Highland BagPiper
Having a Scottish Piper on your Wedding Day adds a touch of tradition to what is arguably the most important day of your life.
Spud the Piper (Calum Fraser) is a very well known Scottish Bagpiper. Although based in Aviemore, in the Highlands of Scotland, he travels all over the world to play, In the last 10 years he has performed at more than 500 weddings internationally, in Holland, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Germany, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and several in the USA. However, the majority of weddings are in Scotland.
Spud usually pipe's guests as they arrive at the wedding venue, and then plays for the bride as she arrives. Often the bride is then piped down the aisle. It is traditional to pipe as the happy couple walk back up the aisle then to play to guests as the photographs are taken both at the ceremony and reception venues.
After the formal line up, Spud likes to pipe the top table guests to their seats, then pipe the bride and groom to the cake. Once it has been ceremoniously cut, he will then pipe them to their seats. Spud then will give the bride a Quaich (the cup of friendship). She fills this with whisky, and he then takes a sip from it and gives a good luck toast in Gaelic.
Spud also has a range of highland dancers who perform regularly alongside him at wedding dances. It's a great idea when the band are having a break to entertain the guests with a range of unique highland dances.
"Spud The Piper is one of the wedding industry's best known characters, partly thanks to his appearances on national television and in newspapers after serenading Madonna with his bagpiped version of Like A Virgin when she landed in Scotland for her wedding. However, its not Spud's celebrity connections that wins him his customers, it’s the wide range of musical styles he is willing to play and more generally his sheer musical talent as a bagpiper - couples were simply bowled over by his obvious musicianship and highly toned performance skills" Scottish Wedding Directory’s Vows Awards 2008