Celtic Wedding Traditions

If you research quaint marriage customs from the past, much of what you will find describes the folk ways of largely pastoral, rural people. It was customary to salute the bride and groom by firing guns in the air outside the church. The salmon leap was the traditional way the groom joined his bride in the wedding bed. An heirloom from the old country, if available can be used as something old.

Musical traditions travel through time much better. If communion is served at a wedding, a piper can play during that time also. Celtic wedding dresses are another opportunity to incorporate some tradition. Kilts for the groom and attendants can be hired for weddings if they do not own their own.

Weddings are a unique moment when the bride and groom are the center of attention at a party that they and their family offers to their friends and relatives. As the wedding at Cana shows, a wedding cannot be allowed to become a social crisis.

Medieval marriages were, at least in theory, sanctioned and governed by the Christian church. Early formalities of church weddings consisted quite simply of the couple meeting at the door of the local church, but outside it, to receive the blessing of the priest. Both civil and ecclesiastical laws governing marriage in European countries evolved to discourage informal and secret marriages.

Canon Law, the law of the church governing marriage was no longer universal. In Scotland, Marriage by Declaration was once quite common and remained legal and valid until 1939. Issues of sobriety at the time of the declaration as well as possibility of misunderstandings about whether the declaration was of betrothal or actual marriage could put the relationship in doubt, lacking reliable witnesses. Established Church records are very good for weddings and baptisms going back well into the 18th century.

In some places and times it seems to mean betrothal and in others genuine marriage. Never-the-less the mythical "trial marriage" handfasting is now pretty well established in some circles, according to the historical novel tradition would normally lead to regular permanent and valid marriage but if either parties chose to leave, the relationship was null, it is claimed is a holdover from pre-Christian Celtic marriage laws, can be part of the religious or civil wedding ceremony.

It is a crime for clergy to knowingly perform marriages that would not be legally binding. Religious sects have rules about what they allow as well.