Two Scots weddings and a funeral.

[Jock Scot]

Ok, your roving kilted fashion reporter has had the good fortune to have been to two weddings in Scotland, the first in Edinburgh and one in the Highlands and sadly a Highland funeral too. I know that some of you are interested in what was worn for the occasions. Well the Edinburgh wedding was a first for us, a Jewish one, and my wife and I were looking forward to it. Sadly, due to circumstances beyond our control, we missed the wedding service, but caught up with proceedings at the bride's father's house, where we and the immediate wedding party of 16 had lunch. I was the only kilted one there,dressed in a black barathea,silver buttoned Argyll,waistcoat and regimental tie. The rest of the males were attired in morning coats. A charming affair with superbly cooked lamb as the main course . After the meal the men retreated only to return clad in kilts! Even the guests from Israel were wearing the kilt ready for the evening event.The locals were dressed in their own tartan with Prince Charlie's and waistcoats and black ties and no white hose. The guests who had hired their attire looked like a band of raw recruits! To be fair the hire companies had fitted them out well with dress Gordon as the tartan and white hose. We "experts" spent a hilarious half an hour sorting out kilt length,belts,waist coats,and kilt pins before our guests passed muster. We all then went to the evening event with some 700 guests. At a guess ,at least half the men were dressed in the kilt,black tie and PC.The rest were dressed in Dinner suits(tux) or a dark suit(rarely).The impression I had, was that most of the kilt attire was hired and sadly most did not know how to wear the kilt. "Our recruits" looked fine and they thanked us for getting them sorted out with their kit and one has even ordered a kilt and attire, since the wedding, to take back to Israel. As I had been wearing my "daywear" since 0930 and had no idea about the evening bash I was still quite happy to remain clad as I was. The second wedding was a true Highland affair with most of the men wearing their own tartans and tweed Argylls and polished brogues which may or may not have matched the rest of their leather wear. A piper led the wedding procession from the kirk to the hotel where we had a wee dram and a small buffet and that was that. The funeral was much the same as the highland wedding! Possibly more dark suits than kilts though. As always,for the kilted, the tweed argyll was worn. The piper leading the coffin from the kirk to the graveside and picked friends and family on the ropes to lower the coffin into the ground.