Last month we were invited to play for a beautiful wedding abroad in Malta! It the first overseas trip we’ve done with for a little while (since our visit to Dubai in 2012) and it was so much fun!
To keep the costs down we put together a mini, more acoustic 3-piece version of the band with just Caller (who also played fiddle), Fiddle and Guitar, but it worked really well even for an outside event with a larger number of guests.
The venue was Castello Zammitello in Mgarr, Malta, a 14th century castle with amazing outdoor grounds and the couple booked an Air B&B apartment for our accomodation for the night which worked really well. It’s something we would have never thought of and was our first time using Air B&B but we’d highly recommend it now – and it’s a great, cheap way to put up a band for a night or two!
Our flight was early on the Monday morning so we arrived in Malta at about 12pm, we went straight to the venue to sound check, checked into our Air B&B flat and then ventured out into the local area to find some lunch. We found an amazing little restaurant with an outdoor courtyard in the middle were we had a really nice salad. Then we had a nap before getting ready for the gig in the evening!
The wedding and the ceilidh itself were excellent, there was such a lovely atmosphere and all of the guests were up on the floor for every dance straight away, despite the humidity on what was a really hot evening! After we did our set and packed up we thought while we were on a little holiday away we should treat ourselves to a glass of local wine so we found a local taverna around the corner from our flat and shared a fantastic bottle of local red wine that cost us only 6 euros!! Amazing!
Our flight back the next day wasn’t until the evening meaning we had the whole day to relax and explore some of the sight of Malta. The couple had organised us local car hire at a great price for our transport while on the island, this worked out really well as we had a lot of freedom (and was probably cheaper than a taxi to/from the airport!) so we spent the whole of Tuesday on the beach! First visiting the white sands of Mellieha and having a swim and some lunch there, before checking out Paradise Bay which was, as advertised, paradise!
We had such a fantastic time and are really looking forward to our next LTC trip which is to Portugal in September!
We’re keen to get some more overseas bookings in the diary so if anyone else is planning a location wedding abroad then get in touch! It’s always great to ceilidh with the usual 5-piece band where possible and I always recommend that it’s particularly nice to have drums in the band – but the 3-piece works really well and is a really cost effective option for getting a band over! Less plane tickets to buy and less equipment to hire also 🙂
Jonathan and Amanda doing the Cumberland Reel
Doing a ceilidh outdoors was amazing
Guests dancing the cumberland square eight
The Licence to Ceilidh girls in Malta
Our lovely Bride and Groom ceilidh dancing
A beautifully arty shot of our caller Jen playing the fiddle
Jen telling the guests what to do
Ali and Jen playing fiddles in Malta
We finished off the evening in the traditional way with a big Auld Lang Syne and the Bride and Groom in the middle.
