Wedding Traditions/Customs

[John in Texas]

Hello brethren,
I am happy to let you all know that next April 23 I will be geting married to my wonderful lady.
It will be a Military ceremony at the Ft.Bliss chapel,but I and my best man & groomsman will be kilted. I will be wearing the full formal kilt, topped off with a Mess Dress jacket in place of the Prince Charlie.

I was hoping for some guidance as to what Scottish traditions etc I need to work into the ceremony. Any help would be great. Any words of wisdom Hamish?

Thanks all,
John
of clan MacKintosh

[David Woodington]

Congradulations!! .One I can think of is a quaich,
which is used to drink toasts in. It is in the shape of a bowl with handles usually decarated, a toast is made then you drink the wiskey in one shot without
sputtering,then you kiss the bottom of the Quaich.
you can find these on the web. The Scottish Lion has them and most places that deal with things Scottish should carry them. I wish you and your wife wonderfull future.



Dave

[Miah]

Please don't be offended,
but if it is anything Like a Marine wedding....
tell your wife to pad her undergarments.
in a traditonal Marine wedding the couple walk out of the chappel and through a gauntlet of Marines holding swords over the couples heads. As they pass the last Marine on the brides side he smacks the crap out of her on the rear with the flat side of the swords and tells her welcome to the "Corps" my wife had a rather smart bruise on her rear

[macwilkin]

My wife & incorporated a number of Scottish wedding traditions into our wedding; one that might be good is to have your parents present your bride with a sash in your tartan at some point in the ceremony to welcome her into your "clan". Also, a piper is a must to play either at the ceremony, reception or both! We were fortunate to have an entire all-girl pipe and drum corps from one of the local high schools play at our reception; they happened to be at the hotel for a class reunion, and one of my friends went and talked them into playing at our "Scottish reception"!

A decorated horseshoe used to be given to the couple as they left the church; I imagine you can find these available on web sites. Another custom is to have any children present gather on the steps of the church after the ceremony & throw coins to them; this is the "Scoor-Oot", or a bribe to let you out!

A Luckenbooth Brooch, traditionally given by young men in Scotland during the reign of Mary Queen of Scots to their bethrothed, might make a nice present.

See:

http://scottishtartans.org/wedding.html

and

http://www.luath.co.uk/acatalog/The_...ding_Book.html

I highly recommend both of these books over anything on the web -- very detailed and helpful.

Cheers and Congrats Aye!

T.

[GMan]

John,

Congratulations! April 23 is very important to me, for that is the day that my parents married. I wish you the happiest of life and longevity. It worked for my parents, they lasted 60 years before it ended with til death do us part.

I like the idea of incorporating the Celtic into your ceremony, and from what the others have stated, and what you two decide, it will definetly be one great kilted wedding. I would tell you what I did, but since I am not married, I can not. Again Congratulations!

[Larry]

When our daughter was married a couple of years ago, ALL the men in the wedding wore black watch kilts. The young people in the wedding party arranged for a piper to surprise the couple to play the recessional. At the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, the bride presented her groom with a reproduction of a Clagmore sword, which he also wore to the ceremony. At the reception, her mother read a revised version of the Legend of White Heather. Her parents presented the couple with a shadow box with a sprig of dried white heather. The guests received bookmarks with the legend and a picture of the white heather.

[Rob Wright]

COngratulations John!!!!

Rob Wright

[MDR-V300]

Way to go, John!
Not only are you tough enough to wear a kilt, man enough to make 'the leap', but to do both at once...

Good on ye.

I'm ignorant about even contemporary wedding traditions, but what I've learned about scottish weddings from the movies is that the largest person present gets to throw a big rock at Mel Gibson.

[Andrew]

Hey John, I am not the one to help with your question so I wont even try.
I would however like to congartulate you and wish you luck with your whole wedding and the years of happieness to follow.
Cheers!

[bubba]

Congratulations John, and best wishes to the bride. May you have many happy years together.