Renting a Kilt for the Bride Groom, any one have experience with this?

[helenk]

My son's fiancee's family is from Scotland so they are using this theme for their wedding. My son wants to wear a kilt, which is fine with me, but the cost to buy one actually exceeds the cost of his fiancee's wedding dress.
I am trying to convince him to rent one, most of the websites for rental have you send in your measurements and they send you the kilt and the jacket etc. This seems to leave a lot to chance.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Renting is definitely the way to go. My dh is a bagpiper with a firefighters pipes and drums corp, and his kilt cost over $600, not to mention it was custom and took months to make since the fabric came from Scotland. The place he bought it from also had rentals.

 

[ashjohnson80]

I have no advice. I would just like to say that I really like kilts.

 

[Cantw8]

I have no advice. I would just like to say that I really like kilts.

Oh how did I know you'd show up on this thread Good luck OP, I just wanted to hassle Ash

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

My son's fiancee's family is from Scotland so they are using this theme for their wedding. My son wants to wear a kilt, which is fine with me, but the cost to buy one actually exceeds the cost of his fiancee's wedding dress.
I am trying to convince him to rent one, most of the websites for rental have you send in your measurements and they send you the kilt and the jacket etc. This seems to leave a lot to chance.

In high school I was a Highland dancer. I have two kilts from Scotland. Yes they did take month to arrive here but they are beautiful and though I can't fit in them anymore I won't get rid of them. One is Purple MacKenzies and the other is Nova Scotia.

Good luck and what a beautiful wedding it will be.

 

[crazee4mickey]

DS 17 is a bagpiper and he has a kilt borrowed from his pipe band and we also bought him one from Scotland over the internet(cost was $800 for a youth kilt which he outgrew quickly),they are extremely expensive--you are right to want to rent one!
Our other son wanted to wear the kilts for his high school graduation--his younger brother said "no way" so we went the rental way!
We had to get one from 3 provinces away and all of the measurements were done over the internet and the cost was $450 for the entire outfit--when it arrived it fit him perfectly!
The measurements given on the internet are how they generally measure for a kilt--so I'd say you should have no worries if you take the right measurements exactly as they instruct you to!
Here are two pics of both my sons in rented outfits:

DS 19 at graduation

DS 17 at piping event

 

[Imzadi]

Don't forget to order the purse thingie that he wears over the kilt in front of his umm...manhood. Phyllis Diller gave an antique one to Scottish talk show host, Craig Ferguson, of the "Late, Late Show." He commented on how it must have been a child's because it wouldn't be large enough to cover him.

Also, does DS have to order a jacket? I've seen men wear the kilt with what looks like a short tux jacket. That would certainly take the risk out of the jacket part (as well as the high rental price) if he's able to rent that from the local tux shop.

If he's going to rent a kilt, will he be able to find his fiancee's family's tartan?

Also, did you know there is a DIS UK forum? They may have more advice. Perhaps you can find a rental place in UK or Scotland that is actually cheaper to ship back & forth.

 

[Huggles]

The 'purse thingie' is a sporran and is very useful as you don't have pockets in which to keep money etc. it is usually worn two vertical fists width below the belt.There are a variety of jackets designed to be worn with the kilt but the Prince Charlie is a shorter one and used on dress occasions with a waistcoat/vest.

http://www.kilts.co.uk Shows how to measure and all the various types of jackets, sporrans etc.

crazee4mickey...your boys look so smart in their kilts.

Kilts are very versatile. They can be worn for formal occasions or with a woolly pullover and hiking boots ( socks down at ankles) and they still look smart.

JUST REMEMBER AND TELL HIM NOT TO SIT WITH HIS LEGS OPEN UNLESS HE TUCKS HIS KILT DOWN BETWEEN THEM (more important if the kilt is worn in the traditional manner)

Have a great wedding....kilts always make these occasions special.

 

[Pam]

A couple of years ago 2 of DD's friends rented them over the internet for the Prom. Let me tell you -- those boys were the hit of the Prom! Their dates matched their gowns to the kilts.

The boys looked great in them!!

 

[helenk]

Wow, thank you for all your replies, I do not think that he is going to wear the families's tartan, but his fiancee's grandmother told him to look at the Stewart tartan as it has the blue in it and she thought it would be nice for the wedding.
We are definately looking at the Prince Charlie jacket, as stated it is used for the formal occasions.
There is a place in Allentown that rents the Kilts and all the accessories, that is not so far from us, so the shipping should not be too bad. My mother has a friend that is a seamstress, I think I will ask her to do the measuring so we do not mess up.

Crazee4mickey, your sons look very handsome in their Kilts.

 

[golfgal]

He could probably fly to Scottland and buy a kilt there for less money then having one made!

 

[Huggles]

Helenk, which Stewart tartan is it he is to consider? The modern hunting has much more blue than the others. Perhaps another one to consider is modern Douglas . It is a lovely one and has a fair amount of blue with green. Mind you it will all depend on what the rental place has on offer. Just google a tartans website and consider them all. The Douglas tartans don't show up well on the website I quoted.

http://houseoftartan.co.uk

You can hunt on this site for all the tartans and have a look at them. My husband, his best man and the ushers all wore Dress MacKenzie with the male guests all wearing their own tartans....makes for lovely photographs.

 

[Huggles]

He could probably fly to Scottland and buy a kilt there for less money then having one made!

Unfortunately then you can get hit for duty and tax on the way back in to the US!
Whilst you can buy ex-rental kilts, there isn't much in the way of 'off the peg' kilts. Most are made to measure and are all hand made which is why they cost so much ( and take months to make). A good kilt lasts forever and a good quality (heavier weight) one is worth the extra money as they hang far better( and swing/sway better when the man walks or dances)

 

[UrsulasMyHero]

If you're going with a traditional Tartan, i can't help, but if you wanted a plain black kilt there's a wonderful website www.utilikilts.com they do some beautiful work.

 

[sharbear]

DS 17 is a bagpiper and he has a kilt borrowed from his pipe band and we also bought him one from Scotland over the internet(cost was $800 for a youth kilt which he outgrew quickly),they are extremely expensive--you are right to want to rent one!
Our other son wanted to wear the kilts for his high school graduation--his younger brother said "no way" so we went the rental way!
We had to get one from 3 provinces away and all of the measurements were done over the internet and the cost was $450 for the entire outfit--when it arrived it fit him perfectly!
The measurements given on the internet are how they generally measure for a kilt--so I'd say you should have no worries if you take the right measurements exactly as they instruct you to!
Here are two pics of both my sons in rented outfits:

DS at graduation

DS 17 at piping event

Your DS looks so handsome in his kilt. My DD has a friend who is a bagpiper and he owns 3 kilts, I had no idea that they were so expensive.

I've been to a wedding where the groom wore a kilt, very nice. Are you also going to have bagpipers in the wedding. Really nice touch, even though it's kindof cheesy, I love amazing grace on the pipes.

 

[Huggles]

Helenk, when is the wedding and will you post a picture so that we can see the 'end result' ?

I had a chum who had a special photograph taken at his wedding. ALL the men attending ( evening do too, so about 100 in total) were in kilts either of their own tartan or whatever they liked at the hire shop ( in the case of non Scots). There was a vast array of colours and the photographer took one picture of just the men. The male wedding group had co-ordinated their tartans but everyone else had 'done their own thing' and the result was a fantastic photograph with every tartan you could imagine and wonderful colours. What made it even more special was that wearing the kilts were people of all races and colours who got such an amazing kick out of the experience.

( Following the official picture, all the men turned in their places and 'mooned' at the camera revealing what a true Scotsman wears beneath his kilt).