Strings for a wedding in London

Last weekend we were asked to play as a String Duo for a wedding in central London. The venue was The Ned, a venue we had never played at before, but hope to go back to again! Inside the unassuming entrance it opens out into an amazing interior which was incredibly busy despite it being a Sundsay afternoon in the City. A 5 piece jazz band were playing in the centre of the enormous room while people were enjoying their Sunday buffet of oysters, lobster, roast dinners and amazing desserts!! As we were working we could only look on and think about returning socially!

We made our way to the 6th floor which was where Helen and Davids’s wedding was taking place. There were some lovely staff who were incredibly helpful, showing the String Duo for wedding ceremony and Strings for drinks reception where to set up and even moving an inconveniently placed Chez Longue so we would have enough space to play comfortably. The only music that had been specifically requested was Helen’s entrance music, Pachelbel Canon in D. She had requested that we play suitable music for a wedding ceremony before and then something suitable for the Bride and Grooms exit, before moving on to some of our modern music on strings for the drinks reception. We chose lots of our favourite pieces, some of which you can hear originals of below as well as some of our arrangements….

If you need Strings for a wedding in London, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will do our best to help you create a beautiful atmosphere for you special day.

CONTACT US!

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April 20th, 2019|About us, Ensembles, Pop Music for Strings, Venues, Weddings|

Wedding Strings in Alfriston, East Sussex

Lat weekend we returned to Alfriston to perform at our first wedding of 2019 (January is always a nice quiet time to catch up, sort out new music for strings and generally recover!). We were asked to play as a String Trio for a wedding ceremony and drinks reception.

Deans Place is a lovely hotel and wedding venue on the edge of the village of Alfriston. The ceremony room looked fantastic with drapes and extra lighting and we are often told that having a wedding string quartet or one of our smaller ensembles at the front of the room can add even more atmosphere to the occasion. Before the ceremony, as the guests were being seated we were asked to play some of our more traditional classical music for strings which included music by Vivaldi and Bach. One of our favourites is the Vivialdi Double Concerto:

The bride had requested to walk in accompanied by her favourite piece of music – Gabriel’s Oboe from the Mission by Ennio Morricone:

 

During the signing of the register, when we always suggest having at least 2 pieces of music, we played our version of Pachelbel’s Canon in D as well as How Long Will I Love You by Ellie Goulding:

To exit, the couple had asked for All You Need is Love by the Beatles which we have again made a special arrangement of for weddings. Modern Music for Strings is really popular now and we have an absolutely enormous selection of pop covers for string quartet, string trio and string duo.

Following the ceremony the guests and ourselves relocated to another room for the drinks reception, and the weather was nice enough for the bride and groom and their guests to go outside to get some nice pictures in the grounds of Deans Place, overlooking the East Sussex countryside.

It was really nice to get to chat to the couple as their guest were seated for the wedding breakfast and we hope the rest of the day was as enjoyable as the time we spent at this lovely wedding.

A few days later we received a lovely email thanking us for being part of the wedding:

Hi Rachel,

Now that things have settled down, we wanted to take the time to thankyou for your hard work playing at our wedding at Deans Place last weekend.
Your skills and professionalism were second to none and really helped make the day special for us. To walk in to Gabriels Oboe was such a special moment for me and one I will always remember, and the combination of both classic and modern really helped create a fantastic atmosphere among our guests.
Our guests were truly blown away by the music and couldn’t stop talking about how beautiful you sounded and your expansive repertoire.
We would have no hesitation in recommending you to others as we really were blown away.
Once again, a massive thankyou!
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February 25th, 2019|Ensembles, Events, Pop Music for Strings, Testimonials, Venues, Weddings|

Wedding in Penshurst, Kent

Back from a fantastic day in Penshurst, Kent! A longer booking than usual – the usual choice for our Wedding String Quartet is for the ceremony and drinks reception but sometimes when the ceremony is at a different venue we are asked to move between venues. Today we began in the beautiful St John the Baptist Church, dating back to the 12th Century.

http://www.penshurstchurch.org/the-church/

We ran into the Rector, Tom as we got to the church so could discuss arrangements for the wedding ceremony. It’s always important for us to establish the format for the ceremony as there are many different ways this can happen. He was really helpful throughout, giving us really clear signals – not always the case!! On this occasion the Bride and Groom had chosen 2 separate pieces for the entrance of the Bridesmaids and the entrance of the Bride:

and our version of Pachelbel Canon in D

Among the couple’s other choices were their chosen exit music, God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, which you can listen to in our arrangement of pop music for strings on our website:

LISTEN

 

Following the ceremony we made our way to the reception venue, Penshurst Place and began our music for the drinks reception in the fantastic setting of the Barrons Hall, a beautiful room with a circular open fire in the centre and suits of armour on tables around the outside. The couple had asked us to play a selection from our repertoire for String Quartet so we began with some classical pieces including Vivaldi Concertos, moving on later to music from films and shows and more contemporary pop music for string quartet. How about this?

 

After a break we moved to the marquee for the wedding breakfast, the guests were seated on long tables all joined together rather than seperate tables which was lovely and the flower arrangements were incredible! We continued with our pop arrangements, including some of our newest ones. How about a bit of Metallica for String Quartet?

Overall it was a tiring but ultimately rewarding day and we hope the addition of a wedding string quartet added to what was a really lovely wedding in an amazing setting.

Penshurst

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April 12th, 2018|Ensembles, Events, Pop Music for Strings, Venues, Weddings|

Wedding String Trio in Hever Castle, Kent

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Premiere String Trio played for Claire and Chris’s wedding at Hever Castle in Kent. The wedding ceremony was performed in a local church within the village and then the drinks reception was held in the grounds of Hever in the Italian Loggia which is situated by the lake. It was a beautiful setting for a wedding. The Wedding String Trio set up early in the church Claire had chosen some fantastic pieces for the string trio to play as all the guests arrived at the church. Pieces included Flower Duet, Delibes and Air on a G String, J.S Bach. For Claire’s entrance into the church the string trio performed Canon in D, Pachelbel. After the service the couple signed the register and piece they requested the string trio to perform was O Mio Babbino Caro by Puccini. This was significant to the couple as they were engaged in Venice, Italy. After the ceremony was concluded the couple walked back down the aisle to Spring from Four Seasons, Vivaldi. This piece was long enough for Claire and Chris and all their guests to exit the church. The wedding string trio packed away and moved to the Italian Loggia in the grounds of Hever Casle just 1 mile away. Due to pictures being taken outside the church the String Trio were able to move venues and set up ready to play as the first guests to arrive at the Loggia in the ground of Hever Castle. The repertoire changed to lighter classical and Latin music including La Bamba and Tango por una Cabeza and also pop arrangements including Coldplay, Beatles and Sinatra. The String Trio played up until all the guests were called into dinner.

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September 29th, 2013|About us, Ensembles, Events, Weddings|

A Wedding in Newnham College, Cambridge

sidgwick_jc_small.jpg-cb8560dbdf6bc8ad587c0bec3993e57d[350x227]Premiere String Trio performed at Kelly and Hindley’s wedding on Saturday in Cambridge. The wedding was held in Newnham College, Cambridge. The wedding ceremony was performed inside one of the buildings and the drinks reception within the fantastic grounds of the college. Cambridge University has some wonderful colleges perfect for a wedding, the grounds are always beautifully kept. Before the ceremony the string trio performed a variety of classical repertoire including Pachelbel Canon in D, Vivaldi Spring and an arrangement of Nimrod from Enigma Variation. We have adapted a lot of string repertoire to work well for String Trio so you can get an ensemble that projects well but for a more reasonable cost. In the drinks reception we continued with Classical pieces on request from the bride and guests in the wedding. The String Trio performed pieces by Vivaldi,Telemann, J.S Bach and Elgar. We have recently arranged Brandenburg Concerto’s for string trio and Vivaldi Violin Concerto for string trio.

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September 10th, 2013|About us, Ensembles, Events, Weddings|

Wedding at Gravetye Manor

Premiere String Duo performed at Gravetye Manor in West Hoathly, West Sussex last weekend for Emily and Russell’s wedding. The weather was bright and sunny perfect for this spring wedding. The guests arrived early into the ceremony room where we performed a selection of classical pieces including Pachelbel Canon, Elgar Salut d’Amour and Handel’s water music. The bride walked down the aisle to Faure’s Pavane and we played 2nd movement of Double Violin Concerto by J.S Bach arranged for Viola and cello and Romanza from Eine Kleine Nachmusik for the signing of the register. After the ceremony the newly married couple exited the ceremony room to La Rejouissance from The Royal Fireworks by Handel. The weather was beautiful so we were able to move easily into the gardens for their drinks reception, we were able to find a shaded spot perfect to protect our instruments. We then played a selection of pop music including an arrangement of Your Song by Elton John, No woman No Cry by Bob Marley and our new arrangement of Rolling In the Deep by Adele. A few days later we received this wonderful testimonial from the couple

Thank you Martin & Rachel for playing for us and keeping our guests entertained throughout our drinks reception. Everyone commented on how fantastic you both are. We were ever so fortunate to find such a fabulous, talented Duo and would highly recommend you for any event.
Emily & Russell Flowers

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April 25th, 2013|About us, Ensembles, Events, Testimonials, Weddings|

Wedding at Frinton on Sea

Last Saturday Premiere String Duo played at a wedding on Frinton on Sea Tennis Club.It was a lovely venue minutes from the sea. The sun came out in time for the bride and groom to arrive for the drinks reception. They had their ceremony in Colchester Town Hall then travelled down to Frinton on Sea for the drinks reception and wedding breakfast. The bride requested a mixture of classical and light/pop repertoire. We played Classical pieces as the guests arrived including Canon in D by Pachelbel as the bride and groom arrived for the drinks reception. Then when the guests started to come into the wedding breakfast we performed some of our many string arrangements of pop music. We recently added to our extensive repertoire to include the songs ‘Hey Ho’ by the Lumineers and ‘You and Me Song’ by the Wannadies. We also got to play some other arrangements in our collection – ‘Everywhere’ by Fleetwood Mac and ‘Everlong’ by Foo Fighters. We enjoy adding to our repertoire lists so if a bride and groom does have a particular piece that is important to them we usually are able to source the music and adapt it for any string combination.image3121-1

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April 8th, 2013|Ensembles, Events, Weddings|

String Trio in London

Last Friday night Premiere String Quartet were booked to provide a String Trio for a 30th Birthday party in the Institute of Directors, which is in Pall Mall in London. It’s one of several wonderful buildings that we have performed in along the same stretch which has also included the RAC Club.

We worked closely with the client in providing a playlist that she was happy with, balancing her love of classical music (especially Debussy) with a mixture of music which would be popular with her guests. So we performed several sets, starting with Classical music including Schubert’s String Trio, Debussy’s The Girl With The Flaxen Hair and Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Moving on we performed some lighter, jazzy numbers including songs by Gershwin and Sondheim. Tangos followed and we finished the evening playing a set of modern covers including many of our unique pop arrangements for strings.

The guests seemed to have a wonderful time in this fantastic venue and we were well looked after so it was a really enjoyable booking for us!

Premiere String Quartet

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March 6th, 2013|Corporate Events, Ensembles, Events, Performances|

String Duo for a wedding at Leeds Castle

rPremiere String Duo were recently booked to perform for a wedding at Leeds Castle which is near Maidstone in Kent. Being quite a small wedding, the room was again too big for a wedding string quartet so a string trio or string duo were the options we advised. The couple decided to opt for the Duo as their number of guests was relatively small. We began by playing the guests in to the ceremony room which was a wonderful old room full of antiques and amazing artwork. The Bride had chosen to walk in to Pachelbel Canon in D. As usual we provided some music for the signing of the register and the traditional Wedding March by Mendelssohn for the exit. After the ceremony we moved rooms (just next door!) the the Old Library to provide entertainment for the assembled guests during the drinks reception. We performed a selection of our pop covers which we have made string arrangements of. These included Paradise by Coldplay, Kiss from a Rose by Seal and more from our selection of Modern Songs for Strings.
As the guests left the room for the Wedding Breakfast (which smelt amazing!) we discreetly packed away and left after another enjoyable afternoon.

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March 2nd, 2013|Uncategorized|

Wedding at Chilston Park

A couple of weeks ago Premiere String Duo performed for a lovely wedding at Chilston Park which is near Lenham in Kent. It is a wedding venue we have performed at many times as well as playing for many wedding fairs there. Although they have several rooms for the ceremony, the most popular is the Orangery, which overlooks the lovely grounds. This room can hold around 60-70 people and is a bit small for a string quartet so we have usually performed as a string trio or string duo, as on this occasion. As people can gather in the bar next to the ceremony room it means the strings can start playing before people enter, not realising that the music is live until they come into the room to be seated for the ceremony! Pachelbel Canon in D was chosen as the entrance music for the Bride. We performed The Flower Duet for the signing of the register and Clocks by Coldplay was a lively piece for the exit of the newly married couple! We moved next door into the bar area to accompany the drinks reception where the couple had asked us to play from our light and modern selection. Many of our original string arrangements of pop covers and modern songs were appreciated by the guests. However we probably couldn’t compete with the “stags” who had learnt the words to “It Must be Love” by Madness and performed it to the gathered guests after photos on the staircase! All in all a great day to be involved in!!
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The Orangery at Chilston Park, Lenham, Kent

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February 27th, 2013|Ensembles, Events, Performances, Weddings|