The Botleigh Grange Hotel, a former 17th century country house set in 14 acres of landscaped grounds located on the outskirts of Southampton formed the backdrop for our latest wedding adventure on Saturday 22nd October.
The string quartet was booked for Lana and Martin's wedding ceremony, wedding reception and wedding breakfast. When we arrived at the hotel on the Saturday morning Martin grabbed us and asked if we could do a further hour to ensure that we played throughout the wedding breakfast. We were happy to do so but the day turned in to a 5 hour gig for us.
We started with the wedding ceremony which was completely choreographed at the behest of the Registrar who had insisted on knowing the music we would be playing both before and during the ceremony. So pre-ceremony as the guests arrived we played 'Arrival of the Queen of Sheba' by Handel, 'Canon in D' by Pachelbel and 'Nessun Dorma' by Puccini. For the arrival of the bride 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri, for the signing of the register 'Kissing You' by Desree and 'When I Fall in Love' by Nat King Cole and for the recessional 'You'll Never Walk Alone' by Gerry & The Pacemakers as Martin is a Liverpool Football supporter.
We then moved location to the bar area for the drinks reception and then moved to the hotel ballroom for the wedding breakfast and played our usual mix of music plus some requests.
A long day but a beautiful wedding and we would like to wish both Lana and Martin every happiness in their life together.