WEDDINGS

Scott Beach performing at a wedding ceremony in green jacket with Colorado mountains

Bride and groom kissing with Scott Beach playing bagpipes in background at Colorado mountain wedding

YOUR WEDDING

More and more traditional and non-traditional wedding couples are choosing to celebrate their Celtic heritage with a kilted bagpiper on their wedding day. A wedding complete with an experienced wedding bagpiper in full-kilted regalia is as beautiful to see as to hear. The ancient sound of the bagpipes helps to accentuate the sacred institution of marriage, giving your wedding guests an experience to remember and cherish.

There are no steadfast rules to gracing a wedding with the bagpipes, short of insuring that your wedding music is in expert hands. Scott is an expert Wedding Piper, with a history of over 500 wedding couples performed for. Each and every wedding couple, their family and their guests are extremely special to Scott on this very important day. Scott makes every effort he can to try to follow the vision that the couple has for their unique wedding, and the bride and groom have the freedom to choose a unique arrangement for their wedding day. With this in mind, Scott offers the bride and groom a choice of kilt tartans (Irish County Cork, Caledonian — the National kilt of Scotland, Hunting Stewart, the Isle of Skye tartan, or Black Watch) and kilt jackets (Black Jacket or Green Jacket — see photos) to select from, as well as a wonderful medley of ceremony music to choose from, listed below, to grace the wedding processional, prelude and postlude, and Scott can also lead the guests over to the cocktail hour with the bagpipes.

See below for audio samples!

GRACING YOUR WEDDING WITH THE BAGPIPES

GUESTS ARRIVE TO THE CEREMONY

As your guests begin to arrive before your ceremony, Scott will perform to greet them at the entrance to the wedding site, naturally drawing the wedding guests to the ceremony site. The seated guests within the wedding site are also entertained as they await the beginning of the ceremony, and listen to the majestic bagpipes in the distance.

PRELUDE

The bagpiper can perform ceremony music within the church or wedding site, or from outside the ceremony site. For the wedding ceremony processionals, Scott can perform beautiful wedding songs such as "Ode to Joy", "Highland Cathedral", or "Irish Eyes Are Smiling" or "The Flower of Scotland" to start the ceremony, serving to naturally alert the guests that the ceremony has begun. Some popular wedding ceremony songs are: Mairi's Wedding, Ode To Joy, The Bridal March or "Here Comes the Bride", Highland Cathedral, The Minstrel Song, The Flower of Scotland, Green Hills of Tyrol, Green Grow the Rashes or Irish Eyes are Smiling.

PROCESSIONAL

The mothers of the bride and groom, the bridal party, and the flower girl proceed down the aisle to the ceremony music — Scott can lead the bride and father down the aisle, or perform from a scenic area.

BRIDAL PROCESSIONAL

The bagpiper performs a song that the bride enjoys most. Scott will send you an audio guide CD which will allow you to hear a good selection of ceremony music on the bagpipes, from which you can then choose your bridal processional song. He often suggests "Mairi's Wedding", as it is a little different than the rest of the ceremony music, and serves to set the bride apart from the bridal party during her processional — however any song of your choice is great.

UNITY CANDLES / UNITY SAND / HAND FASTENING CEREMONY

The bagpiper may perform a selection of slower, reflective music, which accentuates the lighting of the Unity Candles and helps to slow the tempo of the ceremony down for everyone to enjoy.

RECESSIONAL

After the newlyweds are introduced to the guests following the kiss, the bagpipes strike up with a positive and high energy song of celebration (often "Scotland the Brave" for Scottish wedding couples, or "The Rakes of Mallow" for Irish couples). The bagpiper may lead the newly married couple up the aisle at this time, or immediately follow behind them, or perform stationary.

POSTLUDE

Often the bagpiper leads the guests out of the wedding site along with the newly married couple, and ends up outside in front of the guests. This serves to draw the guests outside, where they will be entertained with lively traditional music as they await the newly married couple's first appearance, or for the receiving line. The piper can also lead the guests over to the cocktail hour — tell your ushers to tell guests to "follow the piper".

RECEPTION

The bagpiper may lead the newly married couple into the reception, which makes a great impact. You may also have the bagpiper forego this introduction, instead simply having him perform for your guests as they enjoy their cocktail hour.

Again, there are no rules, allowing you to express your individuality on your wedding day. With over 400 wedding performances in Scott's piping history, Scott has some great ideas to add a unique touch to your wedding. Call or email Scott and you can both discuss your wedding in more detail.