Note 44 — Part III.

Penny weddings have been immortalised by Semple of Beltrees in his song The Blythsome Bridal. Originally, pennies were contributed by those present, and any overplus, after providing for the wedding feast, went towards assisting the young couple in their furnishing. Latterly, the neighbours sent in eatables of various kinds, the bride’s friends only preparing one dish, the ‘bride’s pie,’ the equivalent to the ‘bride’s-cake’ of modern days. As with the cake, so with the pie, every one present received a piece. The marriage ceremony was generally celebrated at the manse, and the wedding festivities took place in the bride’s house. These festivities some times lasted several days—see, for example, Ramsay’s addition to Christ’s Kirk on the Green, by James I.—and were productive of serious irregularities. Ultimately the Church made an effort to regulate them, but with little effect.