Monday 1 December 2008

And the Bride Went Flying...

I went to a friend’s wedding this past weekend. The bride wore a 1950’s style fitted cream silk dress overlaid with lace and a sparkling of crystals. The groom wore a black suit and a sprig of heather. She is Scottish and he is Irish, so after the wedding dinner, they had planned Scottish dancing to a folk band pictured above.

To my surprise, everyone seemed to know all of the dances by name and there were shouts of “The Duke of York!” “No, the Prince of Wales!” What had they arrived? I didn’t know my buddies knew royalty. Unfortunately, they did not. These were the names of favourite country dances.

It’s like American square dancing, only all dressed up in gowns and high heels. (Not the men…well, not all of them of course.) Anyway, it was a lot of polite bowing to your partner and whistling through the willow when the unexpected happened. I can’t remember the name of the dance. I will have to ask around, but it involves two couple – boy girl boy girl – who have to form a tight circle with their arms across each other’s shoulders, heads facing toward the middle. You have to spin in a circle when suddenly, I felt my feet being lifted off the floor and I was spinning with my feet in the air! Around and around and around, all the girls were whooping while the guys were probably hoping they didn’t get hernias. It was the most wonderful feeling – a cross between flying and being in a masterpiece theatre movie. Does anyone know the name of the dance?

These were the wonderful flower centerpieces.