Have you seen a chimney sweep at a wedding?

[Glitterbiscuits]

DH and I are driving behind a sweep’s van and he wonders if sweeps still go to weddings? We are now old (50s) And I’ve never seen one at any wedding we’ve been to. Was it ever a thing? Is it a thing now? Of course you wouldn’t need to be an actual real chimney sweep to appear at a wedding, you’d just appear in a costume.

And are there any other wedding traditions that have died out? Do people still tie tin cans onto the cars?

Of course it was.

Just because you might not have seen it, doesn't mean it didn't used to happen.

I have seen it 3 or 4 times over the years (1970s, 80s, and 90s though, I personally haven't seen it more recently than that). Other posters on the thread also have seen it, or even know sweeps personally who get asked.

My mum got re married in 19 79 i was 9 and they had a "show of presents " it also doubled as a hen do, so all the gifts were laid out and the women would just go and look at them. Tbh I think it was just a reason for women to be in a pub function room without men !

My family/geography means we had Scottish traditions but married in the States. So I did get a horseshoe.

And to please the Brits in the crowd (& myself) I asked that our officiant include the “by the power vested in me by the State of New York” part as it just felt like a must. He found it quite amusing and must not have it often. We had “you may now kiss the bride”. Only doing it once, wanted to full movie dream situation I’d grown up hoping for. 🤣

Yes I have seen chimney sweep at a wedding but it was a long time ago. Horseshoes definitely a thing at weddings. I got married in 1997 and got several and carved wooden love spoons too. I've kept them all.
I also got a cut out of a chimney sweep tied to white ribbon!

I had one at my wedding in 2006

I can't take seriously anyone that says they are old and in their 50s. Mind you....it's all in the mind isn't it.

Yes, a couple of times, both in Northumberland

We both had a day off and had gone to a garden centre! I remember them being the most boring places on Earth but now…

There was a kid in my class at primary in the late 80s early 90s who had a nice sideline going dressing up as a lovable chimney sweep and being paid to go to peoples’ weddings. He was a very cute kid and definitely looked the part although obviously not actually a chimney sweep because he was about 8. I don’t know if he had a family connection or was just very enterprising.

so yes it was a thing.

We had scrambles at weddings in our Welsh village church in the 1980s, too! Can't remember if we called it that, but the tradition was definitely there.

I remember a sweep at a wedding in the very late 80's but not since. I was given horseshoes when we married in 1997 though

Oh the joy of a Saturday morning scramble when I was a child in the 1950’s and early 60’s. As soon as word spread that there was a wedding photographer in the street taking photos of a bride and her dad in the front garden children hovered like vultures waiting for them to get in the wedding car.

There was a lot of nudging and jockeying for position then the window wound down and a large handful of coins would be thrown out onto the road as the car drove off . Mostly pre decimal big brown pennies and if you were lucky a few three penny bits and sixpences. I’d happily head home with a few coins and often with skint knees if it was a rowdy scramble 😆

Yes but only in the late70's and early 80's... But not since then...

My SIL did at her wedding 16yrs ago (2010), but only because a family friend actually was a chimney sweep and MIL would have paid for him to attend.

Our sweep advertises this as a thing they do, during the quiet summer months I think!

Wondering if I could convince my lad to do this and whether we could make it catch on again😁

I know of a student who makes a fortune as a piper at weddings.

Never knew about the sweep thing until MN tbh.

I’m Scottish and I’ve never seen a scramble either in all of my 40-something years. I obviously knew they happened but the first wedding I went to I was 18 and they’d pretty much stopped by then it seems.

Horseshoes are totally still a thing though although maybe not quite as common as decades ago. We’re approaching our 8th anniversary and I was given a good few. I was even gifted a metal unicorn shoe from our best woman and her family. 😁 (I love unicorns and it is our national animal after all).