Another early start from the Cotswolds as we travelled across central England to Spalding for today’s wedding which was held at Whaplode Manor. We love a trip to the East of England and often find ourselves at weddings around Norwich, Kings Lynn and Peterborough, but this was our first trip to the fens near Spalding.
The Wedding
Julie and Paul
Whaplode Manor, Spalding
Saturday 23 March 2024
Ceremony and Wedding Breakfast
Arriving in good time our first task was to assemble our piano shell up on the gallery at the back of the ceremony room as you can see above. The benefit of this arrangement is that today we were just playing for ceremony and meal and the wedding breakfast was being held up on the mezzanine. Therefore by getting our instruments up the stairs first thing in the morning meant we were then set up for the day and didn’t have to move again!
The Wedding Ceremony
We had agreed for Julie and Paul’s Ceremony to collaborate with professional singer Paul McDowell. Julie had chosen Elvis ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ for her bridal entrance and asked us to collaborate with Paul for this moment.
Jules and Anne-Marie are always only to happy to collaborate with other musicians and it was a pleasure to work with Paul. As there wasn’t time or opportunity to meet in advance we decided it would be best if Jules’ played along with Paul who was accompanying himself on the guitar. Luckily as Jules has perfect pitch he can identify any note or chord being played and simply adapt a suitable accompaniment on the spot. Which is what happened.
This worked extremely well and we hope it created the perfect bridal entrance that Julie was after.
You can find out more about Paul Mcdowell by visiting his website.
The rest of the ceremony music was played by JAM Duo and included:
Pre Ceremony
Savage Garden – Truly, Madly, Deeply
Bruno Mars – Marry You
Ed Sheeran – Perfect
Callum Scott – You are the reason
Ronan Keating – When you say nothing at all
Bridal Entrance
Can’t Help Falling in Love – JAM Duo with Paul McDowell
Signing
Coldplay – Sky Full of Stars
Coldplay – Paradise
Exit
Stevie Wonder – Signed, Sealed, Delivered
After the ceremony, Paul McDowell took over in the downstairs bar area to provide music during the drinks reception. We remained in situe upstairs so we could provide music for the wedding Breakfast.
The Wedding Meal
Julie and Paul had chosen to walk into their wedding breakfast to All you need is love by The Beatles. We enjoy playing this song and it was great when the guests started to sing along as the newly weds entered for the wedding meal.
Julie and Paul had chosen a lot of songs for the wedding breakfast which we really enjoyed playing for their guests. There was a lot of singing along – particularly we noticed for Robbie Williams songs – although it was also noted that Julie was somewhat a fan of Robbie Williams!
Music for the wedding breakfast
Count on me – Bruno Mars
More than Words – Extreme
Beneath your beautiful – Labrinth
Groovy Kind of Love – Phil Collins
Always – Atlantic Star
I’ll Make Love to you – Boyz II Men
Fix You – Coldplay
Hymn for the Weekend – Coldplay
Friday I’m in Love – The Cure
Africa – Toto
Iris – Goo Goo Dolls
Watermelon Sugar – Harry Styles
You give me something – James Morrison
All of me – John Legend
Somewhere only we know – Keane
It must be love – Madness
Love is all around – Marti Pellow
It’s all about you – Mcfly
LOVE – Nat King Cole
Glory of Love – Peter Cetera
Every breath you take – Police
Crazy little thing called love – Queen
Never gonna give you up – Rick Astley
She’s so lovely – Scouting for girls
Kiss from a Rose – Seal
Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol
True – Spandau Ballet
A million love songs – Take That
She’s the one – Robbie Williams
You can hear our recordings of some of these songs and many others by heading over to our listen page.
We really enjoyed being a part of Julie and Paul’s wedding and wish them all the best for their married future together. We also enjoyed collaborating with Paul Mcdowell and will continue to follow his updates on social media.
We were delighted to receive a card from Julie and Paul thanking us for the music at their wedding.
