Are you a proud Scott? Do you like medieval, celtic, or renaissance themes? Scottish tartan themed weddings really fit a medieval, celtic, or renaissance theme and are a great way to celebrate your Scottish pride.
Nowadays the groom wearing his traditional family tartan, or one of the universal Scottish tartans, has become a very popular idea. This isn’t just a great theme for Scots. There are plenty of Irish and Welsh tartans to choose from as well.
Ideas for a celtic tartan renaissance wedding
You can go fairly simple with this celtic tartan wedding theme. For example, only the groom would wear a dress kilt and there might be a piper playing celtic music throughout the ceremony.
However, you can go all out and add tartan accents to your wedding cake, wedding invitations, bridesmaid and flower girl dresses, flower arrangements, groomsmen, and wedding reception decorations (table cards, place cards, wedding programs, and favour tags).
You could also choose celtic knot wedding rings where the intertwining celtic knots represent your love for each other.
Back in 2012, I helped create the wedding stationery for Natalie and Josh’s tartan renaissance themed wedding.
I originally published this post back then (having to recreate my website, I’m reposting it now because I still love this theme) and Natalie was kind enough to share with us some of the photographs from her real tartan wedding and she wrote some thoughts about her tartan wedding and why she chose the theme.
On December 4, 2008, my husband and I decided to renew our vows for our 15th year anniversary. Since we had eloped the first time I wanted a real wedding this time! When we thought of what to do for the wedding we knew right away it had to have kilts. My Aunt Fifi, who had passed away from Acute Leukemia in 2008, was like a second mom to me and really loved our Scottish side, and we loved going to renaissance festivals. While we where at the festival one year we talked to a lady at Wolfstone Kilt Company who made everything tartan related. The women in my family wore the plaid that My Aunt Fifi had found in a previous year to be our tartan. Then we looked up Josh’s family (who we don’t know how much scottish he really has, lol) and found his tartan. From then on everything was a go! I knew I wanted to look like a princess and still wanted to keep with the theme so after purchasing a regular wedding dress, I had the same company, Wolfstone Kilt Company, custom make me an over dress that went fabulous with our theme.
Everything turned out great and all the guests loved the original theme. We even played celtic music for walking down the aisle. The wedding was held at Daniels Vineyard in Crab Orchard, WV. The ceremony was under a pavilion and I wasn’t sure if I would hear the music or if the weather would hold out but in fact the music echoed throughout the mountainous area and even though the day before had been chilly, the day of our wedding was beautiful. Every one loved the song choices for the ceremony and the location. We used music from our favorite celtic group called The Medieval Babes. Everything was perfect, we even made sure our flowers and cake stuck with the rustic but elegant feel of the wedding! Don’t be afraid to think out of the box. Guests will love it when the wedding isn’t a cookie cutter wedding! Feel free to ask me for more details on our Scottish/Celtic West Virginian wedding!
~ Natalie June 13, 2012
We think Natalie did a great job putting her tartan renaissance wedding together. The mix of different tartans is really a unique idea and they go great together.
Her dress was in a perfect celtic, renaissance style. Also, the flowers and cake were a great complement to the theme as well. Rustic, yet elegant, in deep rich colors.
The Vineyard setting for the ceremony also adds to the renaissance theme and the choice of an outdoor wedding is very reminiscent of old celtic handfasting ceremonies. From Wikipedia:
Handfasting is an ancient Celtic ceremony of (temporary or permanent) betrothal or wedding that dates back to pre-Christian times and usually involves the tying or binding of the hands of the bride and groom with a cord or ribbon.
If, like Natalie and Josh, you plan on choosing a tartan wedding theme, you might want tartan wedding invitations, response cards, save the date cards or magnets, table cards, place cards, wedding programs (order of service), favour tags, wedding stickers, and/or thank you cards. That’s where we can help out!
Here’s a sample of the templates we designed on Zazzle for Natalie to use to create her wedding invitations, reply cards, reception cards, table number cards, wedding programs, and thank you cards. Natalie had a big say in how she wanted everything to look.
About our tartan invitations
We have a variety of templates that we’ve designed that can be altered to the tartan you particularly want.
We have designs featuring the famous Royal Stuart (Stewart) tartan and the Black Watch tartan, both of which are considered “universal tartans”.
We also have many other clan tartan invitations ready to order. However, we will also alter any of our tartan designs to your specific tartan requirements.
All you need to do is contact us and let us know what tartan you’d like to use and if there is a particular design you like.
Keep in mind, not only do tartans work well on wedding invitations, but they also make great additions to special birthday party invitations, family reunion invitations, and retirement party invitations (an especially good choice for police, military, and fireman retirements).
We have these available too and they can be altered to your tartan of choice. In addition, it’s easy to customize any of our invitation designs to whatever occasion you’d like because the text is all fully customizable.
We’d like to thank Ann Hughes, Natalie and Josh’s photographer, for providing the wedding photos seen in this blog post. Ann Hughes is a portrait and wedding photographer based out of Eugene, Oregon. She specializes in capturing your special moments in a way that is honest and true to your personality. About her business, Ann writes,
I am honored and privileged to be doing what I love. Every day I have a session, part of me feels like I’m just hanging out with friends. I just happen to have a huge camera in my hand, capturing it all on ‘film.’
If you’re having a wedding in or around Eugene, Oregon, make sure to check into working with Ann.
Ann Hughes Photography, www.photosbyann.wordpress.com.
The cake for Natalie and Josh’s wedding was designed by Emily Preed from The Appetit Boutique. Natalie and Josh’s florist was Blossom Village.
Looking for additional tartan wedding inspiration? Check out these links:
- Brooke and George – The Celebration
- Ontario Scottish Wedding
- Scotland Garden Wedding
- Scotland Sword Fight Wedding
- Unique New Zealand Farm Wedding… Sort of Scottish
Posted by Shannon from Wasootch – a designer of unique special occasion stationery and customizable gifts.