A Family Wedding!
During our quaichshop blog of March 2021, we noted that: “Drawing on a long lived Scottish tradition, quaichs are featuring more and more frequently in wedding celebrations. The use of a quaich during the marriage ceremony itself can be a very successful addition, with the new husband and wife sealing their vows by drinking from a ceremonial quaich. The choice of tipple is theirs!” So the traditional Scottish quaich goes together with a wedding, like a bride and groom, and speeches and toasts.
A couple of years later, this became very personal to our own family in June 2023, when our daughter Kathleen married her fiancée Lewis, in the Burke and Hare Room in Hotel du Vin in Edinburgh’s Bristo Place. Inevitably, the bride and groom drinking from a suitably engraved silver Stag’s Head quaich featured in the ceremony!
The happy couple’s choice of the liquid which they drank from the quaich was a very individual one. Our daughter’s contribution was Laurent Perrier champagne, whilst her new husband opted for the Islay malt Kilchoman Casado – casado is Spanish for married!
So, at the appropriate point in the ceremony, the mother of the bride poured in a good measure of champagne whilst the mother of the groom did likewise with the fine malt whisky. This unique blend seemed to work well, as the quaich was entirely empty after this part of the ceremony! As well as the quaich ceremony, hand-fasting also featured in Kathleen and Lewis’s wedding, as is described on quaichshop’s page on quaichs and weddings. Despite being assisted by the bride’s father, this part of the ceremony also went well!
Quaichs can also feature as wedding gifts to the bride and groom, from them to other family members to mark the occasion, or from the happy couple to their bridesmaids and groomsmen. Couples who are re-affirming their wedding vows may also opt to drink a mutual toast from the same quaich at an appropriate point in their ceremony. Personalised engraving on the wedding quaich or quaichs ensures that the gifts are an enduring memento of the happy occasion. Let us help you make your own special day even more individual and enjoyable!