There are weddings where the bride and groom practice elaborate dancing sequences that can rival “Dancing with the Stars,” and surprise the guests with their fancy and unexpected footwork. But have you ever been to a wedding where the groom creates a complex dance routine with his groomsman? We’re talking about a huge coordinated event.
Some weddings have so many moving parts that a whole cottage industry of wedding planners, coordinators, and event managers spring up to help facilitate the experience. With all that stress and inevitable chaos, it’s hard to stay on top of everything let alone set time to get seven of your bros together multiple times to practice an elaborate dance routine.
But that’s just what this groom and his groomsman did, and it’s quite amazing.
County Derry, Ireland is the setting for this mega wedding that included seven groomsmen.
In this story the groomsman all have a secret talent, they are highly skilled Irish Stepdancers. It just so happens that the groom was part of a team of Irish dancers and these guys ended up all being close friends and thus groomsman in his wedding.
We don’t know how many times they got together to dust off the old dancing shoes and break out the traditional Irish playlist, but when the lights go low on the dance floor, the groomsmen all remove their jackets. They line up in formation and the guests know something special is about to go down.
When the music kicks in the groom starts moving his feet. Then they all join in and the crowd just eats it up.
Wikipedia describes Irish Dance as …
“A group of traditional dance forms originating from Ireland, encompassing dancing both solo and in groups, and dancing for social, competitive, and performance purposes.”
Irish Stepdance is what you’ve probably seen in “Lord of the Dance,” the highly popular worldwide phenomenon from Ireland. The dance consists of a stiff upper body with quick and precise movement of the feet.
When the groomsmen in this wedding party start into their stepdance routine, it’s as if they have been practicing all their lives. And maybe they have.
This dance troupe had retired from touring and performing when the bride-to-be came up with an idea for her wedding. She asked her fiance if he thought he could tap his old troop out of retirement and perform for the guests.
Her fiance liked the idea and made some phone calls. The guys were game if only they could find their old dance shoes.
Irish stepdancers wear two different styles of dance shoes, one is the Hard Shoe, the other is Soft Shoe. Hard shoes are similar to tap shoes, in that they make a loud tap when dancing. The hard shoe has a stiff fiberglass toe and an extended heel which are used to make rhythmic sounds when dancing.
The Soft Shoe, called Ghillies, is a sort of ballet shoe with a criss-cross lacing. These shoes are regularly worn by women stepdancers when performing specific dances.
After the groom and his groomsmen line up the music kicks in. But it’s not the traditional Irish music that you would think. No they start out with more of a hip-hop beat.
The groom begins with a solo dance while the groomsmen stand at the ready. It only takes a few dance steps and then two more dancers join to dance in unison.
Soon the whole group is dancing in harmony, stamping along and accentuating the beat of the song. When the beat changes into a marching cadence and the dancers march into a new formation.
This is when a more traditional Irish song breaks through. The tin whistle blows out a melody and the dancers beat out a rhythm with their hard shoes.
This wedding is well on its way to viral territory. YouTubers are ecstatic about this video.
“Totally brilliant. I’ve seen several groomsmen dances. None even come close to these lads.”
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“Just wonderful, happy people, happy music, and happy dancing, thank you for sharing. I wish you all a long and very happy life.”
Watch below for their incredible Irish stepdance routine!
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