Bagpiper: a wedding guide

A piper can play the bagpipes as you walk down the aisle.

When couples book this

Usually booked about three months out; a tune the piper doesn't already hold needs a month on its own. It moves with your date.

Answer these before you meet anyone.

Scottish, Irish, or open to either?
Where would you love the piper to play?
The run of show settles once you book. At a Scottish reception the piper plays the couple in, then the top table, and takes the piper's dram.
Which pipes are you picturing?
An Irish family may want uilleann on principle; the choice carries meaning as well as volume.
A tartan that matters to you?
Name it (and whose it is) so it's in front of every candidate — pipers differ in what they hold.

Which pipes?
The Great Highland bagpipe is built to fill open air; Scottish smallpipes and Irish uilleann pipes are the quieter indoor voices of the tradition. An Irish family may want uilleann on principle — the choice carries meaning as well as volume.
What does the piper wear?
Most pipers hold full Highland dress and several tartans. If a family tartan matters to you, ask each candidate what they carry; matching it is a request, and pipers differ in what they hold. No clan is needed to ask for one: the Scottish Register of Tartans says there are no laws about which tartan you may wear, only traditions, and a district or universal tartan is anyone's.

Usually priced as one flat amount.

Possible extras: Additional set (reception / send-off), Travel fee.

Where does the piper play?
Where does the piper stand?
The tunes
Highland Cathedral and Mairi's Wedding carry many processionals, and Amazing Grace or Scotland the Brave the walk out; families often have their own — a clan tune, a regimental march a grandfather served under, an Irish air. Name them here, and the moments each belongs to.
A tartan that matters?
Name the tartan (and whose it is) so it's in front of every candidate — some hold dozens, some pipe in their own and no other.
Handoffs with the ceremony musicians

Confirm arrival, finish, who to call, access, a meal, and what is due.

Choose which moments to include.

The brief a couple sends you has these sections: