Irish wedding recap

We had the opportunity to enjoy our first Irish wedding yesterday.
First  unusual thing was a Thursday day wedding. Not something you would see in the US ( maybe night but not day)

Now for the timeline of the days events:

approximate times since I was wearing a watch with a dead battery (story for another day,,,)

12:30-2:00 (for us) met bride at her house. The bridesmaids and brides  mom and sisters were at the bride's house getting hair and makeup done. Tea, Coffee, snacks (cookies, sambo's (small sandwiches) , scones...) all there for bridesmaids.

2:00    leave for wedding (venue was 1 hr away)

3:30   Wedding (civil ceremony)

4:30    Post ceremony cocktails (champagne, coffee, tea, small dessert treats)

6:30    move in to reception  (take food orders)

            best man, father of the bride, groom give speeches

7:00     food arrives

9:00    bridge/groom have their wedding cake (note- cake was made by the grooms mother)

           dessert was actually not the wedding cake but some tapas size desserts to finish meal 

9:30    dinner complete, kicked out of reception hall so they could pull tables put in dance floor

9:30-11:00 hang out at bar, socialize

11:00 and on dancing in reception

11:40   They delivered some food to keep us going (sambos, wedding cake, sausages) 

We left at 12:45 or so .... Band was set to finish at 2am

So how does it compare to the american norm?

Long gaps between wedding and reception dinner, reception dinner and dancing. This was actually great. Gave lots of time to socialize without having to shout over music .

Wedding band- this is probably mixed in the US. We prefer DJs, but music was decent for a band (albeit loud for us old folks)

Pace- With the long gaps above , it seems like the irish wedding is in no hurry. In the US there seems to be big rush to get in all the traditions (cutting the cake, first dances, toasts, bouquet tosses...) . In this wedding that all happens but doesn't feel nearly as rushed. There isn't any pressure to finish the party and leave the venue like there would be in US.

Alcohol- not an open bar like the US, but the champagne pre-reception and dinner wine was included, plus coffee and tea. Drinking didn't seem to be excessive though the night was young when we left...

We had a grand time and if we hadn't had work and friends watching the kids, we would have made the effort to stay to the end whenever that may have been (my guess 4am ish...) We felt very welcome despite the fact that we didn't really know anyone other than bride and groom.

Rob