A lovely drinks reception on the balcony at the rear, armed with a large can of wasp spray to fend of a pesky swarm that had decided to invade the Orchardleigh estate at the last minute. A splendid mix of popular classics for such a refined setting and lovely view.

Then a quick break – always great here for a spot of snooker. Keeps me very happy indeed!

We don’t often play for meals at Orchardleigh as there isn’t always the space, but today there was just the perfect performing area in the library end of the room. We had plenty of requests to keep us busy, from Snow Patrol to Clapton, and a rapturous round of applause greeted our semi-improvised 15 minute Beatles medley!

We’ve been to Orchardleigh and a few of the surrounding churches, but this was our first visit to the delightful Bradley House in Wiltshire, just a few miles down the road.

A quick glance at the website shows it’s used often as a filming location for tv, and also as a recording studio for an unnamed band.

The ceremony room looked grand decked-out in purple and white bouquets, and a bust of Henry VIII over the fireplace. Elizabeth had chosen a traditional Wagner and Mendelssohn entrance and exit in terms of the popular wedding marches, with Pachelbel to sign the registers to.

We then moved outside, where we braved the occasional gusts of wind to play an uplifting blend of popular classics, with a 13 month old Sophie coming over regular to assist us and check we were playing everything to her liking!

The sun was just started to peep through the clouds as we arrived at St Marys Church, Bitton. A lovely, picturesque church tucked just off the main road in Bitton. A quick chat with the Rev Maria who was conducting the ceremony to check the signals for the entrance and exit and we were all set. We were even given a brief history of this delightful church and its bell-ringing history from the verger!

Michelle looked radiant as her pageboy and pagegirl scattered white rose petals down the aisle as she walked in to Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Michelle had requested an especially slow performance as her bridesmaids were walking in one at a time.

Michelle and Steve had the organist play the hymns, before we played The Beatle’s ‘All you need is love’ whilst the registers were signed. The registers took a little longer than expected, so we filled in with ‘Here there and everywhere’ which seemed to match the mood quite well. After this, the Maria gave some directions to the congregation for the reception venue, and the happy couple walked out to ‘God Only Knows’ by the Beachboys – an unusual choice for an exit, but it worked very well!

At the Beechfield House, the perfect setting for an episode of Poirot or Miss Marple in our opinion, Michelle had asked for jazz and pop during the drinks reception and Classical for the meal – the opposite way round to normal for us – which made her day feel a little extra special!

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

The second gig of the day, and a quick trip down the road to the picturesque village of Bibury. We arrived nice and early, which allowed us some time to enjoy the almost picture-perfect setting. Jan particularly so as she decided to share the river with the ducklings and swans…

… which Sarah seemed to find quite funny!

Kerry and Quinn had arranged for the hotel to provide some food for us – which always goes down well with everybody – before we entertained their intimate party for the evening from 7:30-10pm. The couple asked us to play ‘That’s Amore’ for their first dance, which inspired the other guests to join in with some salsa dancing to Santana’s ‘Smooth’, and some fine tango dancing to Piazolla’s ‘Libertango’ to name a few!

The first of two gigs on the Sunday saw us at one of our most local venues – the stunning Manor House in Castle Combe. A first for us, this was a civil ceremony followed by a Jewish blessing conducting by Rabbi Rachel.

Daniela, looking fabulous, walked in to David Gray’s ‘This Year’s Love’, with Faure’s ‘Pavane’ and Dvoraks ‘Humoresque’ for the Registers.

Then the guests turned to their Hebraic Orders of Service as Rabbi Rachel conducted the blessing, before the couple led the guests out to the group photo on the lawn to Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.

Not a spot of jet-lag in sight as the new Mrs Loveridge and the rest of the quartet arrived at Hannah and Mark’s wedding at Berkley Castle on the Friday morning. Hannah had run through the last-minute details with Rebbeca whilst we were away in the US and everything was in place and organised in its usual way.

After 30 minutes of light popular classics up in the minstrels gallery, it was time for Hannah to make her grand entrance to Pachelbel’s Canon in D.

After the ceremony we made a quick dash to play outside under the gazebo, but sadly the weather had other plans. As a brief monsoon-like downpour began, the wedding party made their way indoors and thankfully remembered to come back out with some brollies to collect us! Relocated indoors, we played an uplifting mix of jazz and showtunes to help the afternoon go with a swing!

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!