A Norwegian Folk Wedding
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Attire

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bride | Groom | Attendants | Pastor | Guests | Helpful Links

    The guests were told that if these sorts of things were not handy in their closet or they couldn't beg or borrow, they should remember that Norwegian and Scottish weddings are considered "dress-up" affairs, so they were invited to dress festively. The rest of the weekend can be summed up in two words: "California casual"!

The decision to wear folk dress at the wedding occurred long before we got engaged. While the couple had grown up aware of their roots, both of them only began to seriously delve into their cultural heritage as adults. The day that the bride met the groom for the first time, he was wearing his kilt. And shortly after the groom had seen the bride in her Norwegian bunad for the first time, he asked her if she would consider wearing it if they decided to get married. (Little did the groom know that the bride had decided long ago that she would do so!)

Besides a colorful and unusual choice for wedding garments, the decision was utterly practical and very much in keeping with "old-country" traditions. The concept of special clothes used only once (white dress, tuxedo, etc.) is a completely modern tradition of the last century. In the old days, people wore their best clothes (perhaps they were new clothes at the time) and they expected to continue to wear the garments throughout their life. So did we. We simply gave our "duds" a special cleaning and added a few extra touches such as new jewelry and accessories, to make them a little more special for the occasion.

Did we save lots of money by doing it this way? Well, yes and no. Certainly we did not spend thousands of dollars on dress clothing that would be worn once, dry-cleaned and put away for some archeaologist to discover. We simply used what we had. On the other hand, these traditional garments are not inexpensive -- and they take a lot of time to put together. So we had already spent thousands of dollars getting these clothes at earlier points in our lives.

The Bride

The traditional Norwegian regional folk dress is called a bunad (which is actually the Norwegian word for, yes, "clothes"). Almost every area of Norway has its own bunad that reflects a particular style and has its own specific embroidery and jewelry.

The bride's bunad is from Romsdal, the region from which her last name comes. The handmade and hand-embroidered vest and skirt are made of heavy wool and the shirt is made of linen. A red vest and purse are most common, but the women in the bride's family have a tradition of choosing blue ("something blue"). The silver jewelry for the Romsdalsbunad was specifically designed for this dress, based on medieval designs. The shoes are traditional leather Norwegian folk shoes and one contained a Canadian dollar (a "loonie") today, in honor of the bride's Canadian-Norwegian cousins.

How to get a bunad...

If you would like to use traditional folk dress at your wedding, we have some advice:

  • Carefully research your own family so that you buy the correct outfit. Folk dress choices are based family and/or geography. In the case of most Nordic countries, the dress is specific to the small area from where your family comes. For example, when the bride ordered her bunad in Norway, she was given three color choices and 6 embroidery choices for the area. If she hadn't known exactly what her Norwegian family uses in their bunad choices, she might have ordered the wrong dress! You don't want to spend a lot of money on something that is incorrect. After all, this is an investment in a lifetime garment.
  • Be prepared to spend money and to wait. These costumes are all hand made (it's a requirement) and made for your specific measurements. It takes time and money to get them.and can take up to six (6) months to get. Norwegian bunads are even more challenging. The correct ones usually must be ordered through stores in the area of Norway that uses the particular costume you want. (There are stores in Olso that claim that they sell bunads from all over Norway, but beware. They often do not have the absolutely correct version and their employees do not know the particulars for all areas of Norway. "Husflid Heimen" is the exception.) Many people in these shops do not speak English well or at all and Norwegian concepts of "customer service" are almost non-existent. We have seen bunads take from one to four years to get. And the costs for a complete outfit varies from area to area depending upon the type of textiles that are required and the jewelry that is used -- $3,000 to $10,000 is an average range. There are also stores in the USA that claim to sell bunads. However, some of them are giving people incorrect information and merchandise. If you want to pursue getting a kilt or bunad, email us and we'll do the best we can to connect you with people who really know what they're doing.
  • Borrow or rent what you can. This is the least expensive and quickest route. Sort of. There are no bunad rental shops in the USA. If you have friends who have the bunad in the size you need and are willing to lend it to you, hurrah! Be careful, however, about asking someone you don't know about borrowing their bunad. These outfits are very expensive and very special to those that have them. On option for getting a less expensive bunad, if you go to Norway, is to visit the bunad shop in the correct area and ask if they have any rental bunads that they are interested in selling. Don't expect Norwegian stores to consider renting to Americans for use in America!
  • Remember that there is more than just the clothing. To truly and authentically complete the outfit, you will need the correct socks and shoes, purse, jewelry (every single bunad has its own distinct jewelry!), possibly headgear, etc.

The headpiece ("something borrowed") is a copy of a 19th century Norwegian brudakrone (bridal crown) from the region of Sør-Trondelag -- and honors the bride's great grand-mother, who came from this area. The crown the bride wears is decorated with colorful brudabonne, a collection of ribbons that the bride collected from Austria, India, Norway and other locations around the world -- perhaps like the collection a 19th century bride might have acquired from seafaring male relatives. The brudabonne was made especially for the bride for this occasion.

How to get a bridal crown...

A word about bridal crowns. There are some Scandinavian gift shops that have "bridal crowns" made of silver available for rental. These charming "fluffy" things are modern versions and interpretations and bear little resemblance to the glorious crowns used in the past. In addition, each area of Norway had a distinctive look to its bridal crowns. In fact, there is a large book (in Norwegian) totally devoted solely to bridal crowns and bridal jewelry. If you plan to wear a bunad, you might want to research the crowns for your area as well. The following contacts have information on crowns.

[The Lanesboro Millenium Bridal Crown] The bridal crown we used is from Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum of Decorah, IA. (No picture available at this time.) For information on renting the crown, email Vesterheim's Textile Curator. For something a bit more unusual in a traditional style, check out the Lanesboro (MN) Millenium crown (photo right) made by goldsmith/designer Lizzy Bucheit of Crowntrout Jewelers. If you live in the Lanesboro area and are interested in renting the Lanesboro crown, contact them.

Like most 19th century Norwegian brides, the bride carried a psalmebok (hymnbook) in her hand. It is encased in a wooden chip-carved box made especially for this occasion ("something new"). The psalmebok was originally a gift from the bride's paternal great-grandmother to her grandmother. Among the special items in the hymnbook is a silver cross bookmark that the bride's maternal grandmother used in her Bible ("something old").

Did you notice a cow's tail hanging beneath the back of the bride's skirt during the procession to the church? The bride was having fun with the Norwegian legend of huldrafolk. Huldra are underworld creatures who cause mischief. Tradition holds that if a huldra truly falls in love and marries the man in a Christian ceremony, she will lose her tail and become "the best wife ever."

The Groom

The traditional Scottish form of dress for men is a kilt. Kilts have a woven pattern known as a tartan. A tartan is most commonly linked with a clan (family group), but can also represent a region, organization or person. There are even two areas of Norway that have officially registered tartans (Valdres and Romsdal)!

A formally dressed Scottish man wears a black jacket and vest, bow tie and cummerbund, sporran (purse), wool socks and a knife. A "wee dram" in a flask is optional. The groom wore the tartan of his clan, MacKay. The MacKay's held land in the northeast section of Scotland ("as far away from England as you can get and still be in Scotland") and are descended from Viking kings. The groom's kilt is the "modern Mackay" because the fabric contains metallic dyes and is darker in color and intensity than "ancient tartans" which are made with vegetable dyes. And, yes, the groom's sporran (kilt purse) is a traditional one made from a real fox, which makes the sporran a true "dress" item.

How to get a kilt...

If you would like to use traditional folk dress at your wedding, we have some advice:

  • Carefully research your own family so that you buy the correct outfit. Folk dress choices are based family and/or geography. Scottish tartan choices are based on the clan from which you are descended. There are hundreds of tartans available (including some from Norway!), so you will want to know exactly what you can and should order.You don't want to spend a lot of money on something that is incorrect. After all, this is an investment in a lifetime garment.
  • Be prepared to spend money and to wait. These costumes are all hand made (it's a requirement) and made for your specific measurements. It takes time and money to get them. Complete Scottish kilts/outfits can cost from $600 upwards, depending on some of choices of jackets, etc. and can take up to six (6) months to get. If you want to pursue getting a kilt,contact local Scottish societies or search on the web.
  • Borrow or rent what you can. This is the least expensive and quickest route. Sort of. There are a number of kilt shops around the USA that will rent kilts -- but their selection is limited to a few major clan tartans.
  • Remember that there is more than just the clothing. To truly and authentically complete the outfit, you will need the correct socks and shoes, sporran, whisky flask and knife.

The Honor Attendants

As with traditional Scandinavian and Scottish weddings, we chose to have only one attendant each. The bride's honor attendant wore a bunad family comes. Since she did not already own a bunad, we were able to put one together for her through the generosity of a number of friends who allowed us the loan of the bunad and accessories.

The bridal couple gave the grooms 's honor attendant (and cousin) a break. He was the only one in the wedding party dressed "normally." And he looked very nice indeed!

The Pastor

Our pastor completely surprised us by showing up for the weddingdressed as a Norwegian pastor of the 19th century. We thought this was an unusually sporting gesture, particularly for a Minnesota German (we have to give credit to the fact that he had been educated at a "good Norwegian Lutheran college"). His wife, the Norwegian in the family, had made the white ruffled collar for him and he used it with a plain black \academic robe. We thank them for their enthusiasm in joining in our celebration in this way.

The Guests

In our invitation, we had said:

Traditional folk attire and festive dress is encouraged.

Many of those attending were also wearing traditional folk dress or other items of clothing from various countries and cultures all over the world. We were delighted that they joined us in sharing this rich cultural heritage with our guests.

Helpful Links

Some of these links are old and out of date. We are gradually going through and trying to update/purge this list. We apologize, in advance, for any inconvenience.

Scottish Kilts

Did you know that the traditional pattern of the folk dress of Valdres (Kvam and Vang) and Romsdal in Norway are registered tartans?!

Norwegian Bunads

Other Ethnic Dress

 
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Last Updated: Thursday, 02-Sep-2010 19:21:26 MST