The best last dance songs for a Scottish wedding

What the last song is really for

The last song is not the biggest song of the night. It is the one that gets everybody — including the guests who never danced — into one circle for three minutes.

That means singability beats tempo. If half the room cannot join in, it is the wrong closer, however good the track is.

The Scottish classics

There is a reason these keep working in Scottish function rooms: everyone already knows the words, and nobody needs to be a good dancer.

• Loch Lomond — the Runrig version, still the most reliable finish in Scotland
• Caledonia — slower, more emotional, best when the room is smaller
• 500 Miles — a full-room singalong that rarely misses
• Auld Lang Syne — usually as a circle, and usually only when it has been planned

If you would rather not do a Scottish finish

Plenty of couples pick something personal instead, and it works as long as the crowd knows it. A song from your first night out, the track that closed your engagement party, or something the two of you have played to death all beat a chart song nobody expected.

The one thing to avoid is a slow, unfamiliar album track. It empties the floor at the exact moment you want everyone on it.

Timing it properly

Check your venue's curfew early — it decides everything about how the last twenty minutes are paced. The song before the last song matters too: a big, familiar floor-filler keeps everyone in the room so nobody misses the finish.

Tell your DJ whether you want an announcement first, whether you want the floor cleared for a circle, and whether photographs are being taken. All three change how it is set up.

Decide it in advance

The last song is the one moment of the night worth locking in months ahead. Put it in your planner alongside your first dance and your do-not-play list, and it will be ready rather than improvised.