Photo by Sarah Fulton
WEDDING BAGPIPER
Photo by Sarah Fulton
Wedding Bagpiper Edinburgh
Bagpiper for Wedding – As your dedicated wedding bagpiper, I can perform at key moments throughout your special day – from welcoming guests before the bride’s arrival, to leading to the top table to take your seats for your wedding breakfast. Whether your wedding is traditional, modern, intimate or grand, I tailor the music and moments to suit your style.
You can also listen to samples of the traditional and contemporary tunes I play during each part of your wedding day – helping you to visualise the atmosphere the bagpipes can bring.
With many wedding bagpipers out there, it’s natural to ask: Why book me?
At a glance
Grade 1 competing piper – I’ve performed at the highest level in competitive piping
The finest bagpiper’s uniform – I’m immaculately attired in the ceremonial Piper’s No.1 Full Highland Dress
Over 30 years of experience – I’ve played for thousands of happy couples!
Venue expertise – Familiar with most wedding venues in the Edinburgh area
When does a bagpiper play at a wedding?
Wedding ceremony
From welcoming your guests to piping you back down the aisle as a married couple, a piper adds essential Scottish tradition to your ceremony.
Key moments
Welcoming your guests
Piping the bride or partner up the aisle on the Highland Pipes or the mellow Scottish Small Pipes
Back down the aisle for the newlywed’s recessional and confetti shower
Wedding breakfast
From welcoming your wedding party to your reception, giving you a grand entrance to your first meal as a married couple, concluding with the Piper’s Toast.
Key moments
Welcoming you and your wedding party to your reception venue
Piping the married couple to the top table for the wedding breakfast
Reciting the time-honoured Piper’s Toast to the newlyweds, then piping back out of the dining hall
Bagpiper for Wedding Ceremony
These are the parts of the ceremony when a bagpiper at a wedding is traditionally called upon to play. I also offer the Scottish Small Pipes to pipe you up the aisle to, and during the signing of the register.
Welcoming your guests
I’ll arrive around an hour before your ceremony begins and play for 30–45 minutes as your guests arrive. This gives everyone a warm Scottish welcome, helps create a sense of occasion from the moment they reach the venue, and sets a celebratory tone before your ceremony gets under way.
Bride or partner’s arrival
If you’re arriving at your wedding ceremony by car, I’ll play as you and your bridal party arrive and while any photographs are being taken. If you’re walking any distance, perhaps from your accommodation to your ceremony venue, I’ll pipe you all the way!
Pipe the bride or partner up the aisle
Photo by Jonathon Fowler
This is one of my favourite moments as a wedding piper, and it’s when all eyes are upon you! Here I can play either the traditional Highland “big” Pipes, or the Scottish Small Pipes if you’d like a softer and more restrained sound as you make your way up the aisle.
Signing the register – The Small Pipes
The Scottish Small Pipes are ideal for providing soft background music while you and your witnesses sign the marriage schedule. This part of the ceremony can take a few minutes, so the music gives your guests something enjoyable to listen to while the necessary paperwork is completed. Their quieter sound is well suited to indoor venues and allows the signing to continue without the music becoming overpowering.
Newlyweds back down the aisle
This is the celebratory moment you take your first steps together as a married couple. The pipes announce the occasion as I lead you back down the aisle, playing an upbeat tune to the applause of your wedding party.
Confetti Shower
After you have walked back down the aisle, I can announce you before piping you through your confetti shower while playing a lively tune. This keeps the momentum of the ceremony going and gives your guests a clear cue to begin throwing the confetti.
Ready to discuss your wedding day?
Bagpiper for Wedding Breakfast
These are the parts of the wedding breakfast or reception when a bagpiper can traditionally play, from welcoming you to the venue and piping you to the top table, to reciting the Piper’s Toast before piping back out of the dining room.
wedding breakfast:
the first meal shared by a newly married couple following their wedding ceremony.
Married couple’s arrival at the reception
If your wedding reception is being held at a different venue, I’ll play to welcome you to your reception. When your guests see me, they’ll know where to go. Or if your reception is walkable from your ceremony, I can pipe your wedding party all the way!
Cutting the wedding cake
If you are cutting your wedding cake during your drinks reception, the sound of the pipes can be used to gather your guests and draw their attention to the moment. I can then announce that you are about to cut the cake and pause while this takes place and photographs are taken. Once you have finished, I’ll pipe myself out to mark the end of the moment, allowing your drinks reception to continue.
Married couple to the top table
I can pipe you into the dining room and lead you through your gathered guests to your seats at the top table, giving you a grand and celebratory entrance to your wedding breakfast. This forms part of a wider Scottish wedding tradition, which I explain in more detail below.
The Piper’s Toast
Once you have taken your seats at the top table, I can perform the traditional Piper’s Toast before piping myself back out of the dining room. There is much more to this tradition than simply raising a glass, and I explain it in more detail below.
Ready to discuss your wedding day?
Your Wedding Breakfast: Grand Entrance & The Piper’s Toast
A memorable beginning to your wedding breakfast
It is a time-honoured tradition for a newly married couple to be piped to their seats at the top table. With your wedding party already gathered inside, I will pipe you into the dining room for a grand and celebratory entrance, playing an upbeat, well-known tune as I lead you through your applauding guests to your seats.
Traditionally, the bride then presents her piper with a dram of whisky in recognition of the duties performed during the wedding day. The piper reciprocates by raising the dram and toasting the couple.
I make the Piper’s Toast a ceremonial part of your wedding breakfast. I address you and your guests and explain the tradition before reciting a verse by the 17th-century Scottish poet and playwright Allan Ramsay, finishing by raising the quaich in a toast to you both.
I then pipe myself back out of the dining room, bringing my duties to a fitting conclusion and providing a natural transition into your speeches and the beginning of your wedding breakfast.
The Scottish Small Pipes
A softer-sounding alternative to the Highland Pipes
At no extra cost, I can play the Scottish Small Pipes during selected parts of your wedding ceremony, including piping the bride or partner up the aisle and providing background music while the marriage schedule is signed.
The Small Pipes are bellows-blown and have a warm, mellow and harmonic sound which is quieter than that of the Highland Pipes. While the Highland Pipes create a bold and dramatic entrance, the Small Pipes offer something more subtle, giving your wedding party a real sense of anticipation as your processional begins.
Mellow and harmonic sound
Ideal for smaller ceremony spaces
Perfect for a more subtle processional
Watch & listen to the Small Pipes played at a wedding
Listen to the Small Pipes
You can hear the distinctive and harmonic sound of the Small Pipes in this recording of the Rose of Allendale which I often play for a bridal entrance.
Wedding Bagpiper’s Uniform
The Piper’s No.1 Full Highland Dress
I wear the Piper’s No.1 Full Highland Dress as standard when playing at weddings. This is the grand military-style uniform traditionally associated with ceremonial pipers, rather than the more commonly worn civilian Day Dress.
No.1 Dress creates a far stronger visual impression and brings a genuine sense of ceremony to your wedding. I have taken great care to assemble my uniform using exceptionally fine traditional, military and custom-made items, ensuring that every part of it looks as smart and impressive as possible.
Take my Bagpiper Uniform Tour to explore the traditional, military and custom-made items that make up my No.1 Full Highland Dress, and discover the details that set it apart from the uniforms worn by most wedding pipers.
Piper’s No.1 Full Highland Dress is included as standard with my wedding bagpiper service. I do not charge extra to wear it.
Wedding Bagpiper Packages and Prices
Choose whether you would like me to play for one part of your wedding day or provide bagpipe music for both your ceremony and wedding breakfast. Both packages include Piper’s No.1 Full Highland Dress and the Scottish Small Pipes at no additional cost.
Wedding Bagpiper packages start from £200. The Piper’s No.1 Full Highland Dress and the choice of the Scottish Small Pipes are included at no extra cost
Wedding Ceremony +
Wedding Breakfast
For both parts of your wedding day
Up to five hours
Your wedding ceremony
Your wedding breakfast
Piper’s No.1 Full Highland Dress
Highland Pipes & Scottish Small Pipes included
Available for photographs
Exact playing times and arrangements will be agreed with you before your wedding.
One part of your
wedding day
For one part of your day only
Your wedding ceremony or wedding breakfast
Playing for your chosen part of your wedding day
Piper’s No.1 Full Highland Dress
Highland Pipes & Scottish Small Pipes included
Available for photographs
Exact playing times and arrangements will be agreed with you before your wedding.
Travel expenses
Travel expenses do not apply when your wedding venue is within approximately 30 minutes of Edinburgh.
For venues farther away, travel is charged at the standard wedding-supplier mileage rate of £0.45 per mile when the total return journey exceeds 30 miles.
More wedding planning help
Helpful guides and related services covering wedding bagpipe music, getting married in Scotland, and my unique combined wedding celebrant and bagpiper service.
Wedding Bagpipe Music
Hear recordings of the Highland Pipes and Scottish Small Pipes, and choose suitable music for each part of your wedding ceremony and wedding breakfast.
Wedding Celebrant and Bagpiper
I am the world’s only experienced bagpiper who also creates and officiates personal wedding and vows-renewal ceremonies. I can work with you to create and lead your ceremony, making it personal, meaningful and distinctly yours, while also performing the traditional duties of your wedding piper.
Getting married in Scotland
Understand the main wedding ceremony options available and the practical steps you will need to take to hold a legally binding wedding ceremony in Scotland.
Wedding Bagpiper FAQs
Answers to some often-asked questions about booking a bagpiper for a wedding.
A bagpiper can play at several key moments throughout your wedding ceremony and wedding breakfast.
Before the ceremony, I can welcome your guests as they arrive and play for the arrival of the bride or partner. I can then pipe you up the aisle playing either the Highland Pipes or the softer Scottish Small Pipes. The Small Pipes can also provide gentle background music while you and your witnesses sign the marriage schedule.
At the end of the ceremony, I can lead you back down the aisle as a married couple and pipe you through your confetti shower.
Later, I can welcome you to your reception, gather your guests for the cutting of the wedding cake, pipe you into the dining room and lead you to your seats at the top table. Once you are seated, I can recite the traditional Piper’s Toast before piping back out of the dining hall.
As a general guide, an experienced wedding bagpiper in the UK may charge approximately £200 for one part of your wedding and between £300 and £400 for two parts, although prices can vary according to the piper, location and exact requirements.
My own wedding bagpiper prices start from £200 for one part of your wedding or £300 for two parts. Full details of what is included can be found in my Wedding Bagpiper packages above.
Experience competing in a Grade 1 pipe band or in solo piping competitions is a useful indication of a highly accomplished piper. Reaching this level requires years of regular practice and develops the ability to tune the bagpipes accurately, play steadily and confidently, and perform well under pressure.
That experience is directly relevant to your wedding. The bagpipes should be properly tuned from the first note, the music played at the correct tempo, and the piper able to judge timing and positioning without distracting from the ceremony. An experienced piper will also know how to adapt if an entrance is delayed, timings change or the music needs to finish at a precise moment.
You should listen to genuine recordings, look for substantial wedding experience and consider how the piper will be dressed. The playing should sound controlled and musical, and the uniform should be clean, complete and appropriate for the occasion.
I have played in Grade 1 pipe bands, compete in solo piping competitions and have more than 30 years of piping experience. I also wear the ceremonial Piper’s No. 1 Full Highland Dress as standard at weddings.
The mood of the music is just as important as the tune itself though. For example, your processional may suit something slow and stately, while an upbeat, celebratory tune is more appropriate as you both make your way back down the aisle as a married couple.
Piping you to your seats at the top table calls for a well-known tune with an easy rhythm, so your guests can clap along.
You can leave the selection of tunes up to me, or you can listen to recordings on my Wedding Bagpipe Music page and choose some yourself.
During the recessional, and when piping the newlyweds to the top table, applause helps the sound blend into the occasion.
When properly set up, tuned and played by a skilled piper, the sound is strong and balanced rather than overpowering. But if you prefer a softer option, I can play the Scottish Small Pipes instead.
I wear the ceremonial Piper’s No. 1 Full Highland Dress as standard at weddings, for no extra charge. This formal military-style uniform includes the piper’s doublet, long piper’s plaid, feather bonnet, horsehair sporran, crossbelt and piper’s dirk.
Take my Bagpiper’s Uniform Tour to see my uniform in detail.