A typical American wedding…that’s what Mary and Jamie thought they were having. A day not too different from anyone else’s, special just to them and their families.
Neither the bride or the groom thought of themselves as Scottish, they were just Americans…and totally unaware of the Scottish influences in their lives.
Had anyone asked, they would have said they were
having an American wedding, with nothing Scottish
about it. Little did they know about what the Scots had contributed to their day o fdays ~ first in their ancestry and secondly with their their inventions and
innovations…
Both Mary and Jamie had learned to read using The McGuffey Readers, written by William McGuffey, whose grandparents had been Scots.
Jamie’s favorite books were The Harry Potter
series, written by J.K. Rawlings, of Edinburgh,
Scotland. Mary loved Jurassic Park, by
Michael Crichton, of Scottish parentage.
Mary had grown up in North Carolina and attended
Duke University, which was founded by the Duke
family, originally from Scotland.
Dow Chemical, founded by Herbert Dow, whose
heritage was Scottish, had hired Mary after she graduated.
Jamie was a product of Chicago, where his father
worked for Armour & Company, founded by two
Scottish brothers.
Jamie was a graduate of Princeton University,
whose first president, John Witherspoon, also from
Scotland, educated many of our Founding Fathers.
As a student of Economics, Jamie spent one
summer studying under John Kenneth Galbraith,
the foremost Economist in America, an immigrant
from Canada, of Scottish parentage.
Jamie was snatched up by IBM, founded by Thomas
Watson, of Scottish parentage, and John Graham
Johnston of Scotland.
~~~~~~~
Weeks ago, the wedding invitations, bearing
adhesive stamps invented by John Chalmers of
Dundee, Scotland, had been mailed. Jamie
had addressed the envelopes while sitting at his
desk in a swivel chair, invented by Thomas
Jefferson, of Scottish ancestry.
The bride and groom bought wedding insurance
with Bankers Life & Casualty, owned by John
MacArthur, of Scottish descent.
At one point, the bride started worrying about the
cost of their wedding and decided to end it all. Using an antique dirk that hung over the family fireplace, she stabbed herself several times.
Mary escaped death, only to find
herself on an operating table, being given an
anesthetic, discovered by Sir James Simpson of
Bathgate, Scotland.
During her recovery she was injected with
penicillin, discovered by Alexander Fleming of
Darvel, Scotland.
Upon her recovery, she learned their finances were
as safe as the Bank of England, founded by William
Paterson of Dumfries, Scotland.
With this reassurance, the wedding plans went
forward, with the day of her wedding finally
arriving.
~~~~~~~
When Mary awakened on the morning of her
wedding, she was well rested and refreshed,
having slept the night on a Simmons
Beautyrest mattress. John Simmons, of
Scottish ancestry, founded the company.
First thing, the bride took a long, soaking
bath in a white porcelain tub, invented by
Alexander Buick, an American immigrant from
Scotland.
The bride dried herself with a Cannon towel,
manufactured in nearby Kannapolis, by Charles
Cannon, of Scottish parents.
In her toiletry preparations, Mary used Crest
toothpaste and Sure deodorant, both products of Proctor & Gamble. James Gamble
was of Scottish parentage.
For breakfast, the bride ate a bowl of Corn
Flakes, from the Kellogg Company, founded by
W.K. Kellogg, of Scots ancestry.
Before leaving the house, she called her
groom, using the telephone invented by
Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh,
Scotland.
The groom didn’t answer. He was out for his
morning workout on his bicycle, invented
by Kirkpatrick MacMillan of Dumfries,
Scotland.
While out, he stopped for an Egg McMuffin at
McDonald’s, founded by Richard and Maurice
McDonald, whose family came from Glasgow,
via County Kerry, Ireland.
Jamie’s bike broke down, so when he returned
home, he used his Black & Decker drill to tighten a nut. Black and Decker were both of
Scottish parentage.
The bride watched the morning news on the
television, invented by John Baird of
Helensburgh, Scotland. There was a special
segment about the U.S. Navy, founded by John
Paul Jones of Kirkbean, Scotland.
Knowing a long day lay ahead, Mary fixed herself a nice hot cup of Lipton tea, whose founder Sir Thomas Lipton was born in Glasgow.
~~~~~~~
When leaving the house, the sky was dark with
the promise of rain. The bride grabbed her
raincoat, a Macintosh, patented by Charles
MacIntosh of Glasgow.
She was chauffeured in a Rolls Royce, designed
by Charles Rolls, a Briton of Scottish MacLean ancestry.
The limousine was fitted with tires, invented by John Dunlop of Dreghorn, Scotland.
The route she traveled was a black-top road,
originally known as macadam, invented by John
MacAdam of Ayr, Scotland.
The groom drove to the wedding in a Buick,
whose founder was David Buick, a Scotsman.
Being nervous, he decided to stop for a quick
drink, ordering that famous water of life,
Scotch Whiskey, the best liquor in the world.
Jamie also stopped for gas at the local Exxon
station, a company founded by John Davison
Rockefeller, whose mother was Scottish.
~~~~~~~
The hem in a bridesmaid’s dress came loose and
was repaired with Scotch tape, a product developed
by James McKnight, who started as a bookkeeper
with 3M.
Jamie and his father wore Thom McAn
Shoes, whose founder was Scots-American.
Still nervous, Jamie slipped a Smith Brothers
cough drop into his mouth. The Smith
Brothers, William and Andrew, came from
Scottish stock.
When the wedding ceremony began, the bride
carried a Bible, where the first man
mentioned is a Scot, King James VI, who
authorized its translation.
Being springtime, the bride’s bouquet
contained bright yellow forsythia, named in
honor of William Forysth, one of the founders
of the Royal Horticultural Society and a
Scotsman.
The soloist sang Amazing Grace, written by
John Newton, a reformed slave ship captain
and a Scot.
Jamie presented Mary with a beautiful antique
gold wedding ring, a family heirloom. The
gold had come from the California goldrush,
when a Scotsman, James Marshall, struck gold
in Sutter’s Mill.
~~~~~~~
The reception was held at a Holiday Inn, founded
by Kemmons Wilson, of Scottish ancestry.
Many of the flowers came from the Lompoc
Valley in California, where an American
Scots, John Rennie, founded the American
flower seed industry.
The caterers used trays, made of Alcoa
aluminum, founded by Andrew Mellon, of
Scottish ancestry.
Among the appetizers was a cheese dip made of
Campbell’s cheese soup and Monterey Jack cheese.
David Jack, a Scot who failed in the California Gold
Rush, succeeded when he created Monterey Jack
cheese.
A delightful punch was based on Canada Dry Ginger
Ale, developed by John McLaughlin, a Canadian
of Scottish ancestry.
The meal was served on Lenox china, a company
founded by a Scotsman, Walter Scott Lenox..
The plates were decorated with pineapple
from Hawaii, an island discovered by Captain
James Cook, born in Yorkshire of Scottish
parents.
The menu included Black Angus steaks. Ranchers had imported Aberdeen Angus bulls
from Scotland to strengthen American beef
cattle.
The Waldorf salad contained McIntosh apples,
named for the Canadian-Scots farmer, John
McIntosh.
As a special tribute, Mary asked her grandparents to take their place opening the first dance. The band played Stardust, their favorite song in 1929 when they married. Hoagie Carmichael, a Scots-American, wrote the music.
Jamie's grandfather shared a family legend with the bridal couple. His grandparents had eloped to Gretna Green in Scotland. He told of their wedding day.
The happy couple danced the Schottische, a
folk dance from the Highlands, still popular in the mountains of North Carolina.
As the reception was ending, all the guests
gathered in a circle to sing Auld Lang Syne,
penned by that most famous Scotsman and
poet, Robert Burns.
~~~~~~~
Leaving the celebration the couple rode in the
Rolls Royce limousine, with old shoes tied to
the rear bumper, a custom which originated
in Scotland.
For their honeymoon, they flew to Scotland on
Icelandair, founded by David McIntyre, a
Scotsman and the first co-pilot over Mount
Everest.
In Scotland, they visited Edinburgh and saw Old Town.
Jamie insisted on visiting The Red Elephant, the café where J.K. Rawlings wrote Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone.
Next, they visited Gretna Green, the infamous
elopement village and the second most visited
site in Scotland. The went into the Blacksmith’s Shop to see where Jamie’s great-grandparents had wed.
A wedding was taking place and the groom invited Mary and Jamie to their ceilidh celebration.
Here’s a few of their snapshots ~
