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Journalism of Courage
LONDON, DEC 10: Pop superstar Madonna and her film director boyfriend, Guy Ritchie, are to write their own wedding vows for Britain’s show-business marriage of the year.
Church of Scotland vicar Susan Brown, dubbed `Holy Spice’ for her modern approach to religion, revealed that she has given the couple a free hand on their vows.
Brown, who is to conduct the marriage just three days before Christmas in the Scottish Highlands town of Dornoch, said, “Madonna and Guy are clearly very much in love.”
“They have chosen to make their own vows and I’m quite happy with that as long as what they want is in reason,” she told Saturday’s Times newspaper.
Brown, who rollerskates down the aisle in children’s services at Dornoch Cathedral to keep their attention, said of the happy couple, “They are now taking time to consider what they want to say and how they want to say it.”
Madonna and Ritchie are to marry in the full glare of media publicity, with television crews from around the world descending on Dornoch for the big day.
Another pair of more retiring lovers planning a secret Scottish wedding had their plans blown apart when they ended up on the same “intended marriage” list as Madonna.
Jane Tooze and Andrew Davies were planning a quiet Christmas Eve wedding at romantic Skibo Castle and then break the news afterwards to friends and families.
But the banns announcing their marriage were flashed in newsphotographs around the world when they shared the same noticeboard with Madonna at the Dornoch registrar’s office.
Jane Tooze told Saturday’s Sun tabloid, “It now looks like we may have to make a few phone calls to family and friends beforehand if they see our names on the banns. We certainly didn’t — and don’t — want publicity.”
Tourist chiefs believe Madonna’s celebrity-studded wedding could give Scotland as big a tourist boost as Mel Gibson’s Braveheart film.
Sutherland Economic Development Officer Gordon Todd said, “The Madonna factor will hopefully emulate what Rob Roy (starring Liam Neeson) and Mel Gibson did for Stirling and the Braveheart country.
“Over the next two or three weeks the spin-off benefits will hopefully be enormous,” he added.
Not everyone in Dornoch is overjoyed by the show-business invasion.
As the media fanned out across Dornoch High Street for `voxpop’ comments from the bemused locals, one man said, “I’m still waiting for someone to tell me who Madonna is. I thought it was a painting by Leonardo da Vinci.”
