Scottish Traditions

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Scottish Traditions
pictures will be up after October 5, 2002

Bagpiper - We will most definitely have a bagpiper at the wedding. We will have one song played outside the church after the ceremony and one song played outside the reception hall as the wedding party arrives from the photo session. We hired a cadet from a local cadet unit for $25 a song.

Horshoe - One Scottish tradition is for a toddler to hand a horseshoe to the bride as she walks out of the church with her husband. My grandmother will be making a horseshoe and I will have a young cousin partake in this tradition. The horseshoe signifies good luck in the marriage.

Embroidery - My mother has obtained a piece of Irish Linen from a small Irish linen shop. She will embroider a design on it so I will have this to give to my fiancé during the wedding ceremony. The embroidery will be the flowers of each of the months my family members were born, one flower in each of the four corners of the cloth and flowers from the months Collin and I were born in the centre of the cloth. This is my gift to my husband.

Tartan Sash - It is a Scottish tradition to have the best man adorn the bride with a tartan sash during the ceremony. This is taken as a "welcome to the clan" to the bride. However, Tartan cloth (if we wish to order the official "Clark Clan" cloth) is expensive and we will not be able to partake in this tradition. The cloth is ordered directly from Scotland and is over $700 a metre.

Fruitcake - A more common tradition is the fruitcake. A piece of fruitcake is wrapped and given to each guest of the wedding. The guest places the fruitcake under their pillow the night of the wedding and it is believed that they will dream of the one they will marry. Over time, western civilization has moved away from using fruitcake to other items such as chocolate, key chains, and even CD's with the wedding music burned onto them. Collin and I have chosen chocolate bars. We can buy the chocolate bars bulk and will wrap them with our own personalized labels. The labels were made by me on a my home computer. I will post the wrapper after the wedding.

Garter - One story as to why the groom throws the garter dates back to medieval times when it was customary for the family to watch the bride and groom on their wedding night. The Groom would throw cloths at the onlookers to keep them from getting to rowdy. We will not be parting in the old tradition, but we will be throwing a garter. Mine will be made from left over cloth from my wedding gown.

To see why weddings have common traditions, such as "why does the bride wear white", check out OurMarriage.com.

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