How to Incorporate Irish Wedding Traditions

Planning a wedding is an important and exciting part of getting married. There are many themes and traditions to pick from. If you have an Irish heritage then incorporating Irish wedding traditions into your wedding can make this special day even more special. The Irish have a rich and colorful history, full of folklore and myths. By drawing on their traditions, you can have a beautiful and memorable wedding.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

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1. 

   Hand out make-up bells as each guest arrives at the ceremony. These little bells are thought to keep evil away and keep harmony between the couple by helping them to remember their vows. If they hear the bells while arguing then they have to stop and make up, never to bring up the disagreement again.

2. 

   Give the bride a small horseshoe to carry. Horseshoes are good luck and must be carried upright so the luck doesn’t flow out. It can be a horseshoe charm on a bracelet, a small porcelain horseshoe sewn into the sleeve of her dress or a horseshoe sewn on a handkerchief.

3. 

   Use a Claddagh wedding ring. This ring design is hands clasping a crown and a heart and symbolizes friendship, love and loyalty. A married woman wears the ring with the crown pointing out.

4. 

   Add hand fasting to the ceremony. This tradition involves tying the bride and groom together around the wrist with a ceremonial ribbon. This signifies that the two are tied or bound together forever.

5. 

   Make an Irish wedding cake. Traditionally, an Irish wedding cake consisted of three layers of whiskey-laced fruitcake with an almond paste icing. If having a whole fruitcake for a wedding cake doesn’t appeal to you then make just the top layer a fruitcake and the rest of the cake however you want it.

6. Serve traditional Irish foods at the reception. Irish soda bread, shrimp and lamb are considered traditional Irish wedding reception fare. Mead can be used to toast the happy couple instead of champagne.

Tips & Warnings

• Many Irish brides will braid their hair and wear a cluster of flowers instead of wearing a veil. When dancing during the reception, the bride should always leave one foot on the ground. This will keep the fairies from spiriting the bride away.
• The top layer of the cake is to be kept until the christening of the couple’s first child.
• The bride must never wear green. Though a lucky color for the Irish, green also attracts the fairies, which is not a good idea for a wedding. Blue is the lucky color for brides.

[mollymccall]

on 10/5/2009 I love that you included the bits about teh fairies stealing the bride. I told my friends that when I was getting married and they thought I made it up!