Your Event

Weddings

Adding a bit of the highlands to your big day

Adding bagpipe music to your wedding day can make for a very memorable event – for both you and your guests! I have performed for many, many weddings and it is very important to me to that your day goes smoothly and that the music is beautiful.

A lovely ballad or stately wedding march can be the perfect way to bring you down the aisle. And a peppy quick-march or a few jigs can get the crowd clapping along as you make your exit.

Here are some ways that bagpipe music might fit into your wedding ceremony:

  • Prelude – playing as guests arrive

  • Processional(s) – playing as the family, wedding party and bride enter

  • Interlude – playing for a special moment, candle lighting, presentation, remembrance

  • Recessional(s) – playing as the bride, groom, wedding party, family and guests exit

  • Postlude – playing as guests mingle, or as the happy couple drives away

  • Reception – playing for the bride and groom’s special entrance or a lively tunes to get the party going

  • Smallpipes, whistle & fiddle – if you prefer a more mellow, folky sound. See below.

Contact me for a free consultation and I can answer any questions you might have.

Piping in Seattle’s Woodland Park for an engagement surprise

Highland Cathedral:
One of the most popular pipe tunes for the wedding processional

Funerals & Memorials

A fitting tribute for your remembrance

Bagpipe music can be a powerful and emotional addition to any type of remembrance ceremony. Whether it is a formal church service, a graveside burial or an informal wake at your home, I will work with you to make sure that the music is both respectful and celebratory.

Hymns, ballads, slow marches and Scottish airs sound wonderful in a memorial park, church, or even on a beach.  Bagpipes also sound beautiful along with a church’s pipe organ.

Some events call for more upbeat tunes of celebration. Quick-marches, jigs, reels and hornpipes are a great way to bring smiles to the faces of your friends and loved ones.  I can work with the minister, funeral director or music director to make sure the details are just right.

Patriotic tunes or armed forces themes are often appropriate for memorials honoring service members – including Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day ceremonies.

Contact me for a free consultation and we can discuss your ideas on how bagpipe music can be a part of your memorial event.

Please let me know if there is a special piece of music you would like for your event. Here is an example of a popular hymn, Amazing Grace.

Piping in the Old Municipal Cemetery in Wick, Scotland, by the graves of my Auld ancestors

Amazing Grace

All Types of Events

Bagpipe music can help make it even more memorable

You don’t have to be Scottish or Irish to enjoy pipe music. Besides weddings and memorials, there are many types of situations where bagpipes can be a hit.

  • Birthday parties

  • Retirement parties

  • Grand openings

  • Going-away parties

  • Graduations

  • Anniversaries

  • Community festivals, block parties and parades

  • School ‘heritage night’ events, class presentations and assemblies

Piping on the walls of Sinclair Castle, Caithness, Scotland

Various Instruments Available

More than just highland pipes

The highland bagpipes have as special sound all their own, but sometimes an event calls for something different. 

Scottish smallpipes, whistle and fiddle can add a lovely, folksy touch to your event. As background music during a cocktail hour or as a main performance.

  • My wife Melanie Brauner plays both fiddle and piano and is available either as a soloist or in duet with me.

With enough lead time I can provide any number of instrumental combinations, based on your needs.

  • Highland Bagpipes – in standard pitch or in concert pitch, to play along with a church organ, orchestra, etc.

  • Pipe Band – highland pipes and drums in small or large groups.

  • Scottish Smallpipes – with a lovely, mellow sound, suitable for indoor playing and background music.

  • Scottish / Irish Fiddles

  • Irish Whistle

  • Irish Flute

  • Keyboard / Piano

  • Guitar

  • Irish uilleann pipes

  • Scottish / Irish harp

  • Scottish ceilidh (kaylee) dance instruction – great for wedding receptions!

  • Scottish highland dancers

Contact me for a free consultation and we can discuss your ideas on how bagpipe music can be a part of your special event.