Men in Skirts

The wedding day has arrived. We all drove to the hotel my brother and his wife-to-be are staying. We picked my brother up and dropped the mothers off to get their hair and make-up done. Meredith would have approved, the make-up artist airbrushed their make-up on.

The men meanwhile zipped off to the local bank branch to see if we could get some cash. The English and the Scots are a bit ahead of us in credit card security. We had a hard time over the last few days at shops and ATMs because most of the machines require "smart" chipped credit cards. All of ours are still using magnetic strips so the machines won't read them properly. We lucked out and the bank's ATM was able to read mag stripes.


We drove to Annan to a tailor to pick up out kilts. The tailor spent a while with us making sure everything fit right. Each of us took turns trying things on so the tailor wouldn't get things mixed up. This had the added benefit of allowing us to watch how to put everything on several times.

We went back to the hotel to drop my brother off and pick up the mothers and drove to B&B to get dressed for the wedding.


Kilts are actually quite comfortable and surprisingly warm as long as the wind doesn't kick up.


We drove to Anvil Hall and the wedding party was "piped" in by a piper. We waited for a bit for my brother and soon to be sister-in-law to arrive by Rolls Royce.


The bride & Groom were piped into the church, my brother first, the bride escorted in by her step-father. The wedding ceremony was short and sweet. In Gretna, they say vows over an anvil which has a symbolic meaning of forging together of two things. The minister joked a bit. Told them at one point to hold hands, then explained the meaning of the anvil and picked up the hammer and told them to put their hands on the anvil. Being a little naive, they preceded to do so, which was met by a mischievous grin from the minister who said "just kidding."


After pronouncing them man and wife, he hit the hammer to the anvil. A nice kiss followed.


They were ushered over to a small alcove and signed the marriage certificate together making it official.

We spent the next hour taking photographs in a dozen different places in and around the Hall.


I decided I like this kilt thing. Maybe I'll just wear one all the time now.


No internet access at the B&B...so posts will be sporadic (heck, there isn't even a phone in the room). I snagged some internet access at the hotel my brother is staying at, but tonight is his last night here. The newlyweds will move out to the B&B after this.