IT may not have had the global audiences tuning in as the Royal wedding did last month, but for fans of the Game of Thrones HBO series the marriage ceremony that took place in Aberdeenshire on Saturday was their wedding of the year.

For it featured two of the stars of the fantasy series, Rose Leslie and Kit Harington, who fell in love in 2012 while acting as lovers on the show.

While Leslie’s character Ygritte was killed off, Harington as Jon Snow is still in the hugely popular series – though next season is the last.

The wedding took place at Kirkton of Rayne Church beside Wardhill Castle near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. The Leslie family have owned the castle – her father is Sebastian, the clan chief – for 900 years, and the current Laird, the 16th of Wardhill, is William, Rose’s brother.

The publicity surrounding the wedding could lead to a boost for tourism to this part of Scotland and certainly will do no harm to the fortunes of Wardhill Castle, as it is now a wedding venue after having had several makeovers in nine centuries – it used to be known as Warthill Castle, for example.

The chance to be married or even just to stay in the place where Jon Snow married Ygritte – sorry, where Kit Harington married Rose Leslie – will surely prove irresistible to fans of the series, some of whom arrived in Aberdeenshire to try to catch a glimpse of their favourites.

They were not disappointed: actors Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) showed up, as did Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) and Richard Madden (Robb Stark), who was resplendent in a kilt.

Producers had tried to finalise most of the filming involving the main cast in time for the wedding.

Fans of Game of Thrones are often obsessive about the series and they took to social media to exclaim their delight at the wedding: “Forget Meghan and Harry here’s the King and Queen of the North!”

One of them asked: “Why isn’t Kit Harington and Rose Leslie’s wedding being televised, that’s the royal wedding I wanna see.”

Another said: “Not to be dramatic but I am screaming and crying at photos of Kit Harington and Rose Leslie’s wedding.”

A fellow fan tweeted: “I’m not a big celebrity wedding guy, but as we millenials say, this is EVERYTHING.”

One used words from the series: “You’re mine. Mine, as I’m yours.”

Another made reference to the divine in the series: “This is the true Royal Wedding. May The Old Gods and The New be with you.”

Game of Thrones is famous, or infamous, for killing off main characters, and in one notorious scene, the Red Wedding, hundreds of soldiers and leading members of the Stark family are brutally murdered.

As one fan said on Twitter: “Am I the only person nervous about the Rose Leslie – Kit Harrington after party? These weddings do not end well you guys.”

Actor Isaac Hempstead Wright, who plays Bran Stark, joined in the fun, tweeting: Best of luck to Kit Harington & Rose Leslie tying the knot today. May the only ‘red’ thing about this wedding be her hair.”

There’s a tenuous link in the name of Rayne Church too. The soundtrack to the Red Wedding is The Rains of Castamere – named for the brutal massacre of House Reyne.

Back on planet Earth and in real life, the Harington-Leslie wedding ended very happily with guests dancing into the night.

Sebastian Leslie is the councillor for West Garioch in Aberdeenshire. He was recently suspended by the Conservatives over council tax difficulties, and now sits as an independent. He took care to emphasise the importance of the event for the local area.

Speaking before the wedding, he said: “We are absolutely thrilled for Kit and Rose to be marrying today. It’s an absolutely lovely day for us.

“It’s a great day for Aberdeenshire. We are using local caterers, local lighting, local flowers.”