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Today, most weddings take place on Saturday’s, but the early Scottish settlers in Manitoba preferred to hold their marriages on Thursday.  
Planning was a lot shorter in time than today, on the Monday before the great day: the Brides father would verbally deliver the invitations door to door. It really wasn’t necessary to do this because weddings were the most important festivities in the community, every one was expected to attend, and the preparations had been in operation for weeks.  
Monday was the official start of the Wedding. This was when the cooking of the official dinner began. Oxen and Sheep were slaughtered, and great roasts hung on spits before open fireplaces to cook. The main course was generally roast beef and mutton, boiled potatoes, followed by plum pudding, but added delicacies may be boiled buffalo hump, dried moose nose, and smoked beaver tail.  
Plum Pudding was the rarest of deserts: currents and raisins were horded from the spring shipment that had been received from England. They might even be rationed as to how many each guest should receive, and eked out with dried berries if necessary. Ingredients may be omitted like breadcrumbs, eggs, milk or spices, but amazing concoctions resulted, and with good wishes the ultimate results were always pronounced a masterpiece.  
The young men arranged weeks ahead to have a young girl agree to be his partner during the festivities. There was always great rivalry between the young bachelors as to who would have the smartest turnout, with their horses and carriages or cutters gaily decorated. One of the ‘Dandies’ in the community would get hold of a bear carcass to ensure the final touch of elegance, a head of well greased, shining hair.  
On Wednesday, the actual festivities would begin at the home of the Bride’s parents, with dancing and feasting. On Thursday, the Bride and Groom went to the Church, accompanied by the guests in a long procession.  
The clergyman met the couple at the door of the church and went inside with them. After the Wedding Service, the Wedding procession returned to the home of the Bride, this allowed the young men an opportunity to show off the speed of their teams, but at no time were they allowed to overtake the Bride and Groom.  
At the Bride’s home, the guests sat down in relays to the wedding dinners, which often took several days to serve everyone. In the meantime, there was dancing and other feasting, which overflowed into other neighbouring homes. Fiddlers provided the music and the dances wore special moccasins, usually they had been uniquely beaded and embroidered for the occasion. They danced so hard they often could wear out more than one pair at the wedding. Dancing was continuous day and night up until Sunday, the day of the solemn ‘Kirking,” (an ecumenical service of blessing). Then the Bride and Groom, along with the Groomsmen, and Bridesmaids again dressed in their Wedding costumes, drove to the Church and sat together in the front Pew.  
The horses and carriages were once again decorated but no racing was allowed on Sunday as they proceeded to the Brides parents home.  
The Sunday dinner which followed the Kirking was one of the chief feasts of the whole wedding celebrations, and afterwards the guests departed until Tuesday, when they returned to convoy the Bridal procession to the home of the Grooms father, where the happy couple were to live until they had a home of their own. Now it was the Groom’s family who had the opportunity to provide the feasting, dancing and merrymaking, until finally the festivities ground to a finish.  
The explanation as to how these people could indulge in the festivities for over a week was quite simple, the rooms not used for dancing and feasting were spread with Buffalo Robes, with homespun woollen blankets laid on top, where young and old could snatch a few hours of sleep. The houses in early communities were close together, and neighbours were only too happy to accommodate anyone who could not find lodgings.  
Wedding gowns similar to today’s, all white satin and frothy, with veils or jewelled coronets, were unknown, but some Brides might wear a gown fashioned from fine cashmere or silk ordered specially from England, or perhaps a silk shawl from India. The Bride would be bareheaded through out the dancing, but in the morning would put on a white cap, not a ‘mutch,’ (a woman’s close fitting nightcap) but a lace trimmed cap, to signify her marital status.  
 
Source: Winnipeg Free Press archives.  
 
Note: Forty yeas ago when I first came to Brandon, some of the Protestant eligible young ladies on my wife’s family side married Ukrainian, Catholic Suitors. This of course caused some friction with the Grand Parents on both sides, but these couples are still together. The Elders of the Ukrainian families told of four-day weddings, and arranged marriages. The Bride and Groom were always given a house to live in by the Groom’s parents, even forty years ago.