Thinking about having a Ceilidh band for our wedding in August, the idea being to get everyone dancing and thinking it will have more cross-generational appeal. Anyone done this and got any recommendations? Wedding will in East Anglia, so need a band that way based.

Possibly not what you want to hear, but I’ve attended hundreds of weddings (professional capacity) and ceilidh bands rarely end up being that popular.
The best musical entertainment I’ve experienced was at a mate’s wedding where he hired local ska band Big 10.
Everyone likes to get their skank on, young and old. 8)

Go and see one before you decide. We did and decided not to bother.

ceilidh bands rarely end up being that popular.

Maybe not in east anglia, but in scotchland that’s not the case

Interesting, personally I really enjoy Ceilidh / Barn Dances, whenever I’ve been to them.

Have to disagree with sbob! Ceilidh’s are perfect for weddings as no-one has an excuse to avoid joining in. Most other forms of music will prevent some people from joining in, either because they think they are too cool for school, or think they will do it wrong. The beauty of a ceilidh (with a good caller) is that no-one is expert and half the fun is people getting the routines wrong.

Plus, ceilidh’s force everyone to hold hands, which is a beautiful thing in this impersonal world of ours (good for matching up couples as well!).

Do it!

But some people don’t want the pressure of having to join in and hold hands. For those people it is hell.

Had 1 for our wedding in Rutland 9 years ago. Great fun though my I’m Scottish and the wife kind of is. We went to Uni in Glasgow and as such lots of our friends knew the dances too.

If at least 1/2 the audience know a few dances it works really well but I have been to a couple of weddings where so few knew the dances it didn’t work. I still had a great time though.

It is worth doing a bit of research. Had more than 1 ceilidh ruined by an over zealous caller. Our friends do it with enthusiasm but not a huge amount of refinement. Similarly check they are a true ceilidh band as we looked at a few who multi tasked and weren’t as good.

If you want I can dig out the invoice and find out who played at ours, they were very good (9 years ago)

bruk – yep would be good to get a recommendation.

johndoh – Member
But some people don’t want the pressure of having to join in and hold hands. For those people it is hell.

Why would you invite people to your wedding if they don’t want to join in and celebrate your nuptuals in the manner you wish. Make it clear on the invite and they can decide to do something else.

I wouldn’t chose who would come to my wedding based on how much they want to join in in a silly dance nor would I expect to be invited (or not) based on how much I want to join in at someone else’s wedding.

Ceilidh’s are brilliant imo – we had a mix of 3 types of traditional dancing at ours – Ceilidh, Barn and Estonian folk dancing – wedding was in Estonia to my estonian wife!

My cousin ran the Ceilidh, my mum the Barn dance and a friend of my wife’s the Estonian folk dancing – all involved getting people involved from 4 different generations. I reckon a maximum of 10% of the guests didnt get involved in one of the dances (either because of medical problems or because they really did have two left feet.

My cousin is in a Ceilidh band in Scotland but I know he is looking into creating a event ceilidh band in London. Can ask if he has got anywhere. He also goes to Ceilidh’s in London so might know some contacts.

I would really recommend them – as said before – you dont have to be a dancer, guests can make fun of themselves, aunts dance with uni friends etc.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpskG6PbVO4[/video]

Saw this band at a wedding dance last week , they were absolutely awesome . They mix all the old celidh classic with stuff like the prodigy and were good at teaching the dances as well.

One of the reasons for picking a Ceilidh was it’s a great leveler skill wise and with a good caller, anyone can have a go and enjoy themselves (esp as we’re combining it with a free bar all night).

Anyone having a go is fine.

Everyone being dragged up is rubbish.

In my experience.

We used jigsnreels.com. Told them what we wanted and where and they recommended one of their groups. The weddings involving ceilidh bands have been the best weddings I’ve been to.

Can’t remember who we used but had a Ceilidh for my wedding and seemed to work, but the wife and I both like Ceilidhs anyway.

A good caller who recognizes the diversity of skill is crucial.

One of my lasting memories from our wedding is finishing the evening with most guests in a huge circle all holding hands and then finishing with a massive round of applause. Admittidly there was a few people who did not join in which I felt bad for but at the end of the day you know your guests. I like them as well because people mix through the dance rotations and stops you (as the bride and groom) from constantly having to on the move to meet everyone….. People come to you.

I find them fantastic but only you know you guests….

I personally much prefer the lack of expectation over a ceilidh compared to a random DJ picking songs

Edit: According to Mrs sweam2 it was the Moswell hill show band but this was six years ago.

i can recommend Kellys Heroes, they would travel from notts i think, will send a mail

ygm dude

Had a great ceilidh band for our wedding, Ceilidh Minogue – all professional or semi-pro musicians. Very very good. Their later incarnation, Hugh McDiarmaid’s Haircut, played at my 40th party, great tunes and a demented piper as well..

Friend used to be in a ceilidh band in London, I’ll maybe ask her if she can recommend any. They got some pretty good gigs, through me an all-expenses paid trip to Monaco for St. Andrew’s night ::)

The beauty of a ceilidh (with a good caller) is that no-one is expert and half the fun is people getting the routines wrong.

You ever been to Scotland? Everyone is expert up here. The fun is in the carnage.

Orcadian strip the willow for added carnage points.

We had one at our wedding, pretty much everyone danced all night and the general consensus was that it was the best wedding most people had ever been to, although I have a suspicion that it was in part due to me ‘misjudging’ how many bottles of wine to have put on each table.

The best thing was that it’s very inclusive; we invited mainly couples but had the odd single person and found that people were quite happy to intermingle when dancing whereas they probably wouldn’t have danced together to ‘normal’ music.

I went to a ceilidh last week, first one, not laughed so much for a long time.

Band was called Ock’n’Dough, thought they were excellent (although I have no idea what makes a good ceilidh group. Think they’re Northamptonshire based, so borderline East Anglia.

My parents used to go to a barn dance with these as the band… http://www.kellyseye.org/gigs%202013.htm

Thanks for the recommendations everyone, will start chasing them up for availability!

Ben

Anyone having a go is fine.

Everyone being dragged up is rubbish.

In my experience.

This + 1. Nothing worse than forced entertainment. Get a good live band and people can freestyle as they please!

“You ever been to Scotland? Everyone is expert up here. The fun is in the carnage.”

Aye and you cant just copy others – as everyone/region/day of the week has its own version of the dance.

old blind dogs do a mean ceilidh amongst other stuff but strathdons a bit far from you 😉

License to Ceilidh are worth a look. Disclaimer that a mate is their sometimes pianist so I’m a bit biased, but try are properly good and based in te South-East so in the right area-ish.

License to Ceilidh

One of their callers/fiddlers, Jim O’Toole is based in Suffolk so may be a goer. He is a top class musician.

We had a Ceilidh at our wedding. I’ll confess I’m not that bothered about dancing at Ceilidhs myself but my wife to be wanted one and so I made the effort to dance (badly).

The band we had were cracking – the Moorcock Ceilidh band from Northumberland (so not local to you) – a very good caller and excellent traditional musicians with everything from fiddles to northumbrian pipes to concertinas.

If the band are good then it almost always works and that’s the great thing about YouTube, you can nearly always check on them in advance

For a bizarre alternative I went to a wedding with a bunch of Morris Dancers once and it was a shocking amount of fun in a similar sort of chaotic way

You can’t beat a good ceilidh dance for a wedding! But other posters are right – you need a good caller. In that case, you don’t need anyone on the floor to have any previous experience. I’ve been to international student ceilidhs where 98% of the dancers were from outside the UK, with English as their 2nd, 3rd or 4th language, and they had a magnificently good time. There was occasionally a certain amount of chaos, but that doesn’t matter a bit – everyone enjoyed themselves.

Make sure you get a proper ceilidh band, rather than a wedding band that does a bit of ceilidh. The difference in quality is striking. Jingbang ceilidh band and Danse McCabre are both excellent with great callers, and they’ll demo the couples dances, and get down on the floor amongst the guests to help out where needed, but probably a little too far from you, as they’re Aberdeen based.

Have a great time, whatever you do!