doctor suggested she get an electric blanket to help soothe pains in her back, as she sufferers from degenerative disc disease.
 

He was working as a fire safety officer at Elgin Fire Station when she took advantage of the station’s offer of a free safety check on her blanket.
 

While she was there she entered a raffle and won. Her prize was later delivered to her door by Mr Illston.

They got chatting and less than two years later they were engaged. It took just nine eight weeks for them to organise the wedding.
 

In his vows Mr Illston, made reference to their first meeting, saying: “When the electric blanket needs checked, I will do it!”