Today we were in Anne-Marie’s home town of Stafford for the beautiful wedding of Fenella and Gareth at Sandon Hall.
Describing itself as an exclusive use Country House Wedding Venue, Sandon Hall is set in 400 acres and is also widely used as a filming location.
The Wedding
Fenella and Gareth
Sandon Hall, Staffordshire
Friday 19 July 2024
Ceremony and Drinks
Having arrived the night before, we had a little time before the wedding to source a farm shop breakfast and take a very brief trip to Shugborough. The weather was already hot by 10am which guaranteed an outdoor wedding ceremony.
The Ceremony
With Sandon Hall being set in extensive grounds, the ceremony was some distance from the house (and the later drinks reception). But our job was made easier by the venue allowing us to effectively drive through the grounds to the area where the ceremony had been set up. This made our setting up a whole lot quicker (and easier given the heat of the day). The venue also very kindly loaned us a gazebo so we were not sat in full sun.
Music for the Ceremony
Pre Ceremony
1- Songbird – Fleetwood Mac
2- Married Life – Up
3- Yellow – Coldplay
4- How long will I love you – Ellie Goulding
5- I get to love you – Ruelle
Bridal Entrance
Bridesmaid entrance – Butterfly Waltz
Brides entrance – To Build a Home by the cinematic orchestra.
Signing
Can’t help falling in love- Elvis Presley
Turning Page – Twilight (Sleeping at Last)
Exit
This will be an everlasting love- Natalie Cole
Today there was quite a long walk for the bridal entrance and we had two songs to play which we always enjoy doing to make the bridal entrance even more special and giving a particular focus to the moment the bride arrived.
Fenella looked amazing in her beautiful dress as she walked in to our arrangement of To Build a Home by the cinematic orchestra.
The Drinks Reception
After the ceremony we had to relocate to the lawn area by the main house for the outdoor drinks reception. At this point it was impractical to disassemble everything and put it back in the car so with help from some of the venue team we were able to carry our piano and instruments across the lawns and were set up again within no more than 10 minutes.
During the drinks reception we met Jenni, proprietor of Jenni’s Ice Creams who very kindly brought us some of her ice creams which were most welcome in the heat!
For the drinks reception we had set up under the shade of a tree which meant we could provide music to the guests while they enjoyed drinks, canapés, garden games and of course ice creams outside.
Fenella and Gareth had requested a selection of upbeat songs during the drinks reception but specifically not Dance Monkey! With this in mind we included:
t’s all about you, Wildest Dreams, Lover , L-O-V-E, Signed, sealed, delivered, accidentally in love, All you need is love, As it was, Beautiful Girls, Crazy Little thing called love, Here comes the Sun, if I could fly, I say a little prayer for you, I’ve been waiting for you, young and beautiful, yellow, and You’ve got the love.
