On Saturday 19th, Fuze Ceremonies hosted a Wedding Traditions parade along the High Street ofย Fort William to raise awareness for the Fun, Frocks & Fundraising event that theyย are holding on Saturday 26thย April, also in Fort William to raise money for Lochaber Hope.
The parade consisted of a wedding march from the south end of the street and was headed by the Lochaber Schools Pipe Band. Our stand in Bride and Groom, Scott andย Cheryl looked great as they walked down the street together, Iโm sure many of theย spectators believed that they were actually getting married, followed by the amazingย Lochaber Hope volunteers shaking collection buckets and handing out leaflets.
Theย wedding march is an old tradition where the bride and groom walk to the place ofย their marriage, followed by their wedding guests in pairs. Bringing up the rear were 2 people with brooms made of heather sweeping the path behind them. Theย symbolism of this is that the heather brooms sweep away their footsteps so that theย fairies cannot follow the bride and groom and bring them bad luck.
When the procession made it to the other end of the High Street aย large crowd had formed-they were waiting to see the next part of the parade, which was theย traditional โblackeningโ of the bride and groom. The ritual of covering brides andย grooms in treacle, soot and flour used to be carried out to ward off evil spirits. Inย our case we replaced the soot with seaweed that Anne had collected fresh from theย shores in Arisaig that morning. Cheryl, our beautiful bride volunteered to take partย in the blackening but due to the fact that we didnโt want to ruin Scottโs kilt we had aย stunt double Peter step in. This was great fun and lots of children and adults all got involved to throw the disgusting concoction over the two volunteers to make sure theyย were well and truly โblackenedโ. The two then posed gracefully for pictures โ andย many tourists were even asking for pictures with them.
The next wedding tradition that we had was a scramble for the children. A โscrambleโย involves a handful of coins being thrown around the time of the bouquet toss intendedย for the children to collect. The children that were there really got stuck in to theย scramble and all were rewarded with some money to take home for their piggy banks.
The whole afternoon was a great success. The weather was beautiful and everyoneย was on high spirits and willing to get involved. Now we have next Saturday to lookย forward to (April 26th) for our next fundraiser for Lochaber Hope โ Fun, Frocks & Fundraising.ย
This is sure to be another great day out for all. Get your tickets here and come alongย and help a great local charity Lochaber Hope.
Contact jodie@dev.fuzeceremonies.co.uk for more info.