Scottish Weddings

Hey!

Today, I received an invitation in the mail to my cousins wedding this June. This got me thinking about what people in Scotland to for weddings. Ours are usually quite different then other cultures. In the more traditional days, around the 13 century, the wedding ceremony took place over three days. Another old custom is "Creeling of the bridegroom" By the way, the bridegroom is the man. The custom had the bride groom carry a large and heavy basket from one village to the next and carry it around the town until the bride would come out of her house to give him a kiss. The day of the actual wedding, the entire village would come and form a procession to lead the couple to the church where two services were traditionally held. The first one, held outside the church, would be held in Scottish and they would be wed by the priest. Next, they would go inside the church to be married again, but this time in Latin. Also, like modern times, they would exchange wedding rings, and share their first kiss in front of the crowd.

Afterwards, the bagpipes would lead them back to a relatives house where a reception would be held.It would last all through the night. When the party would finally end, the groom would carry his bride to their new house and carry her over the threshold to 'protect' her from evil spirits that reside in the threshold. Now a days, the wedding are much more modern, but with a traditional twist. A week before the wedding, the bride's mother hosts a bridal shower and invites all of her female friends over. The men on the other hand, have a little more crazy party. The groom and all of his buddies go out for a wild night of partying and the groom usually gets so drunk, he doesn't really know that his friends have tied him up in some sort of embarrassing state.

On the day of the wedding, the bride is dressed in a modern white gown, while the groom is dressed in the traditional highland kilt, highland jacket and sporran. They are in his clan's color. Like a family's color in other words. After they say their vows and are officially a married couple, the groom will pin a strip of his clan's tartan color to show that his bride is now apart of the clan. At the reception, the bride and groom cut the cake together and after the cake is cut, a crazy party lasts the rest of the night. Sometimes it lasts till the early morning. One custom that hasn't changed is carrying the bride over threshold. It still takes place in every Scottish wedding!