The traditional Irish bride often wore a blue wedding dress, which symbolized purity in ancient times. It wasn’t until the Victorian era that a white wedding dress began to symbolize virginity and purity. Interestingly, it’s considered bad luck for the bride to wear green (it was thought to entice the fairies).
Irish wedding dresses are often embellished with Irish lace. While irish lace dates at least as far back as the 16th century, in 1845 the Ursuline Sisters set up a crochet center in Blackrock, County Cork to provide employment during the famine. Irish lace quickly became haute couture across the United States and the Continent, and crochet centers were opened throughout Ireland to meet the demand, to some small extent lessening the privations of the Great Famine.
Another tradition is for the bride to braid her hair for her wedding day. Braided hair is an ancient symbol of feminine power and luck. In the old days, many Irish brides wore a wreath of wildflowers in their hair; they also carried them in bouquets. English lavender, an ancient symbol of love, loyalty, devotion and even luck is often mixed with the bride’s wedding flowers to help insure a happy and long-lasting union. Many brides today who aren’t too concerned with offending the fairies carry green Bells of Ireland flowers in their bouquets.
Irish brides used to carry a real horseshoe for good luck. (Turned up so the luck wouldn't run out). Most Irish brides these days carry one made of fabric, which is worn on the wrist, or stitched into her gown. Sometimes they are made of porcelain, and sometimes used to decorate the wedding cake.
Another symbol of luck is to be married on St. Patrick's Day, considered the luckiest wedding anniversary date in Ireland. The last day of the old year is also thought to be especially lucky for weddings. According to Gaelic tradition it is unlucky to marry in the month of May; “Marry in May and rue the day; marry in April if you can, joy for maiden and for man”. It was considered unlucky to marry on a Saturday. As with planting, it is considered much more fortuitous to marry on a waxing rather than waning moon. It was said to be lucky to marry on a “growing moon and a flowing tide”.
A bride might carry a special handkerchief (of Irish linen or lace, of course) that with a few stitches at the corners will be turned into a christening bonnet for their first child. With a couple of snips it can be turned back into a handkerchief that her daughter can carry on her wedding day.
The chime of bells is thought to keep evil spirits away, restore harmony if a couple is fighting, and also remind a couple of their wedding vows. Giving a bell as a gift has become an Irish tradition. An upright horseshoe is also a traditional Irish wedding gift.
An Irish bride's wedding ring is called a claddagh ring. It is a heart held by two hands with the heart topped by a crown. The hands represent faith or friendship, the crown symbolizes honor or loyalty, and the heart signifies love. The ring’s motto is: “Let love and friendship reign.” Claddagh rings originated from a village near Galway in Ireland in the 17th Century. These are sometimes regarded as Catholic, however they are becoming popular in Scotland with Gaelic speakers of many religions.
If a woman wears a claddagh ring on her right hand with the heart facing outward toward the end of her finger she is signifying that she is a single woman, free to see whomever she desires. If the ring is worn on the right hand with the heart facing inward, toward the woman’s knuckle, then she is signifying that she is engaged. Finally, if a claddagh ring is worn on the left hand it means that the woman is married.
Grooms may elect to wear a kilt and kilt jacket. While not historically Irish, the kilt became popularized in the 1880’s by the Gaelic League and Irish patriots like Patrick Pearse, Bernard FitzPatrick, Eamonn Ceannt, Douglas Hyde, and Pierce O’Mahony, until now it’s recognized as a form of national dress. While there are many modern Irish national, county, and family tartans (many "Irish" tartans, while quite lovely, are actually recent inventions of Scottish woolen mills, first produced in the 1990’s), the most common and widely recognized is the solid colored saffron kilt as worn by Bernard FitzPatrick and Pierce O’Mahoney while campaigning for home rule in Parliament in the 1880’s, by Douglas Hyde, the first President of Ireland in 1938, and by the pipers of the Irish Defense Forces and the Royal Irish Regiment today. Distinctively Irish solid color kilts are also seen in dark greens, blues, and reds.
If the groom is wearing an Irish family tartan, he might consider adopting the Scottish tradition of pinning the tartan on his new bride, symbolically welcoming her into his clan or family. Following the exchange of vows and rings the groom pins a sash of his clan’s tartan to the bride’s wedding dress to signify that she is now a member of his clan (the right shoulder unless they are marrying a clan chief or a colonel of a Scottish regiment). Besides long over-the-shoulder sashes, there are shorter ones with decorative rosettes which can highlight a decorative brooch in the center, which are very nice for this purpose. A groom wearing a brat (Irish for “mantle” or “cloak”, worn folded upon the right shoulder) in his tartan might also remove it and wrap her shoulders as a shawl.
By far the most popular way to incorporate Celtic tradition into a wedding ceremony is to have the bride ceremoniously piped down the aisle, and the couple piped out again by a bagpiper. There may also be processionals for the bridesmaids and mothers, piping as guests leave for the reception, and piping at the reception, too. Preludes should be kept short, if used at all, so the piper will be fresh and well tuned for the bride’s big entrance.
An adaptation of the Celtic tradition of handfasting can be a highly symbolic part of the ceremony, as the hands of the bride and groom are joined by a cord or ribbon. In olden days the priest or minister would wrap the clasped hands in the end of his stole to symbolize the trinity of marriage; man and woman joined by God. With God’s grace in time another trinity would be manifest; mother, father and child (The Celts have always been good at seeing things in threes). This symbolic binding together in marriage evolved into the practice of wrapping the clasped hands with a cord or an embroidered cloth, usually made especially for that purpose, another version of “tying the knot”. It’s usually done after the exchange of rings, using the bride and grooms left hands while facing each other. Following a final blessing or benediction they can then both turn outwards to face the congregation to be presented as husband and wife, still holding hands, bound each to the other.
Following the ceremony, a man should always be the first to wish joy to the bride, never a woman.
Unlike formal dinners, it was traditional at Irish weddings for everyone to be seated and welcome to participate with complete disregard for social or class status, from the local magistrate or lord of the manor to common laborers and field hands. Often as not, “everyone” didn’t mean simply the family and friends of the couple, but the whole town.
At the reception, the bride and groom can be ceremoniously piped in to the head table. Of course, their first dance can be to the pipes as well, either a waltz air, or more traditionally, a reel. When dancing, the bride shouldn't take both feet off the floor because the fairies will get the upper hand. Fairies love beautiful things and one of their favorites is a bride. For the same reason, it’s traditional for the groom to pick up and carry his new bride across the threshold upon arrival home.
Mead is a traditional drink for the couple at the reception, and for a full month (actually, a full cycle of the moon) following the wedding, which is supposedly where we get the term “honeymoon”. Meade was thought to be both an aphrodisiac and to promote fertility. It’s traditional once the piping’s done to “pay the piper”; for the head table, usually the bride, to offer the piper (the Pipe Major, if a band) a ceremonial dram, in return for a traditional blessing.
A traditional response to ceremonial toasts is Sláinte! (slansh-a); Irish Gaelic for “To your health!”
The “Grushie” is an old custom found in many of the Celtic countries. The groom tosses a handful of coins into the crowd as the couple is leaving. It is believed to bring good luck to the newly married couple.