Handfast Blessing

The traditional Highland Handfast is held by running water. A couple would swap pieces of cloth, that had some significance to their families, as a symbol of their commitment to each other.

Their friends and family then bind their hand together with ribbons which symbolise their emotional bonds - this is the origin of the term 'tying the knot'.

A year later the couple return to the same spot to seal their commitment and so be considered married in the sense that we understand it.

We can help you arrange a version of this ceremony in the hotel gardens or grounds, as part of a wedding, engagement or anniversary celebration which is very colourful and entertaining but is NOT a legal ceremony. Many registrars now also offer to perform a similar ceremony at the Atholl Palace which is a legal wedding but does not include a guard of authentically dressed Highlanders.

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