A gent's highland wedding outfit

[Abax]

For a day-time wedding: kilt (usually made from eight yards of tartan wool) with kilt pin, tweed Argyll (or similar Crail or Braemar) jacket with antler buttons and matching five-button waistcoat or kilt belt in brown or black leather (but don’t wear a belt with a waistcoat), brown or black leather sporran and brogues, kilt hose and garter flashes to complement (or at least not clash with) the colours in the kilt and jacket (avoid hire-shop white hose unless you are a piper!), turn-down collar shirt (usually white) and tie (not tartan and often silver or a solid colour).

My comment has nothing to with content, just form. Something worth saying in parentheses is usually worth putting right there in the main text. A lot of parenthetical interjection makes text choppy and hard to read. For example, I'd re-write the quoted passage above this way:

For a day-time wedding, a kilt made from eight yards of wool tartan is worn. It is usually accompanied by a white turn-down collar shirt, a self-coloured tie, a tweed jacket with antler buttons in the Argyll, Crail or Bramer style, and a matching five-button waistcoat. Black or brown leather accessories include a kilt belt in place of the waistcoat, a sporran and brogues. Kilt hose with garter flashes that do not clash with the colours in the kilt and jacket are worn, avoiding the white hose normally used by pipers.

Abax

[OC Richard]

A bit offtopic perhaps... but as a working piper I used to attend as many as forty or fifty weddings a year here in Southern California (the business has dropped off quite a bit lately) and I have an observation or two.

1) right or wrong, tuxedos are the norm for weddings here regardless of the time of day or night. I ran into morning dress only a couple times over 30 years of playing weddings. The tuxedos are usually black and are worn with bow ties.

2) brides and brides' mothers here are extremely concerned about matching colours and when I'm discussing their wedding beforehand I give them the choice of which kilt they'd like me to wear. Most pipers only have one kilt so the clients get what they get, but it's a nice courtesy to offer the bride a choice if there is one to be made. It's becoming more common for pipers to own a plain black or Black Isle kilt so as not to clash whatever the wedding colours.

3) various colours for the bridesmaids' dresses etc come and go. For a while black was very popular, then a very dark blue, etc. I've seen everything, even weddings where the bridesmaids were in CalTrans Orange dresses.

[Jock Scot]

A bit offtopic perhaps... but as a working piper I used to attend as many as forty or fifty weddings a year here in Southern California (the business has dropped off quite a bit lately) and I have an observation or two.

1) right or wrong, tuxedos are the norm for weddings here regardless of the time of day or night. I ran into morning dress only a couple times over 30 years of playing weddings. The tuxedos are usually black and are worn with bow ties.

2) brides and brides' mothers here are extremely concerned about matching colours and when I'm discussing their wedding beforehand I give them the choice of which kilt they'd like me to wear. Most pipers only have one kilt so the clients get what they get, but it's a nice courtesy to offer the bride a choice if there is one to be made. It's becoming more common for pipers to own a plain black or Black Isle kilt so as not to clash whatever the wedding colours.

3) various colours for the bridesmaids' dresses etc come and go. For a while black was very popular, then a very dark blue, etc. I've seen everything, even weddings where the bridesmaids were in CalTrans Orange dresses.

I despair!

[MacRobert's Reply]

Thanks for the confirmations on evening weddings and tuxedo wearing lyle1 and OC Richard. Professional wedding coordinators are still, thankfully, rare in Scotland but are a growing trend. Thanks for access to yet another set of guidance Scotsman. Thanks to Abex for suggestions on a better writing style. I was concentrating so much on content that style got ignored – a great metaphor for kilt wearing! You can have all the correct bits but the overall effect can still be horrible. And to Jock for his well-informed pedantry and dislike of fudge.

So here's the final text. It does not attempt to be exhaustive and is not completely fudge free but it is better for all your contributions. The blame for anything you still don't like is entirely mine.

A gent's highland wedding outfit typically consists of the following -

For a day-time wedding, a kilt, that is usually made from eight yards of tartan wool, is normally worn with a white turn-down collar shirt and tie. The tie may be silver but should not be tartan. The jacket and matching waistcoat should be tweed with antler buttons and made in the Argyll, Crail, Braemar or similar style. Black or brown leather accessories are a sporran and brogues and can include a kilt belt, worn instead of the waistcoat but not with it. Kilt hose with garter flashes can be any plain colours, but white hose should be avoided, and they should not clash with the colours in the kilt and jacket. You will also need a kilt pin.

For a day-time wedding with a more formal look, where Anglo-Saxons would wear morning dress, the kilt can be worn with a black Argyll or similar style jacket with silver buttons and matching five-button waistcoat or a black leather kilt belt with silver buckle plate. As with day wear, a waistcoat and kilt belt should not be worn together. Other accessories are black brogues, sporran with fur front or silver cantle, coloured but not white, kilt hose and garter flashes that do not clash with the colours in the kilt or jacket. A plain white day-wear shirt with a turn-down collar is best. The tie may be silver but should not be tartan. You will also need a kilt pin and cuff links.

For an evening wedding or wedding reception, where Anglo-Saxons would wear a dinner suit (tuxedo), the kilt may be worn with a Prince Charlie jacket, which is usually black with silver buttons, and three button waistcoat to match the jacket or the tartan of the kilt. Alternatively, one of the highland doublets such as the Regulation, Kenmore, Sheriffmuir or Montrose may be worn. The last three with a lace jabot or highland cravat. Accessories are a full dress sporran with fur front and silver cantle , kilt pin and cuff links, kilt hose and garter flashes to compliment the colours in the kilt and jacket, or tartan or diced hose that match the kilt and black brogues or buckle brogues. The white evening shirt (tuxedo shirt) worn with a black bow tie can have a wing-collar or turn-down collar. Following day-time weddings, it is normal for kilted grooms and guests to go on to evening receptions in the highland day wear or morning dress that they wore for the wedding itself.

Although rarely worn in Scotland any more, formal evening dress could include a plaid fly plaid or belted half-plaid, which passes under the epaulette on the left shoulder and is secured to the jacket or doublet by a large plaid brooch. Dirks are rarely worn and are inappropriate for a church wedding, where weapons should not be carried. However, a sgian dubh or a safety one without a blade, is often worn in the top of the hose. Although this is more a utility knife than a real weapon, make sure it is legal in the country or state where you will be married!. A couple of things to avoid are kilts that are too low and hose that are too high. If they meet, you’ve got it wrong! The top of the kilt should be at or slightly above your belly button, and the bottom at or slightly above the middle of your knees. Hose should be a couple of inches below where your knee bends. Apart from laws about carrying of knives, there are no rules about Scottish highland dress but there are traditions and conventions. These should not dictate what you wear or prevent you from being creative and a wee bit different but knowing the form should help you look your best on your wedding day.

[thescot]

Well, MacRoberts, I applaude your efforts. You have done a herculean--and mostly thankless--service to the sartorial concerns of any young man interested in wearing a kilt for a wedding. I do think that anyone following your advice will come off pretty well. As a Donnachaidh (distant great-grand- ...son of a Robertson), I figure it's close enough to kinship to call you a cousin of whom I am proud.

Now if we can just get all these misguided children to stop wearing those darned tuxes during the day.

[fluter]

MacRobert's Reply, nice work. It's a tough assignment to condense such useful information into a paragraph!

\begin {thread_hijack}

At least my own prom tux was a staid gray, but I did have that ruffled shirt and huge bow tie going on!

Jim, in case of need, you can still get those shirt ruffles!

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[thescot]

[QUOTE=fluter;866314. . . Jim, in case of need, you can still get those shirt ruffles

\end {thread_hijack}[/QUOTE]

I'll bear that in mind. Next time I wnat to look like Tom Jones . . .

The one thing we should all take from this thread is the habit of the Highlanders to look good without looking like they were cut out with a die or painted as a characature of a kilted man. There really is no need for all the fellows to dress identically, just well and in good taste.

Even if the men aren't kilted, lime green monkey suits and feathers are best left at the circus tent flap. Simply wearing a kilt well with appropriate leather and other accoutrements is sufficient.

I feel your pain, Jock, even when I might be a source of it!

[MacBean]

Complement, not compliment please. Either way, not quite the right word as it connotes completion or complementary colors, which is certainly not your intent. Goes with, combines, coordinates, etc. might all be better wording. Sorry to bring up the spelling, but you were talking of sending this out.

[Jock Scot]

I don't think there is too much room to go astray there. Well done.

O C Richards' observations will give me nightmares for many years to come! LOL

[OC Richard]

Jock, you would not believe some of the wedding people put on here!

A half-dozen wedding coordinators running around wearing headsets all communicating with each other so that every little detail happens exactly to script.

Yes, weddings with full scripts, Hollywood style.

Weddings where the bride enters over a grassy knoll riding in a white coach pulled by white horses.

Indeed, Disney themed weddings where the couple ride off in a replica of Cinderella's coach, a huge clear plastic pumpkin with metal wheels with the vine motif, complete with costumed coachmen.

One wedding was presided over by the Beast from Beauty and the Beast.

A wedding where just the transportation of the flowers and plants and trees (yes trees) cost over $20,000. This wedding was held on Catalina Island and an entire container (as used on the big container ships) of flowers and plants had to be shipped to the island.

A wedding where the couple, avid hikers, had hiked for years in the desert until they found the exactly perfect spot for their wedding, a huge rock (probably around four stories tall) which had been split down the middle, which created a huge "V" of the sky pointing to the spot where the happy couple would stand.
All the wedding guests had to hike a fair distance through sand and scrub to get to the spot and they were well warned to hear hiking boots, however a number of women arrived in heels. Not good for the sand.
The music was perhaps the strangest: I had to be dressed all in light khaki clothing and hide behind that giant rock, and only play drones!
Hidden in a bush was a dulicmer player.
Hidden up in the neighboring hillsides were a number of musicians with Tibetan temple gongs.
All of these musicians played on cue to a hidden conductor.

Compared to this stuff, a wedding where the men are in black tuxedos at 11am seems normal.