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The InterContinental Edinburgh The George hotel launched the Latent Love campaign last month and encouraged couples who had held their weddings at the venue to share their memories of the happiest days of their lives.
More than 70 couples entered the competition, which put them in the running to have one of their wedding photographs turned into a specially commissioned drawing by The Edinburgh Sketcher Mark Kirkman.
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Megan and Jamie Maxwell have their first dance under their favorite chandelier
Ten lucky couples have now been crowned winners and will become proud owners of the hand-drawn mementos.
The main winners were Kirkliston couple Megan Maxwell and her husband Jamie, who were married at the hotel, which has hosted more than 4,000 weddings, in autumn 2019.
Megan said she had fallen in love with the hanging chandelier in the hotel’s Kings Hall, under which the couple had their first dance.
“We looked at many venues and I kept coming back to the Kings Hall and how beautiful the big chandelier was,” she said.
Katie and Graham’s cake cutting moment has been captured by The Edinburgh Sketcher
Katie and Graham’s cake cutting moment has been captured by The Edinburgh Sketcher“All I thought of and spoke about was the chandelier. My elderly Grandma said ‘for goodness sake you’re not marrying a chandelier’ but the truth is that choosing the right venue is a love story in itself.
“You need to fall in love with it. We did and we had the best day.”
Simon and Jamie Le Grice, who are originally from Reading and Edinburgh respectively, were announced as runners up after they shared a piece of touching advice for those about to walk down the aisle.
“Plan for a lifetime together, not just the wedding day,” they said. “However special the day may be.”
Simon & Jamie Le Grice were one of the winning couples
Another winning couple, Chloe and Bruce McIntyre, shared memories of the day they tied the knot in Bruce’s home city in February 2019.
The couple, who now live in Derby where Chloe hails from, added that their best advice for couples is “to never go to bed angry at each other, always make up and say I love you.”
Katie and Graham were so determined to get married at The George in 2017 that they traveled thousands of miles from Katie’s hometown in Canada to get married in Graham’s native city.
“We had the most perfect day and were lucky enough to have family from Scotland and Canada join us to celebrate,” they said.
“It was such a special occasion to have both our families together again at once, and with the distance it will likely not happen again.”
They added that they were greeted in true Edinburgh fashion when they arrived in their wedding car, with strangers sitting outside having started clapping and congratulating the couple.
“Our wedding planner Katherine met us at the entrance with a celebratory glass of champagne and it was the perfect start to the rest of the evening,” they said.
Other couples to win sketches included Anita and John Bruce, from Edinburgh, and Robyn and John McLaren, from Broxburn in West Lothian.
Kieran Quinn, general manager at InterContinental Edinburgh The George, said: “It has been brilliant to hear the memories created with us and to celebrate their attachment with the hotel.
“Mark has worked with us previously, and so it was to our delight that he accepted our invitation to celebrate our latent love.”
Mark, The Edinburgh Sketcher, added: “I loved this idea and immediately wanted to be a part of recreating these memories for the lucky happy couples.
“The George is a favorite of mine, and it was a delight to create artwork from past weddings, seeing how the place and fashions changed over the years.”
