Customer Reviews

Scottish Tartan Weddings: A Practical Guidebook (Weddings/Marriage)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Of all the opinions you get during the planning phase of a wedding, you can never quite sort out all the fact from fiction. Well guess what? Now you can. As a bagpiper myself, I thought I had seen all there was to know about scottish and irish weddings. Little did I know. This book adds simple to understand guidelines (and I restate, guidelines) for you to follow from beginning of your planning to the end. A definite must have. The only negative is the addition of Gaelic names, clan crests, and septs, in the last couple of sections. This could have been reserved for another book or edition.

Eric Merrill Budd's Scottish Tartan Weddings: A Practical Guidebook is a great place for couples to begin when planning a Scottish wedding. The only disadvantage is that I received it after my fiancée and I had already done quite a bit of planning, and much of the general remarks concerning the initial planning stages were quite irrelevant. As another reviewer noted, Budd only offers very loose guidelines, and not too many specifics. However, this book, which was only very recently published and therefore unfortunately only available in a hardbound copy, appears to be the only such book available which addresses an audience of couples planning the celebration of their wedding while trying to incorporate Scottish Wedding customs. The most useful discussion, in my opinion, was the section regarding the tartan sash and women's dress for a Scottish tartan wedding. Budd's address of when, where, and how to make use of a bagpiper has likewise proven to be very helpful. I also enjoyed the anecdotes, especially the story of the game used on the Outer Hebrides to gain permission from a possible father-in-law to marry his daughter. From a Catholic perspective, Budd seems to neglect mentioning the sacramentality of marriage and the wedding ceremony, and rather focuses on the ceremony as something more for the couple, than as an outward sign of God's grace for the community of believers, which is made manifest in a loving married couple. Again, in agreement with another reviewer, the appendices addressing clans and their crests and septs and their clans, should have been reserved to another text, especially considering that most individuals who are already steeped in 'all things Scottish,' and perhaps own their kilt as I do, are well aware of the information presented within. Lastly, the scanty discussion of a Highland Honeymoon might best have been left to a separate travelogue of Highland Scotland, of which there are a myriad of wonderful choices. So, overall, Budd's Scottish Tartan Wedding is an adequate source of guidelines and ideas, but could have been much better developed in certain areas, while omitting or relegating to other texts certain topics of discussion.

I am the author of The Traditional Irish Wedding and am currently researching material for the next book in the series which will focus on traditional Scottish wedding celebrations. Eric has put together a terrific book filled with valuable information. It's also beautifully designed. About the only thing that's missing are recipes - otherwise I would have given it 5 stars. Congratulations, Eric!

I really liked this book. I'm currently planning my wedding, and this was a big help. I really wanted to do something a little different. Over the past two years I've discovered a little bit about my herritage and this seems to fit right in. Even if you don't use everthing that is said, like I am doing, it is a great place to get ideas so you do things right.

My husband and I had a Celtic wedding in October 2004. This particular book was very helpful, and I even modeled my tartan sash folding from it. It gave us a lot of ideas on how to incorporate our Scottish heritage. I recommend it!

This book is a very good starting point for anyone looking to stage a wedding in North America with a Scottish theme. Now to be fair, I am a bit biased since I too am from the Clan Gunn and also attended Oberlin College like the author though I did not know this when I purchased this book.

Anyway, onto the subject at hand. This is a good resource in the sense of what you need to keep in mind for a wedding in general and especially if you will be incorporating Scottish themes and accents to the wedding. His section on the customs during the wedding and needing to keep the officiant informed of your plans is a very helpful thing. Our priest has been very accomadating to us since we have kept him in the loop from day 1. Also, he has a very good list of stores in the US that you can contact for clothing (purchase or rental), items and other things Scottish that was a huge help to me personally.

Now, as for the areas of the book, he follows the rules of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) which have payed off quite well for me and my fiance. It has kept the peace in our household courtesy of its good solid basic advice. If you want things to be elaborate or fairy-tale go elsewhere. If you want a good solid wedding planning book that incidently tells you all you need to know to pull off a Scottish Wedding in North America rather than Scotalnd, here is the book for you.

This is a very helpful book. It contains all the details to consider when planning a wedding, not just the Scottish version. I appreciate the list of sources also.

This was a rather generalized book. It covers everything addressed in other publications. The artwork inside appears hand-drawn and gives you basic ideas about wearing the tartan, different ways to tie a tartan sash, etc. I found 2 pages helpful out of the entire book regarding the order of processional when using the services of a bagpiper. Otherwise, I found the majority of the information repetitive. If you are marrying into a Scot/Irish clan and have no knowledge of the customs this book might be helpful. I agree with other reviewers that the clan septs, names, crests, and Scottish baby names should have been reserved for another book.

Some good ideas, but hardly worth the outrageous price. Find it in a shop, breeze through the sections that pertain to your particular wedding, and leave it in the shop. A better loaner than keeper.