Scotland Day 12: the Wedding

Today was the day. The reason we are here. To celebrate the marriage between Jerda, of one of my dearest friends, to Jeremy, her wonderful man. 

The weather in the Highlands and especially the Hebrides (Scotland's western islands) is very often not good. All week we had all been watching the weather. On Monday, it looked like wedding day would be blustery and wet, but as the week wore on, the forecast got better and better. Thursday dawned mostly sunny, calm, and in the mid 50s, as good as it gets I think for late September here! Jerda had asked us all to ask the Universe for good weather today and it worked!

The ceremony wasn't until 2 so we took a short hike on the south end of Raasay. Today, 163 people live on this island, but there is evidence of much larger communities and inhabitation way back to prehistoric times. 

Remains of a hill fort behind me.

A Pictish stone. Picts are the people of ancient and early medieval tribes that inhabited the Highlands before the Clans.

A small chapel in a really old cemetery behind Raasay House. Inside lies the daughter of the 17th chief of the MacLeod Clan. 

Calm and clear

The view from Temptation Hill overlooking Raasay House and the sound to Isle of Skye.

A wide shot

The ceremony took place on the lawn in front of Raasay House, looking toward the Isle of Skye. 36 of Jeremy’s and Jerda’s closest friends and family were there to celebrate with them. It was a very, very beautiful ceremony in an equally beautiful setting.

 

Ceremony site on the lawn looking to Isle of Skye

All decked out in Scottish attire

The celebration continued into the evening. We were treated to a four- or five-course meal of fresh fish from the ocean, live music, and folk dancing. 

We even had professional dance instructors to show us all how to do a number of dances, including the Virginia Reel, which my mom remembers fondly from dances in the 1940s and 1950s. It was loads and loads of fun, especially because almost every guest participated in the dancing and the music was so good. Another fun factor was that over half the men were in kilts!  I think the novelty of the kilts made them feel more in the celebratory spirit. I know Drew enjoyed it, and he looked so handsome!

A note about our outfits. Drew has Cunningham blood in his heritage, so he is wearing the Cunningham tartan and a Cunningham crest on his sporran. The moto on the Cunningham crest is Over Fork Over and the animal on his sporran is a unicorn. I found it hilarious that a fierce Clan would have a unicorn as their spirit animal, but then we learned that the unicorn is the only animal believed to be able to defeat the lion. The lion, of course, is a symbol of the British Crown. Love that symbolism.

I am wearing the Campbell or Black Watch Campbell tartan as my sash and the Campbell crest on my sash pin. My great grandfather was a Campbell from Aberdeenshire. His parents may have been from the western Highlands of Scotland. The Black Watch tartan was one of the earliest tartans. It was worn by many of the earliest Highlanders in the Jacobite uprisings (Scot tried to throw off the British rule and keep regain their independence), of which many were Campbells, so it became the official tartan of Clan Campbell. There are two other Clan Campbells with slightly different tartans. Because I don’t know if I am descended from either of those, I chose to wear the Black Watch tartan. I also like the pattern and it is easy to find. I had ordered a poly-cotton sash to go on my shoulder 3 weeks before departing for Scotland. Delivery was attempted a week before I departed, but the delivery was rejected for incomplete address and there was no time to get the company to send me another.  So, I improvised and pinned two mini wool scarves together. The wool shed all over Drew’s nice white shirt, so by the end of the night everyone knew who he had come to the dance with. 😊

The Clan Campbell crest has a boar on it. Everyone who knows me knows I collect pigs and don’t eat pork. Maybe my ancient roots as a Clan Campbell woman have manifested as an affinity for the swine family.

I definitely felt in the spirit of the Highlands all dressed up for a Scottish wedding in our formal Clan attire.