The wedding ceilidh

It is no secret that our evening reception will be centred around a ceilidh. The word is Gaelic for gathering and within the first month of being with James he had taken me to one. To a Scotsman, ceilidh dancing is in the blood. For me it was more of an acquired skill but I turned out to not be too terrible at it. While we lived in London we went to ceilidhs regularly. It's less easy to find them in Oxford but we managed to get to one organised by a friend for burns night a few months back. 

For our ceilidh we have sourced a live band (because you really can't ceilidh to a recording) called the quiet men. They will do a three hour set of which two will be ceilidh and one hour will be covers of well known songs. 

For those who don't know ceilidhs are the Scottish equivalent of a barn dance. They are lively and boisterous but fairly easy to get the hang of and with a good 'caller' to walk you through the dance before the music starts they allow everybody to have a go. We hope that the more structured approach to the dance will encourage a greater number of our guests to get up on the dance floor than is traditional - let's face it we've all been to weddings where the dance floor is deserted and everybody hangs around the edge drinking. 

There is an element of risk to having a ceilidh. Personally I think they should come with a health warning attached. I have had to invest in wedding shoes with straps as I know from personal experience that shoes can go flying. Watch out for a configuration called the basket - petrifying doesn't do it justice. For all my female friends I would strongly advise flat shoes and for the sake of the men's toes I think stilettos are best avoided. 

The other thing I love about ceilidhs are the names of the dances. They are deliciously suggestive and include titles such as 'the gay Gordon's', 'the dashing white sergeant' and 'strip the willow'. Make of that what you will. 

Keeeeep dancing!