Bagpipe music adds a stirring, romantic atmosphere and finishing touch to your wedding day. Pipers have been entertaining guests at weddings for centuries. It adds great background music to the event, and a Piper dressed in traditional costume turns heads in any environment. The Piper is an attractive extra in photographs, and the sound of the pipes in the background of your video will add special memories.
Remember that every one of our performances is individually tailored to your wedding and to meet your wishes! That includes the tunes you request, when you want the Piper to play and how the Piper dresses. As a standard, our Pipers play traditional Irish music, but it is entirely up to you what you prefer, we will do all we can to meet your musical requests. This includes especially Scottish and American music, but we are very versatile; if you favorite tune can be played on the pipes, we can arrange it!
Why Hire a Piper?
The Piper can play as much or as little as you wish. We will work with you to arrange for the Piper to play at any part of the day. Here are some descriptions of how Pipers perform at most weddings:
- Piping outside the outside the church or other wedding venue to welcome the guests as they arrive.
- Piping a special salute to the bride as she arrives and is escorted from the car. A jig or a similar lively tune is appropriate here.
- Piping for the guests as they leave the receiving line and gather outside to await the bride and groom. The Piper can play a variety of tunes and airs for your guests’ listening pleasure.
- Piping for the newlywed couple leave the ceremony: there’s nothing like the fanfare provided by the pipes in the background as the newlyweds dash through the crowd to the car!
Some Additional Ideas
- Down the aisle ~ The Piper can play the bride down the aisle to any tune! It can be a very interesting and surprising alternative to the usual organ march. There are lovely and stately ceremonial marches which may be played for this purpose; one of the best is from the Irish tradition: The March of King of Laois.
- Lighting of the unity candle ~ The Piper can be used to play a hymn or air as the candle is lit.
Some Other Requests We Have Received
- As a wake up call ~ What better way to wake up than to the sound of the pipes.
- Out of the house and into the car ~ Let your neighbors know that your big day has arrived in style, the sound of the pipes will certainly draw their attention to the fact that you are about to travel on the journey to the rest of your life.
Reception Ideas
- Welcoming guests to the reception ~ Your guests will certainly know where the doors to your reception are when they see the Piper playing at the entrance.
- As background music during the cocktail hour
- Playing during the photographs – A few tunes to keep your guests entertained as they wait patiently for all the family photos; the Piper can play away in the distance.
- Piping newlyweds to the top table – “Ladies and Gentlemen will you please welcome the New Mr. and Mrs. (your name)” What better entrance can you have than to be accompanied to your seats by a Piper, the audience will clap you to the beat of the tune all the way to your seats.
- At the cutting of the cake ~ This may happen prior to you taking your seats for the meal. The Piper will pipe you to the cake, will stand still as you cut the cake and pictures are taken, then pipe you to your seats before marching out of the room.
- During the evenings entertainment ~ a popular, idea is to have a group of Pipers or Pipers and a drummer play for 10-15 minutes during the meal, this helps break your evening up and gives the band a rest. A stepdancer or stepdancers may be incorporated here. One of our favorite touches is to invite the newlyweds to dance a waltz to the music of the pipes! It’s a romantic moment you and your guests will never forget it.
