Ten Ways to Have an Irish Wedding
Ed. note — Another clever idea for an Irish favor, especially if you're marrying someone of another nationality: to serve small bottles of Bailey's Irish Cream at the reception, plus a mini-liquor bottle for them (Tequila, rum, whiskey, you name it!).
By Jackie Duescher
Honor your Emerald Isle heritage with traditions that are romantic, clever, and a couple that are downright strange. Uncover here how to fill your wedding with all things Irish save the Blarney Stone.
Harvest Knots. According to history, Irish men declared their intentions of marriage by giving their fiancee harvest knots of straw decorated with flowers or bells to wear in their hair or around their neck. Make a harvest knot to wear on your wedding day, or place one in your bouquet to symbolize your Irish heritage.
Ceilidh. The steps of Irish folkdances are called ceilidh. Treat your attendants to an Irish dancing lesson, and then "perform" a jig to traditional Irish music at the reception.
Lace! A way to incorporate Celtic pride into your wedding attire (besides hand-beading four leaf clovers all over your gown) is to adorn yourself with beautiful Irish lace. Known for its intricate patterns and zenith quality, wear a veil or carry a handkerchief made of this intricate Irish decoration.
Playin' o' the Pipes. Infuse your ceremony with the strains of the Irish pipes. Although bagpipes have Celtic roots, they are traditionally Scottish. For a truly Emerald Isle affair, locate an Irish uillean piper to lead the processional or recessional.
Irish Wedding Feast. The customary wedding feast in Ireland was a potluck hosted at the bride's family's home. Each guest brought traditional Irish dishes such as soda bread, coddle, and stew. Even if you're having a more formal reception, you can still celebrate this Irish tradition by having a "feast" for your bridal shower or rehearsal dinner.
The Wedding Cake. Old custom dictates that the Irish wedding cake (usually a dense fruit cake with white icing) was cut by one of the bride's sisters or bridesmaids. Where would they cut it? Over her head, of course. The bride remained seated while the groomsmen held the cake over her head while her sister or best friend did the honors. Our only concern: this tradition works best and safest when the cake is NOT a four-tiered confectionary concoction. Eeeek!
Noise Makers. A noisy way to ring in your nuptials with the luck o' the Irish is to have a recessional like those in Celtic history: instead of throwing rice upon exiting the church, men would fire rifles or other firearms into the air to signal that a couple is wed. Not your traditional exit (most churches would frown upon guns in the parking lot), if the men use blanks in their guns, and if you are getting married in an area without noise ordinances, then fire away, Irish style.
Giving the Claddagh. Two hands holding a heart underneath a crown is the Irish symbol for "Let Love and Friendship Reign". Share your Irish heritage with your attendants by giving them Celtic-inspired gifts marked with the claddagh. Give your maid of honor a candle gift engraved with the "faith ring", or jewelry made of claddagh. Buy claddagh wedding rings, or wear the Irish symbol around your neck on your wedding day as a reminder of your heritage.
Tokens of Hair. A more unusual Irish tradition is for the man to give the woman he loves a bracelet woven of human hair. Symbolic of acceptance, when the woman wears the circle of hair, she is linking herself to him for life. There's no mention of exactly who's hair it is, however, so if wearing hair jewelry gives you the heevies, see "Harvest Knots" for the same idea, using straw instead.
Lucky Dates. The traditionally superstitious Irish believed that the last day of the year is especially lucky, since the couple would wake up on the first day of their new life on the first day of the new year. Plan your wedding for December 31, the luckiest of Celtic days.
Jackie Duescher provides the customer service for
Keepsake Favors as well as inspiration for many of the favor creations on the site. Jackie has a special knack for finding Irish themed favors for weddings other occasions, and she firmly believes that a favor doesn't have to be expensive to impress your guests.
I just got married this past weekend – my husband and I are both 100% Irish. We had Irish music, Irish flowers (Bells of Ireland), I wore shamrock bobby pins in my hair – we had our ring bearers carry a Horseshoe that was placed by the unity candle and an irish bell also placed by the unity candle. The bell is used by the new couple as a way to stop a fight… As tradition I carried a small shamrock flower in my big flowers. Our flower girls wore shamrock ribbons in their hair and instead of flower petals they dropped small shamrock pillows out of their baskets.
At our reception we used 50 shamrock tins that we filled with water and placed in a floating candle. Our bridal party along with my husband and I gave speechs there were irish blessings.
I have several things that I would not be using anylonger- please respond if you are interest in any of these things or have questons on where to purchse them- thanks
hi! I’m planning to have an irish wedding theme for our big day, next year. I’m interested to know what your stuffs are and where do you purchase those irish themed stuffs. Thanks and God bless.
Hi, I’m not engaged nor am I Irish (not that I know of at least). I would love to have an Irish wedding someday, but I’d like to incorporate my fave color into it as well. How would you recommend that I do that? The color is purple.
Sherry,
First I recommend securing a venue to see if the colors will compliment. It is a custom to use the color lavender in weddings and thruout the decor. English lavender is also a tradition to add to the florals- which stands for love, loyalty, devotion, and luck. Most think that white wedding dress is traditional for a irish wedding but blue actually is. According to Irish lore, the color green was avoided to keep the fairyfolk from causing mischief. Purple is actually the perfect color to use. Make sure to include lots of greenery etc. I would actually keep it simple using a combo of lavender, a deeper purple, and white.
* Shabby chic wedding 2
* shabby chic wedding
* elegant shabby chic wedding
i am planning an irish themed hens night, any ideas on how to make it irish themed. tacky is ok!
melanie,
* you might like some of these ideas
* loads of ideas
* even more pics
How do you make an Irish Harvest knot.? We are willing to make our own if we could only find and purchase instructions.
Thank you for your help.
cindy kish
Cindy,
* tips here
* same tips including pic
Hi Cindy
Instructions for making a Harvest Knot – have a look at this webpage:
http://www.strawcraftsmen.co.uk/project03.php
There are a lot of great ideas here. I plan to have an Irish themed Wedding too. I have a friend who owns Irish Sport Horses and she’s saving their shoes for me. I’m cleaning them up, painting them and writing the guest’s family names on them and stringing them with different ribbons. They will act as favors as well as place “cards”. I also plan to have small pots of 4 leaf clovers for everyone to take home. I like to have functional but appealing favors.
Anyone have anymore cake ideas?
Rachel,
What about a claddaugh or celtic knot cake?
* pics
* you could have this stenciled on your cake.
Thank you Stacey! I’m not a big fan of the Claddaugh just because I think it is so over done. I loved some of the Knot work cakes though. The Shamrock was really cool. :)
I am planning on having an irish wedding on March 13th. If someone has pictures that they don’t mind sending me for ideas that would be awesome. ashley_32713@yahoo.com is my email. Thanks so much. And if someone has ideas on where to find things feel free to let me know in email.
Hey everyone! I was married on St. Patrick’s Day in 2007 and had somewhat of an Irish theme. My dress had emerald green trim and our wedding party wore alternating emerald & a jewel tone blue. We had all white tulips w/ sprinkles of shamrocks and our favors were pots of gold (chocolate coins). I wore a horseshoe pendant neclace. Other than that it was just our wedding, our way. Having an Irish theme was a huge hit! I have lots of pics so just reply if you would like to see a few!
I would love to see your pictures! I am planning my wedding for March 6th and need some more inspiration! thank you’
Amy
Emz…
Would love to see some pictures of your wedding. We want to bring in abit of the irish theme without over doing it! Your bouquets sound lovely!
Thank you,
Kelly-Ann
Here are 3 pics from my March 17 wedding. :)
Hi would really love to know where you got the shamrock piece you are wearing in your hair… thanks
If I remember right, it was from a site called Long Haired Girl or something!
Here are some more pics.
We also had this guesbook:
http://www.bridalpeople.com/images/products/15312-L.jpg
This Unity Candle, customized with our names, etc. (which we didn’t use, it ended up being a keepsake. We were married in an Art Museum and couldn’t have any open flame. But it was a nice gift. :) )
http://www.personalizedweddingcandle.com/images/unity_celticeternity3_big.gif
and my Garter(s) were very similar to this:
http://www.gartersbykristi.com/images/categories/nov_irish_lg.jpg
Hope that helps!
Emz,
For our 25th wedding anniversary, we are renewing our vows with an outdoor Celtic ceremony (I am Scottish, Irish and Welsh). I would LOVE to see your pictures–it’s sounds lovely. Thanks!
Linda
i am becoming an event planner & helping a friend with her wedding. its goin to take place on St. Patrick’s Day & i would love to see pics of your special day to get a few pointers for hers, Thanks A Bunch!!
I’d love to see some pics of your irish wedding.
I would love to see the pictures of your Irih themed wedding. I am looking for a shamrock hair piece, any thoughts? I would love to see the pictures of your tulips sprinkled with shamrocks.
Thanks!
Please I’m in desperate for help and ideas for our wedding. We are planning a Celtic wedding in Sept. 2010. I would love to see your pics to get some more ideas. Thanks
I’d love to see pictures of your Irish wedding! I’m coming up with color schemes/theme ideas now, and I think we are going to go Irish! :)
Hey I am proud Irish man and my fiance is serbian but likes the idea of an Irish wedding but she wants to have this certian dress and she doesnt like the pipes and she also wants things in the wedding her way so what can i do to convince her that an Irish wedding is good way to go. also does anyone have any places for a dress that is good for the Irish lace dress. thanks for your help.
-Ryan
ERIN GO BRAGH!
ryan, hi!! its gonna be difficult to change her mind on the dress she wants to wear on for her wedding day. a bride knows which dress is right for her. however, she can carry irish lace in her bouquet and add touches of the irish to the wedding. if she doesnt want the pipes would she consider a flute or the violin of beautiful irish tunes for her walk up the aisle and then a special song of her culture to leave with ? blending 2 cultures would be a great way to show everyone a bit about your personaliites. consider incorporating the irish blessing into your vows. if she doesnt want the whole irish wedding it will be difficult to change her mind and wrong to convince her to change it but do try to get her to incorporate things that mean alot to you. it is about the both of you but that doesnt mean you cant sit down and talk about where you can put that in and make it truly unique. i do love irish wedding themes!! tell her you would suggest blending the 2 cultures. that way each of you have what you want. its not fair for it to be a one sided wedding. have the lucky horseshoe somewhere etc. usually a bride carrys it but she may not want to, if not, then have it as part of the cake topper. ask her to incorporate bells of ireland into the florals, at least the centerpieces. please write back if you need any more help!!
did anybody ever see a shamrock wedding cake?
I am having mine custom done because we are getting married on st. paddys day. my pasrty chef drew it out and made a sample cake for me it was beautiful!!!!!!
Moo, I hope you can post photos when all’s said and done!
Lisa, it’s hard to find a pretty shamrock cake. Most that I’ve seen have been a bit “cutesy,” not what I think most brides are looking for.
An alternative is triskele designs or celtic bands around the cake layers. There are tons of designs out there that look elegant. If you’re worried about that looking a bit “tribal” these designs look amazing and feminine in white-on-white. A pretty satin plaid ribbon band around the layers also looks elegant! Here’s a few ideas, HTH!
I am planning a celtic and Irish theme wedding and I am clueless as to how to arrange silk bouquets and boutiners. Can anyone help? What flowers are traditional for a sping wedding with a Celtic and Irish theme. Thanks!
Hi Melissa, see darkeyedredhead’s Irish wedding planning album to spark maybe a few ideas. Her colors were berry and white, she had a beautiful dragonfly motif and there were a few silk bouquets in there.
I’ll keep my eyes open for more ideas, but I think you’ll enjoy checking this out. Very creative couple.
we are having a sort of irish theme wedding as my h2b is with the irish guards and im having dificulty finding nice greens that wont look dull as its a summer wedding xx
hey!!! im not irish but my fiance is, I want to have some irish things on my wedding to honor his culture. i need ideas…please..
jennifer, we’re doing a low glass globe as centerpiece with floating candles in shamrock shape and as favors i bought molds to make chocolate candy in shape of claddagh and shamrocks from http://www.getsuckered.com.
got about 8 molds for $25. and i’m currently looking for a cake serving set irish themed. also ring bearer will be carrying shamrock shaped pillow. http://www.orientaltrading.com is also good for inexpensive stuff as favors. good luck
speaking of serving sets, anyone know where i can get a decent, yet inexpensive, cake serving set with a claddagh on handle or engraved on it? thanks!
Hey Nancy thx for the ideas i will look for the serving set if i c anything i will let you know…ciao
Does anyone know where I can buy single shot bottles of Bailey’s for under $2 each?
Most local state liquor stores carry the one-shot bottles of liquor, if you don’t have one or can’t find one, a many party stores that sell acohol have them that you can even buy by the case!