The Viewing

• Prior to the wedding, the bride's family hosts an open house. All of the gifts given to the couple are unwrapped and put on display. The women gift-givers are invited over to look at the presents and get acquainted with one another and the bride before the wedding, similar to a bridal shower in the United States.
  
  

Taking Out

• After the viewing of gifts, the bride's friends take her out to celebrate the upcoming nuptials. The group may dress their guest-of-honor up in household fabrics, such as curtains, and give her things to carry in her arms, such as a baby doll and plastic toilet with salt in it for good luck. The women bang pots and pans as they hit the town, and the bride exchanges kisses for money that the men drop in the pot for well wishes.
  
  

Feet Washing

• On the eve of the wedding, it has been customary for the bride's women friends and family to wash her feet. According to Scottish Wedding Traditions, "A tub of water was placed in the best room, in which the bride placed her feet, her female friends then gathered around to help wash them. A wedding ring from a happily married woman was previously placed in the tub and it was believed that whoever found the ring would be the next to get married."
  
  

Attire

• The groom, along with his groomsmen and perhaps other men in the congregation, may choose to embrace their heritage by wearing a kilt. While the kilt has more historical significance than practical, many modern-day Scotsmen still embrace this tradition on special occasions. The bride wears a traditional white wedding gown that may have details of Irish lace.
  
  

Procession

• On the way to the church, the bride would give the first man she saw a drink, and he would then be obliged to walk with the bridal party for a mile along their way to the ceremony site. If they saw a funeral on their way, it was considered bad luck and the wedding party would have to turn around and start over.
  
  

Ceremony

• Once at the church, the bride walks down the aisle to the sound of bagpipes and the ceremony begins. In a process called hand fasting, the couples' hands are tied together using cord or tartan cloth to symbolize their two lives becoming one. As a welcome to the family, the person who is joining the clan, usually the bride, is pinned with a piece of her new family's tartan and often, the same thing is done with a sword. A sword is presented from the bride's family to the groom to signify protection, or from the groom's family to the bride as a gift for their first-born son.