…Umm. Sorry.

Congratulations to the 70+ couples we played for in 2011 – and onwards to 2012!

The ASQ

Everyone likes a trip to the seaside on a sunny day, right? Especially a group of musicians who’ve just started half-term! The sun was shining, and we were very tempted to nip out for an ice-cream at one point… And then the hotel told us the couple had requested chicken, leek and bacon puff-pastry pies for our reception!

In a beautiful ceremony room looking out to sea, the couple chose a very stately selection of Mendelsohnn, Wagner and Pachelbel for their ceremony music. We then moved to the dining room where guests brought us regular requests via our jukebox cards for the rest of the day – some fantastic choices!

Here at Ardeton towers, we love a road trip – especially when it involved catching up with our old friend Katy. With Jan unfortunately indisposed that day, Katy stepped in – Katy was one of the original performers with the Ardeton Quartet who has gone on to set-up her own group for weddings in Wales.

The spectacular blend of old and new in the mansion house was reflected in the couple’s music choices – Mendelsohnn, Pachelbel and Wagner. There was also a simply stunning poem read by Sean’s son which brought a tear to everyones’ eye.

It was then a quick trip up to the gallery bar where the doors were opened and the sun shone down on us as we played everybody’s favourite mix of jazz and pop tunes. A fantastic day at a stunning venue.

A lovely sunny day for a trip into the countryside. The simply stunning venue of Whiteparish Church, and some unusual requests from a musical couple. The choir sang perfectly, we played with gusto, and everyone hot-footed it down the road to the drinks reception at the stately Trafalgar Park – a new venue for us. Lovely. We’ll come again!

It’s always great when we meet a couple beforehand. It gives us a feel for the kind of day a couple are aiming for, what kind of music they like, and more importantly what thye don’t like. It also gives us a feel for what kind of personalities they have, and Jenny and Tim took advantage of our music consultation about 6 weeks before their wedding. This allowed them to tailor their music perfectly to the day they wanted, we knew exactly what kind of music their guests would respond to, and it meant the groom had four friendly faces at the front of the ceremony with him whilst he waited for his Bride to arrive!

The sun was shining, and Jenny looked fantastic as she walked in to Pachelbel’s Canon in D. They were unsure what to pick for the registers at first, but luckily at their music consultation we were able to play them lots of samples of music, which led them to the gentle but warm sound of Elgar for this point in their day. The couple then chose the chorus from ‘We are the Champions’ by Queen to exit – an unusual choice, but it suited them down to the ground! We then hot-footed it outside, and entertained the guests with 80s and 90s classics (and a few recent chart hits) with the ocassional boogie-ing guest in the corner!

1st April found us at St Marys Church in Thornbury for the beautiful spring-themed wedding of Lucy and Neil. Lucy walked down the aisle to the ever-popular Pachelbel’s Canon, which suited the long church aisle very well. After the classical grandeur of the ceremony we made our way to Kingscote Barn where we played our jazz repertoire for the champagne reception.

The following day – 2nd April – we headed to The Vale Hotel near Cardiff for the wedding of Danny and Lesley-Ann. They chose a traditional selection including the Bridal March for the ceremony, and had requested music which is ‘light-hearted and toe-tapping’ for the drinks reception, so we performed lots of our favourite jazz and pop arrangements which seemed to go down very well!

9th April and another local wedding for us, this time onboard the SS Great Britain in Bristol Harbour for the wedding of Joanna and Gareth. The couple had taken advantage of a music consultation so we had met them a few weeks earlier to help plan the music for the day. Following the ceremony we sat outside in glorious sunshine on the upper deck, entertaining guests with light jazz as the happy couple had their photos taken.

“Dear Sarah and the team, Thank you so much for helping make our wedding day so special. Your music really helped make the perfect setting. Thank you!”

Congratulations to Sara and Richard who got married on St Georges Day in Almondsbury. We were booked to provide an evening chill-out zone of soft classical and jazz music in the marquee as an alternative to the disco inside. We must congratulate the younger guests Phoebe, Lily and Lara, who danced almost continuously to our music!

“We just wanted to say a huge thank you for doing such a fantastic job at our wedding at Cripps Barn. We had so many compliments about the music from our guests – many of them were especially impressed by your modern repertoire, they hadn’t heard that kind of music played by a string quartet before! It was fabulous, and set the tone perfectly for the ceremony and reception. Thanks again, Megan and James”

The following day we returned to Clearwell Castle – one of our most popular locations, for the wedding of Lisa and Clinton. Following the marriage in the ballroom, we quickly relocated to the hall to entertain guests for the drinks reception.

26th February – congratulations to Katie and Iain, who married at Cwrt Bleddyn Hotel in Usk. Clearly the bride was extremely excited to be getting married – she arrived really early for the ceremony and took us a little by surprise!