As a rule music for weddings breaks up into the following three separate sections.
- If you are having a civil wedding there is the ceremony itself. This involves playing as guests arrive, a processional as the bride makes her entrance, during the signing of the register, and a recessional as you leave the room.
- Drinks reception after the service (usually whilst photos are happening, as there can be general milling around for the guests)
- During the wedding breakfast.
Usually we play for the service and then move to play during drinks - or during drinks and then dinner.
A few points to mull over......
Firstly - If the weather is good and you are having photos/drinks reception outside, we cannot take our instruments out into the grounds as the sound (of any instrument) doesn't travel in the
open air and being exposed to the elements damages our instruments. In those situations where everyone is outdoors we usually start playing in the reception as you arrive and then move if necessary. We tend to base ourselves either near where the drinks are being served or near a large doorway so that the sound can filter out. We find that even if most people are outside during the reception it is nice after the initial impact of arriving and seeing/hearing the musicians to have a focal point inside the building where guests can come to if they wish to have a break from the photos!!
Secondly - if you are having a traditional line up into the wedding breakfast, this is a very good time to have music playing as line-ups can take 20 minutes (or longer!) and having music played tends to draw the guests into 
the room and also gives a welcoming atmosphere especially when your guests first enter.
If you wanted us to play at the drinks and wedding breakfast, we would co-ordinate with the hotel staff as to when the line up was due and would stop playing about 15-20 minutes beforehand to move instruments and set up in the room ready for the wedding breakfast. We would then start playing in the room as you line up and greet your guests. We find that when we pack up and move to the dining room it usually helps move the proceedings along as it is a good indication to all the guests that the drinks reception is finishing and that food is imminent! (Usually just finding everyone for the line-up can take a bit of time.)
We play a wide selection of "easy listening" classical and lighter music which is popular for during the wedding breakfast as it caters for a wide age range. You can get a "flavour" by listening to these sound bites.
We have a lot of experience of playing during civil ceremonies, church weddings, church blessings and 
Jewish weddings and if you wish to book us for the ceremony please go to our Wedding Sampler page which has soundbites and notes to help you choose music for the ceremony. All the selected music has proved to be popular requests from brides - however if there is a special piece that you want playing then we will be happy to accommodate any requests that you have, or advise on something similar that would work, but we require at least 8 weeks notice prior to the event.
We always aim to arrive at a venue 45 minutes prior to start time to set up and be ready to play.
Civil ceremonies - The registrars do not usually allow guests into the room until about 10-15 minutes before the start of the ceremony - so we aim to start playing as soon as the guests arrive in the room prior to the start of ceremony. We then play a processional whilst the bridal party enters, 2 pieces during the signing of the register, and then a recessional as the bride and groom leave the room.
Church ceremonies - Guests usually arrive a bit earlier so we would start playing about 15-20 minutes prior to the start of the ceremony. We then play a processional whilst the bridal party enters, 2 pieces during the signing of the register, and then a recessional as the bride and groom leave the room.
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Jewish weddings - We have a wide selection of music for various aspects of the wedding service. Please click here to view more about Jewish weddings and to listen to our Jewish music sound bytes. |
Drinks receptions - 1½ hours (as the meal is normally 2-2½ hours after the start of the service).
Civil ceremonies and drinks receptions (same venue) - 2 hours total duration (from start of ceremony)
Civil ceremonies and drinks receptions (different venues) - 2½ hours total duration including travel (from start of ceremony)
Church ceremonies/Jewish weddings and drinks receptions (different venues) - 3 hours total duration including travel (from start of ceremony)
Wedding breakfast - we aim to be ready to play in the room at the start of the line up - normally 20 
minutes prior to the sit down time arranged with the hotel. We will play during the meal, (taking short breaks as necessary) until coffee is served. This will give us enough time to pack up and leave the room discreetly before the speeches start.
Certain timings such as start of ceremony and sit down time of the meal are usually fixed. However, due to the nature of weddings and parties timings do not always go according to plan! We make allowances for this and will always try to be as flexible as we can. Normally we allow 15-30 minute leeway, however if the start time is excessively delayed (¾-1 hour) we may well have to finish earlier.
Dress Code - We always wear appropriate dress for every engagement. For most weddings we wear very smart long black. The exceptions for this are formal evening events - balls etc, where we wear formal tails and ballgown, and morning weddings where we would wear smart day suit and dress/trousers silk jacket.
Visit the booking form page and contact us as soon as possible to see if we are available for your wedding.
