Muddy couple get married in the mayhem of a pandemic

How rogueing a barley field in the rain led to marriage in the COVID mayhem for Scottish farmers.

Scottish farming couple Rachel and James, who met on Muddy Matches 4 years ago, have tied the knot in a rearranged, low key lockdown wedding at home on their family’s arable farm in Banff, Aberdeenshire.

The newlyweds, who admit the muddiest thing they do together on a daily basis is shovel grain bins and tend to the hens on their smallholding, saw initial plans for a ‘normal big day’ thrown into disarray by the pandemic, and endured several changes of date, before deciding to go ahead with a ‘COVID-19, micro’ wedding 3 months later.

The woodshed yard at the rural homestead played host to the ceremony whilst wedding photos were taken in the adjoining orchard and vegetable garden.

The muddy-inspired wedding may have been scaled back a little due to the current uncertain times but the couple are delighted to be the latest Muddy Mr & Mrs.

“It turned out for the best” Rachel tells us. “Our micro wedding was laid back, relaxed, fun and intimate; and we get to do it all again for our reception next year. We celebrated with a couple of nights away in a nice hotel in Pitlochry, with the dogs.

“We’ll have a proper honeymoon and a big wedding party once COVID-19 is much less of a concern.”

Whilst insisting that lockdown had ‘been enjoyable as it’s totally normal for us to spend time our together at home’, Rachel admitted the bridal party found the run up to the wedding day less than stress-free with local restrictions up in the air and constantly evolving information on what, and who, was permitted.

“It was very stressful in the last month though, not knowing if the wedding would go ahead until just a few days before. We went from planning a normal big day to a micro wedding in 3 months.”

The pair first met in the spring of 2016, when Rachel, a self-confessed ‘seasoned online dater’ was giving Muddy Matches a first look and liked the cut of James’ jib (and his smile) in his profile.

“It was James’ first time trying out online dating and my first experience on Muddy Matches” Rachel adds. “Country living is a way of life, so Muddy Matches was a very good way to narrow the search to like-minded people a lot from the start.

“We both grew up on farms a few miles from each other but didn’t know each other. We each went to university and had careers in cities (me in Aberdeen, James in London), then both separately moved back into farming before we met.”

After a few weeks of building trust and confidence online and via messaging, they enjoyed a first date dinner in a cosy pub and have never looked back.

A year later, they moved in together and 2 years on, a proposal came Rachel’s way in July 2019.

“We were rogueing in a field of barley in the rain” Rachel recalls of the engagement.

It was the muddiest of settings for the two dating farmers: and one fitting of such this farmer love story.

Everyone at Muddy Matches country life dating wishes Rachel and James a happy life together as husband and wife.