Traditional Highland Wedding Attire?

[Liam]

Much like my friend the Padre, aka Father Bill, I was not wed in a kilt. My first wearing of it was some 2.5 years later. Our 2 sons were married within 6 months of each other so we commissioned kilts in our family tartan for their weddings 6 years ago.
Now if I were to marry today I would grab my bride to be and rush off to a marriage commissioner and have the deed done, but I would indeed wear a kilt, likely my family tartan, a tweed jacket, brown leather accessories as it would be a small affair, likely during the day. I would let my best man choose his own outfit, and not interfere with what ever my bride to be and her maid of honour wished to wear, then off on a honeymoon somewhere. Upon return I would throw a house party for all of our friends.
Now I doubt this is your sort of plan, so for a more traditional wedding I would wear my family tartan kilt, a black argyle and vest, self tie bow tie with plain white shirt, my diced hose, badger fur sporran and my ghillie brogues. My groomsman(men) would be free to wear their own best, be it highland wear or "Saxon" and the bride could do her thing with her own attire and that of her attendants. I would ask my groomsmen not to outshine me. I would have a sash made in my family tartan an present it to my bride at the conclusion of the wedding. ( I would do this in the eloping version as well).
I must add that some brides and some bride's mothers have very different ideas, however I have always been of the opinion that the groom's wishes should be not only considered but very much a part of the planning of a wedding.

[OC Richard]

Here's one of my wedding pics (1988)



Here is how of some of the attendees looked






If I had it to do over again I wouldn't be so fancy.

Now if we're talking "traditional" the Anderson 1936 catalogue has the following interesting little article on the subject:



Note that the illustration shows the Kenmore Doublet which Anderson themselves had recently invented. So, there's some marketing going on here!

In any case it's interesting that they advocate wearing black or charcoal grey Argyll jackets (though not so named).

[seanachie]

I did not get married in a kilt. However, I have a story worth sharing given the threads that occasionally pop up about regarding insisting on wearing a kilt versus discerning whether it might not be the preferred option.

I had started to accumulate all of the dress items I wanted to wear for my wedding to accompany my kilt. Then big surprise, my wife bought me a very nice suit for my Christmas present in the months before our wedding. (Yes, we had been more focused on her dress and stuff and really had not discussed my outfit.) So regardless of whether she had gotten it at a nice store or a thrift store it was a gift given out of love. I never ever mentioned the kilt until after our wedding. She reminds me of this every anniversary and we are approaching our 10th. As much as I love wearing my kilt, I bear no regrets.

It reminds me of O. Henry's famous Christmas story, which is worth reading if you have not.

[MacGumerait]

Colin ,

First off , congratulations !

When you mentioned pics of traditional kilted attire for a wedding , an enjoyable older thread came to my mind .

It is a thread by one of our " Retired Moderators " Ancienne Alliance ( Robert Amyot ) . He is kilted at his daughter's wedding .

His attire is mostly traditional although his jacket has a somewhat historical twist with a bit of an artistic flair .

It's probably not exactly what you may have in mind , however , some elements of his dress may offer some inspiration . One thing for sure , his pics are not the " cookie cutter " kilt rental wedding attire .

Enjoy : http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...wedding-75212/

Cheers , Mike

[CMcG]

The photos and ideas are all much appreciated. Apart from everyone wanting to look their best, there appear to be a few common themes that I'd like to pick up on.

The first is dress codes for time of day. Before 6:00, we know it should strictly speaking be tweeds for daywear, or else formal morning dress (i.e., black barathea silver button Argyll or bbsba). In the evening, it could again be the versatile tweeds (as a suit equivalent) or else formal evening wear (i.e., black or white tie).

But there also seems to be a notion that the groom gets a special license to "take it up a notch," and so we have some people wearing what looks like formal evening wear before 6:00. I wonder if that pertains to the catalogue OC Richard posted that calls for "full dress" for the groom, and suggests "it is readily adaptable for evening wear afterward"? As in, the groom wears their absolute best, and it doesn't matter what time of day it is?

The second theme has to do with the rest of the wedding party. Some brides/families/in-laws want more of a say in people's attire... whether or not they get their way is another story. I imagine some negotiation might be required if there were to be any conflicting opinions. Any experience with that?

And it seems quite traditional that people are suggesting the groomsmen can pick their own attire, particularly that they can wear their own clan tartan. That also makes sense if people own their own clothing and won't be renting. There is something to be said, however, for some unity in the wedding party, without necessarily having to match. Did anyone come up with a strategy to tie their group together, without imposing a "uniform"?

[Father Bill]

For the wedding party, a "level of dress" is appropriate and avoids the uniform thing (which makes me roll my eyes).

My wonderful daughter-in-law sent each of her bridesmaids a cloth sample and asked them to select a dress that matched the colour. I was amazed at both the individuality and the matching of the ladies in question. My son also simply told his best man and groomsmen, "Black tie, gentlemen" and again the result was "matched individuality" which was a wonderful thing to behold. It has respectful dignity for both the wedding party, and for the individuals who comprise it.

[OC Richard]

My wonderful daughter-in-law sent each of her bridesmaids a cloth sample and asked them to select a dress that matched the colour. I was amazed at both the individuality and the matching of the ladies in question.

Yes I've seen that! What a great solution to the eternal Bridesmaids' problem: the dress that gets picked always looks best on the girl who picked the dresses, usually not so much on the rest of the Bridesmaids.

I used to pipe at 40 or so weddings a year, and it was a little game of mine to try to figure out which girl picked out the dresses. Nearly always the dress looked clearly better on just one of the Bridesmaids.

So it was cool to see, at one wedding, what you describe. Somebody had picked out a lovely sage green linen fabric, and each Bridesmaid was free to make it into anything they wanted. It was ideal because of the great age range of the Bridesmaids, from a High School age girl (who had a short slit strapless thing showing plenty of skin) to a professional woman in her 40s (who had an elegant business suit).

About the not wearing black during the day, as I've mentioned before I've piped at a number of weddings where one side of the family had flown over from Scotland to attend, all of them invariably dressed in black Prince Charlies for the daytime wedding! I've been, at such things, the only kilted person not in black.

[Jack Daw]

The photos and ideas are all much appreciated. Apart from everyone wanting to look their best, there appear to be a few common themes that I'd like to pick up on.

The first is dress codes for time of day. Before 6:00, we know it should strictly speaking be tweeds for daywear, or else formal morning dress (i.e., black barathea silver button Argyll or bbsba). In the evening, it could again be the versatile tweeds (as a suit equivalent) or else formal evening wear (i.e., black or white tie).

But there also seems to be a notion that the groom gets a special license to "take it up a notch," and so we have some people wearing what looks like formal evening wear before 6:00. I wonder if that pertains to the catalogue OC Richard posted that calls for "full dress" for the groom, and suggests "it is readily adaptable for evening wear afterward"? As in, the groom wears their absolute best, and it doesn't matter what time of day it is?

The second theme has to do with the rest of the wedding party. Some brides/families/in-laws want more of a say in people's attire... whether or not they get their way is another story. I imagine some negotiation might be required if there were to be any conflicting opinions. Any experience with that?

And it seems quite traditional that people are suggesting the groomsmen can pick their own attire, particularly that they can wear their own clan tartan. That also makes sense if people own their own clothing and won't be renting. There is something to be said, however, for some unity in the wedding party, without necessarily having to match. Did anyone come up with a strategy to tie their group together, without imposing a "uniform"?

I believe the dress code we "encouraged" was suit or kilt equivalent. Those that came kilted understood and came wearing argyll jackets, with one exception, rather than pcs, etc.

[ASinclair]

Congratulations Colin!

I was not kilted when I got married, but I like the way Father Bill's son and daughter-in-law handled their wedding party's attire.

[Liam]

........ There is something to be said, however, for some unity in the wedding party, without necessarily having to match. Did anyone come up with a strategy to tie their group together, without imposing a "uniform"?

The boutonnière and bouquets do that nicely.