Irish Wedding Traditions

Irish wedding traditions bring to mind Celtic wedding music and claddah rings and lots of drink. Actually the term honeymoon may have been from the Irish wedding tradition of drinking honey wine on the wedding day and drinking from the same glasses for a month after to ward off fairies. The Irish were very suspicious that fairies would carry away the bride since brides are beautiful things on a wedding day.

If you wanted to incorporate some Irish wedding traditions into your special day why not start the wedding off with a traditional Irish wedding song or Irish wedding blessing. One favorite Irish wedding traditional blessing is: “May your troubles be less, And your blessings be more, and nothing but happiness walk through your door.” You could also chant the Irish wedding toast of “Slainte” all day wishing the couple a wonderful life together.

Though many people think the traditional Irish color is green as far as an Irish wedding tradition goes it is bad luck to for a bride to have a green wedding dress. It is appropriate for a girl to wear lace though since it is a sturdy thing representing a good marriage. It is also common for girls to wear wreaths of wildflowers instead of a veil. However, she may not put the veil on herself since it is back luck, but having a well married woman putting it on for her is an Irish wedding tradition.

When you are picking out traditional Irish music for your wedding listen to as much as you can. You may pick a jig or a love song or a round. If you decide to have a very traditional Irish song played at your reception then you may want to supply sheet music so everyone can sing along. Having traditional music played while you celebrate the Irish wedding tradition of having your mother-in-law smash a piece of cake over your head is supposed to lead to the two of you being friends for life.

One last Irish wedding traditions you may want to incorporate is having upside down horseshoes on your wedding favors, guestbook, garter and the Irish wedding gifts you give your bridal party. To have the horseshoe upside down will bring luck to you with out ever running out. Luck, love, family and joy are all Irish wedding traditions you want to use to have your day be more personally you; and hey, warding off evil fairies never hurt.