It was a relationship based on rubbish – but it is much improved now.
Fiona Campbell-Smith, 57, and Thomas Ferris, 53, met during a voluntary beach clean-up being run by Oban-based charity Hope Kitchen last February.
And last night, they tied the knot on the premises of the charity that brought them together.
Mr Ferris has been a member of the charity for a year and a half, with Ms Campbell-Smith joining last February.
The newlyweds originally became close after attending Ms Campbell-Smith’s daughter’s wedding together.
Ms Campbell-Smith said: “After a weeks of beach cleaning I put up a brass neck and waited till he was on his own to ask him to chaperone me to my daughter’s wedding. He was really taken a back but he said let me think about it. I wanted to approach him and I was pleased I had the confidence to ask him.
“We didn’t speak for weeks I began to wish I hadn’t done it and a few weeks later he asked to meet up at McCraig’s Tower. He came with the intention of not going with me, but he changed his mind.
“Thomas has only ever seen me in wellies and a litter picker in my hand. When he saw me in my dress, that changed everything. Thomas moved in at the end of April and he proposed in July.”
To mark that moment, Ms Campbell-Smith wore the same dress to get married last night, during their wedding at Hope Kitchen’s new premises, named New Hope.
She explained why the pair decided to wed at the charity’s new home.
She added: “It just seemed the right place to be at Hope, they have had a christening and a funeral wake but this is their first wedding. It’s new to them and it’s lovely.”
Lorriaine MacCormick at Hope Kitchen said: “I was involved when they came to Hope as volunteers. We are really delighted that they are getting married. It’s another wee bit of the magic story of Hope Kitchen, that two volunteers met and fell in love and are getting married.
“We have never had a wedding before. We are a Christian support charity and Christianity is all about love and what better way to celebrate love than with a wedding?”
