Couple will marry in shopping centre (From Stourbridge News)

Couple will marry in shopping centre

1:00pm Saturday 4th July 2009

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WHEN Laura MacDonnell dreamed about getting married she hoped to share the memorable occasion with hundreds of people.

But getting married in the middle of a shopping centre was not quite what the Worcester mum-of-one had in mind.

Miss MacDonnell and her boyfriend Euan Crawford are now set to become the first UK couple to get married in a shopping mall when they tie the knott in Scotland today.

The bizarre event comes as the result of winning a £12,000 newspaper competition which also includes a honeymoon in Turkey and a hotel reception and meal for 120 guests.

Miss MacDonnell, formerly of St Stephen’s Street, Barbourne, said she took some convincing before agreeing to the unusual ceremony. She said: “It did take a bit of arm-twisting for me to agree to it but it has all worked out really well. We are both really excited. It is going to be a great day.

“People will be out and about doing their shopping and I will be getting married in the middle of it! But we are not traditional people so don’t mind at all.”

The 28-year-old said she was especially shocked when husband-to-be Mr Crawford, 26, broke the news about the wedding as they hadn’t even got engaged.

The former Alice Ottley pupil said: “He told me he had won a competition to get married which was a bit of a shock. Then he told me it was going to be in a shopping centre and at first I thought it was a joke.

“The shopping centre have sorted everything out and arranged the honeymoon which has been brilliant. They have done all the stressing and running around while I have been relaxing!”

The couple, who have an 11-month-old daughter called Elsie, met while working on a cruise ship five years ago.

They then bought a boat of their own and travelled around the world before moving to Paisley, near Glasgow, to be close to Mr Crawford’s family.

More than 120 guests will attend the service at the Kingdom Shopping Centre, in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, including dozens of Miss MacDonnell’s family and friends from Worcester.

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