Scottish

A Scottish wedding can be a "white wedding" with bagpipes and kilts. It also can be a theme wedding with many of customs from the Old Country adapted for the occasion. See the links page for ideas.

At my own wedding we mixed Scottish traditions with the more usual American wedding customs. My piper lead the processional, which included our minister, our mothers (escorted by my young nephews in their own kilts), as well as the usual wedding party members.

We had a unity candle decorated with heather and a ring exchange. Many people opt for the Celtic handfasting (tying the bride and groom's hands together with a decorative cord) instead of or in addition to the ring exchange.

Many couples "sash" the bride after the vows. At this time in the ceremony the groom presents his bride with a sash made out of his clan's tartan as a "welcome to the clan" gesture. (Or sometimes it's the other way around if the bride is Scottish and her groom is not). I'm a member of the Pacific Northwest Clan Gregor Society so I chose to wear my own tartan while my husband wore his dress McDonald tartan kilt. We decided we liked the idea behind the sashing custom and instead exchanged sprigs of our clan plant badges, which had been held by my sister (one of my bridesmaids) and his father (one of his groomsmen).

We had the usual toasts and cake cutting. We had a cake decorated with Celtic knots and thistles which we cut with a borrowed Piper's Dirk.

Our dinner included Shepherd's Pie, Bangers and Mash and other English/Scottish fare.

We invited a local Scottish Country Dance group to our reception where they taught us the dances. They even choreographed a new dance for a demonstration that was named "When MacGregor Meets MacDonald" just for us. Sure beats a boring DJ spinning '80s hits!

We decided to dispense with the usual bouquet and garter toss rituals. Instead I presented my bouquet to the lady that had been married the longest as a "here's to marriage!" gesture. She had been married an amazing 69 years.

We also replaced the garter toss with a "Bonnie Knees" contest. Three female members of the audience were called up to judge. All men in kilts, guests as well as wedding party, were lined up and one by one each had a chance to present his knees however he chose. Then the judges decided and our piper presented the prize to our winner.