Irish wedding: customs, traditions and style elements

Steps to the wedding

Before the newlyweds walk down the aisle, it is customary in Ireland to perform an engagement ceremony. In many other countries, engagement is a purely symbolic moment before the wedding, a relic of the past.

Irish wedding rituals are strictly observed and engagement is one of them. Lovers must be friends in the literal sense of the word for up to two years. And only then, step by step, they begin preparing for the wedding.

Matchmaking and dinner after it. The parents of the newlyweds and the newlyweds themselves meet in the bride's house. The priest and relatives are also invited there. Be sure to roast the goose - as a sign that the groom has already been “plucked”, that is, he has tidied up his hands.
After agreements have been reached, the wedding date is set. The best day is considered St. Patrick's Day - March 17th. April is also considered favorable. The autumn harvest months are the worst for weddings, according to Irish customs.
Until the wedding day, the bride's parents have the right to come to the groom's house at any time and see how they will be received.
Likewise, young people should not be left alone. The groom's brother and other relative are always sent with them.

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Invitations are sent to guests in advance, indicating the date and time of the holiday. Wedding invitations are usually made in white and green colors. To create the desired mood, add pictures of a shamrock - a symbol of Ireland, or comic images of a leprechaun - a gnome guarding a pot of gold. Also a symbol of fun in Ireland is the violin, the Celtic harp. They are also fashionable to use for invitations.

The wedding venue is an open-air area with a lot of greenery and trees.

Choose a dress for the bride

Previously, the wedding portal www.svadebka.ws repeatedly provided reviews of the most original wedding dresses. Today we will add several unusual options for Irish wedding dresses to the selection.

First of all, it should be noted that the traditional color for a wedding dress in Ireland is sky blue, as it symbolizes purity and nobility. Today, white dresses with blue trim are popular: lace, edging, traditional patterns (ancient Celtic patterns have become favorites).

If you don't want to spend a fortune on the celebration, you can take advantage of the Irish folk tradition, according to which the bride did not sew a new outfit, but simply put on her best dress. It should be noted that the Irish have always been practical.

And finally, it is considered acceptable to wear a fur coat and a coat for a winter celebration. In Ireland, this has grown into a tradition, since in this culture the best time for weddings is New Year's Eve. The Irish believe that in this way young people leave their single life in the past and boldly step into the future hand in hand.

Traditions associated with the bride's dress

Perhaps the most interesting thing in wedding decoration will be the bride’s outfit. The traditional white dress is replaced with a sky blue dress.

A few more details related to the image of the bride.

Irish fairies are hunters of everything beautiful. The bride is the most beautiful girl at the wedding. To prevent fairies from stealing it, you should remember that the outfit should not contain green parts.
A cape in the color of an ash rose will match the blue dress.
Instead of a veil, the bride wears a lavender wreath. Kolokolchikov. Or a voluminous braid is woven and a lace ribbon is woven into it.
A handkerchief made of natural fabric – linen or cotton – should be hidden in the folds of the dress. This scarf can easily be transformed into a hat for a newborn. Modern brides can use a scarf as an accessory for a bouquet.

The bouquet is a beautiful florist creation made from lavender, lilies of the valley, clover leaves and wildflowers.
In the old days, the bride had to carry a real horseshoe with her throughout the wedding. Now you can use stylized silver horseshoes as decoration - a bracelet or brooch.
Small bells woven with a ribbon are worn on the bride and groom's wrists. It is believed that the ringing of the bell scares away evil spirits, of which there are many in Ireland.
The groom will have to remove the white lace garter with his teeth - such a cheerful custom of an Irish wedding.

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During the formal ceremony, which usually takes place in a church, the groom's friends must lock all doors. This custom is humorous, its meaning is to prevent the groom from running away.

When leaving the church, a shoe should fly over the bride's shoulder - to the happiness and wealth of the family.

The wedding procession travels a long way to the banquet venue. You definitely need to meet a man - the first one who sees the young people.

Design a landscape or interior

You can choose green as the base color for the ceremony - the color of the hills and waves of Ireland. Tablecloths on tables, ribbons for bridesmaids and other decorative elements can be green. An excellent solution would be to add live plants as decoration, such as shamrocks (aka oxalis), bluebells or blue orchids, which are popular at Irish weddings. It will also be an interesting detail to give the names of the tables during dinner along the famous mountains, rivers and lakes of Ireland.

Fun dancing and enchanting music

The celebration of the combination of two hearts in Irish style is fun and noisy. A rich feast, plenty of wine, beer and whiskey. What to look for when decorating an Irish wedding feast?

Tables are covered with fabric tablecloths, often hand-embroidered.
The floral compositions that decorate the feast are made of wildflowers. The presence of lavender is a must. Its smell is believed to ward off evil spirits.
The dishes from which the guests will eat should be decorated with greenery and flowers.
Irish style is very close to nature. Therefore, tables and the space around them are decorated with wood branches, greenery, and natural materials.
The traditional drink at a wedding is Bunratty honey wine. Young people should definitely drink it. Because the appearance of a baby 9 months after the wedding is the merit of only that wine, so the beliefs say.
The man begins to congratulate the newlyweds. He makes a traditional Irish toast, with wishes of happiness, eternal love and fidelity. The end of the toast is echoed by all the guests in unison.
Bells are prepared for guests as a gift and souvenir of the wedding.

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During the cheerful continuation of the holiday, traditional Irish ensembles are invited. This is a harpist, violinist and bagpiper. The music is so fiery that everyone starts dancing.

Under no circumstances should the bride lift her two feet from the ground while dancing - the fairies will pick her up and carry her to their lands. Also, in order not to attract the attention of evil spirits, the bride and groom should not sing at their own wedding.

Irish wedding traditions and signs

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“Wedding in April, joy for the maiden and the lad,” so says an old Irish poem. An Irish wedding is a huge number of traditions, rituals, and signs, the possibilities of which are of course difficult to use to your advantage. But if young people make the effort, they can celebrate their wedding in Irish style, starting with pre-wedding parties.

Aytin Gusak

An ancient and slightly strange custom, “Aitin Gusak”, when the prospective groom is invited to the bride’s house before the wedding and a goose is prepared in his honor. Nowadays, the expression “his goose is cooked!” has been preserved, a hint that the guy was caught in the net. In the old days, when the matchmaker managed to come to an agreement and resolve all issues with both parties, the young man had to meet his future wife. The girl's family was cooking goose. The general idea of the holiday is to get to know young people as best as possible. Everyone who will be present at the wedding ceremony, including the priest, was also invited. After the feast there could be dancing, but most importantly, there were opportunities to influence the “gander” and set certain conditions for him. Another characteristic of the same custom is “plucking the gander”; the name also remains a common noun. When family members discussed the details of family life with the blushing bride, while plucking the bird.

After Aitin Husak, both families gathered to formalize a contract (or agreement) on a marriage alliance, very often quite complex. For example, the mother and father of the bride could include many clauses according to which, when they grow old, the children will have to take into account their needs, accompany them to Sunday Mass, supply the necessary food, heating, milk, butter, eggs, etc.

Although an arranged marriage may not seem like a very romantic event from the heights of our time, the fact is that many of the young people who were going to get married had known each other since childhood and feelings of affection existed between them. There was most likely no romantic or passionate relationship between them, which in the old days in rural Ireland seemed unthinkable. But it is worth paying tribute to the parents of the young people, they did everything possible to ensure that their children were suitable for each other and loved and respected each other in family life.

Time to celebrate

These days, the busy time for matchmaking in Ireland begins immediately after Epiphany (January 6). It is believed that the Irish misinterpreted the mainstream church's instructions, set out in November 1563, prohibiting weddings during Lent. From some reasoning it followed that if it was impossible to get married during Lent, then, therefore, it was necessary to get married earlier. Thus, it was a given to get married during Shrove Tuesday, and the day before Ash Wednesday was considered the most auspicious day.

Most modern weddings are celebrated on Saturday, although even a few decades ago marriages took place in Ireland on any day except Saturday and Sunday. There is an Irish rhyme that illustrates wedding signs associated with good luck in family life, depending on what day the young people choose to exchange vows of love and fidelity to each other.

Monday - for health Tuesday - for wealth Wednesday - the best day Thursday - for losses Friday - for crosses Saturday - not a single day of all!

All the conclusions are very logical, especially considering that Ireland has been a predominantly rural country in the very recent past, and Saturday is the traditional market day when families buy or sell livestock and products produced in households. There is no time for wedding celebrations on weekends! And as far as we know, the Catholic Church was also against weddings on Saturday.

After the union of two hearts was organized thanks to the matchmaker and the parents of the newlyweds, the bride’s parents almost always sent the girl’s younger brother, supposedly to pick flowers when the girl and the boy started dating, but in reality, to make sure that there were no liberties between them that were not yet permitted . Such accompaniments were called “ . ” During pre-wedding walks, it was customary for the bride's parents to come to the groom's house for a “check.” From the way they were met, looked after, treated to food, they drew their own conclusions about how well their daughter would live in her new family.

Some more wonderful and feasible ideas for an Irish-style wedding.

"Bunratty Meade" - Bunratty honey wine, was already served at Bunratty Castle (County Clare) at wedding banquets in medieval times. The wine recipe is based on one of the oldest drinks in Ireland, and if someone manages to try the drink, they will never forget its taste. In the old days, it was believed that wine drunk at a wedding imparted masculinity, and if a child was born exactly nine months later, the event was certainly associated with the Bunratty Meade drunk at the wedding .

The young couple, in addition, drank honey wine for the entire month after the wedding, from which an analogy can be drawn with the name “honeymoon.” The ritual drink was supposed to protect the couple from fairies who came for the bride’s soul.

Bagpipers and dancers

It is clear that an Irish-style wedding is accompanied by Irish music. When guests arrive at the wedding reception, bagpipers greet them at the entrance with incredibly beautiful music, the sounds of the Irish bagpipes are much softer than the sounds of the Scottish bagpipes. Irish dancing is an incredibly spectacular performance and invited dancers in national costumes will be a real hit at the wedding celebration.

Very popular at modern Irish weddings is the singing of a wedding song by two friends at the moment when the bride and groom cut the cake.

A wonderful symbol of romantic relationships, the Claddagh ring is chosen by many, even non-Irish, couples as a symbol of commitment and as a wedding ring. Claddagh rings are widely available, and not only rings, but also other Claddagh ring style jewelry, from earrings to cufflinks. But there is one warning, as they say, bad luck will befall the person who buys the Claddagh Ring for himself. It should only be given as a gift.

Horseshoe for luck

Irish brides used to carry a real horseshoe with them to their weddings for good luck. Today, you can buy elegant porcelain horseshoes that brides take to their weddings, or fabric horseshoes that Irish brides wear on their wrists.

Magic handkerchief

This is another charming custom. A special handkerchief that, thanks to a few stitches, can be turned into a baby's cap, and by spreading the stitches back into a handkerchief, and stored as a family heirloom. The magic handkerchief is given to the girl on her wedding day. Such scarves are sold in almost all Irish souvenir shops.

And further..

, ringing bells keeps evil spirits at bay. Ringing a bell has become an Irish tradition, and instead of clinking glasses at a wedding, you can ring small bells, which are handed out to guests in advance at the wedding reception.

three pinches of salt and oatmeal as protection against the power of the evil eye When the bride danced, she should not lift both feet from the ground, otherwise the fairies might take advantage and drag her away. Fairies, as is known in Irish mythology, are very fond of beautiful things, and the bride, so to speak, is the favorite of the fairies.

There are many legends about "spirited away" in Ireland. For the same reason, in order not to attract the attention of fairies, it is advised not to take risks and not to wear anything green to the bride and not to sing to the bride and groom themselves at their own wedding.

One ritual of a funny nature is that the men who are invited to the wedding lift the groom, who is seated in a chair, and carry him around as if he had joined the ranks of the married. The groom's friends may suddenly appear at the wedding reception, hidden under straw masks. One story tells that young people, who were persecuted because they had climbed into the barn of a landowner, put on straw and appeared in this form at a rural wedding, which greatly amused the guests.

Any other signs?

A sunny day foreshadowed a happy married life, especially if the sun was shining directly on the bride.
Anyone who got married during the harvest, according to legend, spent his entire life on harvesting, including unnecessary ones.
A man should be the first to wish joy and happiness to his beloved.
Good luck if you are lucky enough to hear a cuckoo or see three magpies on the morning of your wedding day.
If on the same day as the wedding, someone had a funeral, then they tried to do everything possible so that the two processions, God forbid, did not collide, this foreshadowed failure. And the wedding procession always chose the longest road. It was considered bad luck if the wedding procession did not meet a man on the way home from church.
It’s bad if someone breaks a cup or glass on your wedding day.
The bride and groom were not supposed to wash their hands at the same time, so as not to end up having to “look after” troubles.
They said that those who get married during the waxing moon and high tide will be lucky.
When leaving the church, someone had to throw an old shoe over the bride's head for good luck.
Over the bride's head, the groom's mother broke a piece of wedding cake as the girl entered her new home, which meant hope for friendship and harmony between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.