Emily and Stuart were married in a sunnier (much sunnier as it turned out) clime, and chose to have a wedding celebration / reception for all of their family and friends at the Meadway Hall in this lovely little town in Somerset.

It was a late-evening event, and the South West of England was still suffering from the 4 inches of snow that had landed several days earlier. Violinist Rebecca was the first to brave the snow, travelling from Hertfordshire. I had already gone outside and checked the car hadn’t completely seized under 7 consecutive nights of temperatures below -8. The Ardeton Quartet have never missed a gig yet, and we weren’t about to start now. With 3 hours to do the 90 minute journey, we drove along an almost deserted M5, now reduced to 2 lanes by the lingering snow, and out onto the country roads around Street and Glastonbury. A completely frozen approach road left us tip-toeing our way to the hall itself, but we arrived in good time!

A great evening, the quartet were feature-entertainment on the hall’s stage, and Emily had requested a number of tangos from the quartet, including the version of classic Police hit ‘Roxanne’ as featured in Moulin Rouge.

A great evening, and some very appreciative guests.

Then it was just a gently slow crawl home in the -4 temperatures!

We’ve played many times at the Manor House in Moreton in Marsh, but today was the quartet’s first visit to the Parish church behind the hotel. There truly was a mix of cultures at the wedding blessing, with people having travelled from across the British Isles, America, Australia and Norway.  Maureen walked in to Pachelbel’s Canon, and the couple exited to All You Need Is Love by The Beatles.

Whole-day bookings are becoming increasingly popular in the last few months, and it’s often a good job we have around 10 hours of music to choose from. The couple had chosen a light-classic selection for their outside drinks reception, to help maintain a feel of grandure and ocassion. We then moved inside for the wedding breakfast, where the guests were so taken by our 2-hour non-stop performance of Jazz standards that we were given a standing ovation at the end!

The sun was again shining as we made a return one of our frequent appearances at Eastwood Park. Between here and Tortworth Court, the quartet really are spoilt for choice for venues right on our doorstep!

After a brief announcement from their toastmaster, Emma walked gracefully into the civil wedding ceremony to the traditional ‘here comes the bride’ Wedding March by Wagner. A nice classical-mix was chosen for the registers, before the newly-married couple exited the ceremony to All You Need Is Love by The Beatles.

It was to be a busy day for the quartet, as Emma and Geoff had decided to extend their booking to the whole day as their special day neared. There was a gentle mix of bright and uplifting classical pieces as the string quartet played on the terrace that faces out onto the wonderful countryside of the Gloucestershire/South Gloucestershire border.

Emma and Geoff had chosen the increasingly-popular Jukebox option for their wedding breakfast. The jukebox cards were distributed amongst the tables before the guests entered, and it’s always great to see the tables getting to know each other as the choices of music for the couple became an immediate talking point. We had a nice mix of classical and pop requests continually being fired at us by the guests, and a steady-stream of cards being returned to us.

It was the quartet’s first trip North from Bristol to Dumbleton Hall for this Friday wedding. The ceremony took place at the parish church just at outside the entrance to the church itself. Cat walked into the Church to a stately Pachelbel’s Canon, with her bridesmaids entering the church first the congregation were treated to a long version of the piece. For the signing of the registers, there was time for Sigur Ros’ Hoppipolla and Desree’s Kissing You, before the newly-married couple exited to the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.

A quick drive through the sheep that line the drive of the magnificent Dumbleton Hall, and we were set-up on the green before the couple and guests arrived for their ice-cream cones from the bicyle-based ice-cream seller the couple had organised. The sun started to shine through as we played a mixture of jazz and light-classics during the photos and drinks-reception.

We love performing in such beautiful settings as the Kingscote Barn, and the couple had perfect weather for their wedding day. We performed from the gallery for the ceremony, which gave us a great view of the proceedings below us. The couple chose classical music as well as personal favourites such as ‘Groovy Kind of Love’ and ‘All You Need is Love’ for the ceremony. Afterwards we played a mixture of lively classical music and more contemporary choices during the drinks reception, and with such a resonant acoustic everyone was able to hear our music – even those enjoying the sunshine out on the terrace!

The couple had chosen a number of special requests for the ceremony, including ‘Sway’, and ‘La Cumparsita’. It was a moving moment when Alan phoned his mum so that she could listen to the vows despite being too ill to attend, and a Spanish friend dedicated a translation of the vows to the happy couple.

Afterwards we played for our first water-based drinks reception! The couple had booked us to play during their river cruise to the reception venue, and we had so much fun playing guests’ requests. We had also prepared Quartet accompaniments for ‘Old Man River’ and ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ which were sung beautifully by a friend of the couple – to rapturous applause from everyone on board!

Today was an extremely special day for the Quartet, as we were asked to play the famous and beautiful ‘Lark Ascending’ by Vaughan-Williams, in Down Ampney Church where the composer had been born and much of his music premiered here. We felt privileged to perform such a significant piece during the signing of the registers, and have since been overwhelmed by compliments from the happy couple and their guests. We would like to thank them again for their kind words.

Laura and Neale held their reception at Cripps Barn, where we performed lively classical and jazz music whilst drinks were served. After moving into the marquee for the wedding breakfast we dedicated a performance of ‘Happy Birthday’ to a number of guests, and played people’s choices from our Jukebox cards. The emphasis was most definitely on  having fun by everyone present!

Our Jukebox option is certainly proving a popular choice for wedding breakfasts, and there was applause and cheers from around the room as we played guests’s choices during the meal!