Saturday took me to Restoration Yard, set within Dalkeith Country Park, for a lovely, relaxed wedding reception for Timea and Gregor — a couple who’d travelled from Budapest and Scotland respectively, with guests coming from just as far, including a group who’d flown in all the way from Australia. About 70 guests in total, and a genuinely warm, easygoing crowd from start to finish.
You can find out more about the venue at the Restoration Yard website →
Setting Up at Restoration Yard
I arrived a couple of hours ahead of the wedding breakfast to get everything set up in good time — full sound system, lighting rig, DJ booth, and microphones ready for the speeches. This was a dinner-to-dancing booking, so I was there from the wedding breakfast right through to the end of the evening.
Speeches & the Wedding Breakfast
I provided the microphones for the speeches and handled the announcements to introduce each speaker, then kept things ticking over with background music through dinner until it was time for the party to properly get going.
The First Dance — Beyoncé’s “XO”
Timea and Gregor chose Beyoncé’s “XO” for their first dance — a warm, romantic choice that suited the relaxed feel of the whole day perfectly.
A Hot Day and a Slow Start to the Party
It was a genuinely warm evening, and the party had a busy start before I lost most of the room to the weather outside — very much a Scottish habit. If it’s not cold or raining, everyone heads outdoors to make the most of it, and this was no exception. No complaints from me — it’s exactly what a relaxed wedding like this one called for.
Ceilidh Dancing — Gay Gordons, Dashing White Sergeant & Virginia Reel
I managed to get everyone back inside for some ceilidh dancing — the Gay Gordons, the Dashing White Sergeant and the Virginia Reel. None of the guests had done a ceilidh before, so every dance was taught from scratch, but they picked it up brilliantly and kept great time right through all three. A genuinely lovely thing to watch come together with a crowd that started the night with zero ceilidh experience between them.
Rock Fans on the Dancefloor
After the buffet break, some guests had already called it a night — a long, hot day catching up with them — but the bride, groom and a good number of the remaining guests turned out to be serious rock fans. I kept them going with their kind of music until around 11pm, by which point everyone was well and truly danced out.
Winding Down
Around 11pm I eased into background music, which turned out to be exactly what the bride and groom wanted by that point in the night. Reading the room is most of the job, and knowing when a crowd wants to keep going versus when they’d rather wind down gently is a big part of that.
What I Played — The Setlist
Here’s a breakdown of what got played across the evening — from Beyoncé’s XO to open the first dance, through a wide-ranging disco set covering five decades, the three ceilidh dances, and out via a run of floor-filler classics.
- Beyoncé — XO
- Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris — We Found Love
- Erasure — A Little Respect
- Eurythmics — Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
- ABBA — Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (Sgt. Slick’s Melbourne Recut)
- Paul Simon — You Can Call Me Al
- George Harrison — Got My Mind Set on You
- Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams — Get Lucky
- Justin Timberlake — Can’t Stop the Feeling!
- DNCE — Cake by the Ocean
- Cyndi Lauper — Girls Just Want to Have Fun
- Belinda Carlisle — Heaven Is a Place on Earth
- Robin S — Show Me Love
- Rosie Gaines — Closer Than Close
- Mary J. Blige — Family Affair
- The Notorious B.I.G. — Hypnotize
- The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Mase & Puff Daddy — Mo Money Mo Problems
- The Occasionals — Gay Gordons
- The Occasionals — Dashing White Sergeant
- The Occasionals — The Virginia Reel
- Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars — Uptown Funk
- Paolo Nutini — Pencil Full of Lead
- Christina Aguilera — Ain’t No Other Man
- Rihanna — Don’t Stop the Music
- Ike & Tina Turner — Proud Mary
- Bryan Adams — Summer of ’69
- The Killers — Mr. Brightside
- O-Zone — Dragostea Din Tei
- Vengaboys — We Like to Party
- Backstreet Boys — Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)
- Five — Everybody (Get Up)
- Spice Girls — Wannabe
- Linkin Park — Numb
- Limp Bizkit — Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)
- Shakira feat. Freshlyground — Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)
- Pitbull feat. John Ryan — Fireball
- Don Omar — Danza Kuduro
- Whitney Houston — I Wanna Dance with Somebody
- George Michael — Faith
- Lady Gaga feat. Colby O’Donis — Just Dance
- System of a Down — Chop Suey
- Third Eye Blind — Semi-Charmed Life
- David Guetta & Bebe Rexha — I’m Good (Blue)
- Majestic x Boney M. — Rasputin
- Earth, Wind & Fire — September ’99 (Phats & Small Remix)
- Azealia Banks feat. Lazy Jay — 212
- Toploader — Dancing in the Moonlight
- Kings of Leon — Sex on Fire
- My Chemical Romance — Welcome to the Black Parade
- Fall Out Boy — Dance, Dance
- Nirvana — Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Panic! At the Disco — I Write Sins Not Tragedies
- Foo Fighters — The Pretender
- Paramore — Misery Business
- Papa Roach — Last Resort
- Black Eyed Peas — Let’s Get It Started
- House of Pain — Jump Around
- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton — Can’t Hold Us
- RAYE — Where Is My Husband!
- Olivia Dean — Man I Need
- Taylor Swift — The Fate of Ophelia
- Shakira feat. Wyclef Jean — Hips Don’t Lie
- Pitbull feat. Ke$ha — Timber
- The Killers — Human
- Sophie Ellis-Bextor — Murder on the Dancefloor
- Fleetwood Mac — Don’t Stop
- Fleetwood Mac — Dreams
A proper spread across the night — disco, pop, rock, ceilidh, and floor-fillers from the 70s right through to this year. Reading the room to know when to shift between them is most of the job.
Restoration Yard as a Venue
Restoration Yard sits within Dalkeith Country Park’s 1,000 acres, around 20 minutes from Edinburgh — a beautifully reimagined 18th-century stables and courtyard. The reception room, known as The Kitchen, pairs exposed original stonework with floor-to-ceiling glass doors opening onto the park, and seats up to around 90 for a formal dinner before clearing easily into a proper dancefloor. It’s an easy venue for guests travelling from further afield too, which certainly suited this particular crowd.
A Truly International Crowd
One of the nicest parts of the day was just how far people had travelled to be there — Hungary, Scotland, and a group of university friends who’d flown over from Australia. No pressure, no fuss, just great people from all over enjoying a relaxed, sunny day together. Exactly the kind of wedding that’s a pleasure to be part of.
Thinking About Your Own Event DJ?
If you’re planning a wedding or event anywhere in Scotland and want a DJ who’ll read your crowd, call a great ceilidh, and keep the dancefloor going all night, I’d love to hear from you. Take a look at the wedding DJ page for more on what I offer, or get in touch to check availability for your date.
Congratulations again to Timea and Gregor — a lovely day all round.
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