Gretna Green thousands of weddings. Today there are several wedding venues in and around Gretna Green, from former churches to purpose-built chapels. The services at all the venues are always performed over an iconic blacksmith's anvil. Gretna Green endures as one of the world's most popular wedding venues, and thousands of couples from around the world come to be married 'over the anvil' in Gretna Green. In common law, a "Gretna Green marriage" came to mean, in general, a marriage transacted in a jurisdiction that was not the residence of the parties being married, to avoid restrictions or procedures imposed by the
Gretna, Manitoba the flow of undeclared goods were smuggled over the border by early settlers and fur trappers. Soon after establishing the 49th parallel as the international border, Gretna became an important customs centre and border community for both the Canadian and American governments. Gretna's strategic geographic location raised the interest of the Canadian Pacific Railway which encouraged the creation of large grain elevator operations in the area. The Ogilvie Milling Company was one of the first and most prominent private companies in Gretna around the turn of the 20th century. It is believed company founder William Ogilvie, originally from Scotland, named