It was a great chance for couples to come and see the venue and meet the venue’s reccommended suppliers. In between caterers, cake-makers and photographers, we set up our stall complete with a chance to visit our website and see our video clips. It was great to see so many prospective clients, and the free cake and soup from the caterers wasn’t bad either!

As I’m sure all of our previous clients will know, Sarah and I have been a couple for longer than this quartet has been together, and as the quartet comes towards celebrating a decade of providing music for weddings, that’s quite a long time. We met at the University of Birmingham, where we were both studying music.

The Ardeton Quartet had an unusually quiet opening to August this year, as Sarah and I were married at the one of our favourite venues to play – The Great Tythe Barn in Tetbury, after a wedding ceremony at St Johns in Chipping Sodbury. We had an absolutely fantastic day, but we’re not telling anyone what our music choices were – we like to stay impartial during music consultations!

However, we would like to say thank you and give a big recommendation to: The Great Tythe Barn – who were as always fantastically professional and accomodating; and to Eilieen Johanna and her band who provided the perfect backdrop to our meal; and The Moon Loungers who kept us singing and dancing into the night and reminded us very much of ourselves as they had as much fun as the guests getting on with the music!

Anyway, as I said in my speech(!), it’s a great pleasure to spend every weekend playing opposite my best friend in the quartet for weddings and events, and now I can say ‘my wife’!

Dury

Firstly, let me introduce myself – I’m Dury. As well as being the cellist of the Ardeton String Quartet since it began in 2001 I’m also the webdesigner, music arranger, chauffeur (I have the biggest car) and general carrier of stuff. I thought it would be interesting for prospective clients to be able to get more of a feel for who we are as well as some tips on getting the most out of having a string quartet at their wedding or event – so welcome to the first in a series of blog posts on such things.

The truth is I never tire at playing at weddings – after more than 400 in the last 8 years I can still say, honestly, that every single one is unique. I don’t just mean the dresses, flowers and table decorations, but the feeling of the day. The conversations with guests will never cease to surprise me. Sure, there’s often a request for Pachelbel’s Canon but if I enquire further there’s always a different reason why they’ve asked for it. Then there are the musical guests, with tales ranging from amusing anecdotes of playing twelfth euphonium in their school orchestra to the accomplished concert pianists who’ve played all over the world.

Then there’s a special requests. We already have an enormous repertoire of pieces (I’ve never counted, but I’d guess we’re nearing 200 tunes) which can mean we’re still playing something new after 5 solid hours of playing, but it’s being added to all the time by couples requesting something special to them. Even 2 years on I can still remember the first time we played ‘It Must Be Love’ and ‘Me and Mrs Jones’, and a booking in the last few weeks will mean the Shostakovich Violin Duo will always find me reflecting on a Friday afternoon in Hereford.

And I haven’t even mentioned how I genuinely enjoy playing in a quartet. I’ve been playing music since I was 5, and playing the cello for nearly two decades now and I’m always grateful that I can make a living from playing music to people. Not just any people, but people who’ve chosen to have us play at their wedding, special event or anniversary party. Plus, every weekend I get to travel somewhere with 3 very good friends (including a fiancee) and play music. Yes, we’ve played Pachelbel’s Canon thousands of times, but there’s always some fun to be had somewhere with a different phrasing or raised eyebrow at an unusual change of note.

If I haven’t convinced you I’m genuine yet, let me close my argument with one final thought: Every weekend I’m asked to go out and play to anywhere between 50 and 500 complete strangers who, having heard us online or elsewhere, are looking forward to hearing what we can add to their day, and I will always feel privileged to do so.

Dury.