Irish music/ceili at reception

Knottie1466704233

I would like to have a traditional Irish band play at our reception, with part of the evening including a ceili. Fiance is unconvinced that people wouldn't hate hearing Irish music the whole night. Should we start with the Irish band and do a ceili during the cocktail hour, then have a more contemporary band for the rest of the evening? Should we even do the ceili? Anyone have experience or ideas about this? 

glasgowtolondon

Knottie1466704233 said:

I would like to have a traditional Irish band play at our reception, with part of the evening including a ceili. Fiance is unconvinced that people wouldn't hate hearing Irish music the whole night. Should we start with the Irish band and do a ceili during the cocktail hour, then have a more contemporary band for the rest of the evening? Should we even do the ceili? Anyone have experience or ideas about this? 

I love ceilidhs so I would say do it, BUT, it's a bit much for all night. Are you in Ireland or are you in America? Ceilidhs can be very energetic so an hour or so might be fun and novel for people who arent used to then, but after that it will probably wear off for all but the hardcore among us. Same goes with the music. I'd definitely switch later.

I'm Scottish and I grew up ceilidh dancing at school, but even my friends and family never have one all night at any of their weddings. What I most often see is an hour or so of ceilidh dancing after dinner (straight after the first dance), not during cocktail hour as people generally like a few drinks before they get involved in dancing, especially if it's something they are unfamiliar with. Then switch to dj/band for general dancing. From what I have seen when I looked into this for my own wedding a lot of ceilidh bands will offer traditional band music and calling followed by a dj set so it can eaily be done. 

Jen4948

I love Irish music and ceilidhs, but I have to agree with your FI that I wouldn't do it all reception. As the PP suggests, an hour of it could be fun, but I would then switch to another type of music.

Knottie1466704233

I'm in America so as you say it's likely to be fun and novel for many. That's an excellent point about doing it after dinner when people have had a few drinks already. Would I not have music during the cocktail hour then? Is that typical? 

glasgowtolondon

If you are in america I would definitely only have it as a part of the night, but it's a great time so I hope you and your guests have fun!

You can still have music during cocktail hour, but probably bear in mind that most people will be mingling and chatting so probably something more background would do the trick. Not to say that you can't have a band or dj for that part, but you don't necessarily have to.

Knottie1466704233

Perfect. Thank you!

ei34

What a nice addition    definitely having it for part and not of the reception is best...enjoy!

londinium215

We had a ceilidh band - my husband's not Scottish but he and most of his friends went to school in Scotland, so they were familiar with ceilidh dancing. My side of the guest list was mostly American and it was completely new to them. 

After dinner, we had the band do one set (about 45 min) then break for a half hour for us to serve dessert and they played "regular" music. They did one more set for an hour, then the rest of the night was regular music. It went over really well - but it's so exhausting, I wouldn't make it a full night thing!