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wedding ceremony music

Orton Hall Hotel, Peterborough

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Orton Hall Hotel is one of the best wedding venues in Peterborough, so we were delighted  when our string trio was invited to play wedding music here again a couple of weeks ago.
Orton Hall Hotel

We performed for  three hours during drinks and the wedding breakfast, moving from the conservatory – which is light and airy – to the main dining room.

Italian Music
The bride and groom had chosen extremely elegant decorations for the table settings and, as this was an Italian wedding, they had asked us to include some Italian music; so we played  Ave Maria, a selection from Vivaldi’s The Seasons, Italian arias – including Nessun Dorma and pieces from  La Boheme, La Traviata and Rigoletto – and  our own sheet music arrangement of Speak Softly  from The Godfather movie.
About Orton Hall
Orton Hall is an 18th century manor house surrounded by 20 acres of beautifully cared for grounds, which give  it a very open, relaxed feel. Organisation was excellent  throughout the day and the weather was wonderfully warm for October.

The Talbot Inn, Ripley

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At the beginning of September our string duet played for a wedding ceremony and reception at the 15th century Talbot Inn in Ripley, an old coaching inn which has historic links to Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton.  The bride had hired us in secret, so the groom  was very  surprised when we began playing, but I hope also delighted.
Talbot Inn Ripley

The Talbot is quite a distance from our homes so we’d  allowed plenty of time to get to there, and once we arrived  we had a chance to relax and warm up before performing a mix of classical repertoire as the guests arrived. We then played Pachelbel Canon in D for the bride’s entrance, Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Londonderry Air for the signing and Arrival of the Queen of Sheba as exit music.

After the ceremony the guests had drinks and some of them gathered round to listen while we played our own string duet sheet music arrangements of lighter pieces.

Castle Farm Guesthouse, Fotheringhay

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Last week our string duo played for a wedding ceremony at Castle Farm Guesthouse,  Fotheringhay in Cambridgeshire. The weather was extremely hot and the venue was peaceful and attractive with a huge garden leading down to the River Nene.
Castle Farm Guesthouse, Fotheringhay

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Performance
We played outside in a gazebo hear the river and our repertoire included Wagner’s Bridal Chorus, Air on a G String and Arrival of the Queen of Sheba and movements from unaccompanied Bach cello suites.  In such high temperatures it was especially enjoyable to be close to the coolness of the river  throughout the occasion.

Bassmead Manor Cambridgeshire

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Last week our string duo  played for a wedding reception at Bassmead Manor Cambridgeshire. It was the second time we’d played here in a week and it’s no surprise it’s popular: it’s an exceptionally pretty venue in the middle of the peaceful countryside with a lovely garden. The restored barns are on the site of a medieval moat and the  area has been designated  a listed monument  by English Heritage.
Bassmead Manor Cambridgeshire

Our programme
The weather was  hot and for much of the time we were playing outside in a gazebo next to the river to the intermittent accompaniment of peacocks.We began with our own violin and cello duet arrangements of classical and baroque  music, moving on to newer arrangements of lighter pieces such as Viva la Vida, Palladio, Paradise, One Day Like This and some Beatles’ songs. Click here to buy some of our arrangements online:
https://www.fedorastrings.com/product-category/sheet-music-sales/
The venue
It was good to play in a venue so full of history. We may not live long, but music will!

 

St Mary the Virgin Church, Bozeat

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On Saturday our string duo played for a wedding ceremony at St Mary the Virgin Church in Bozeat  Northamptonshire. I hadn’t been to this village before and it dates from Saxon times; its unusual name probably means Bosa’s gate – Bosa being a local earl who owned lots of land a  long, long time ago.  The wedding took place in the  secluded St Mary the Virgin Church, which is as pretty and traditional as you would hope a village church might be.
ST Mary the Virgin Church Bozeat

Our programme
The bride had requested  Bridal Chorus for her entrance, Moon River, Flower Duet and Somewhere ( from West Side Story) for the signing, and Viva la Vida as exit music. We also accompanied two hymns: Amazing Grace and Morning Has Broken – my own favourite hymn. All of the pieces we performed were our own  sheet music arrangements.

Sedgebrook Hall Hotel

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Yesterday our string duo played for a small, intimate wedding at Sedgebrook Hall Hotel in Northamptonshire. There were only twenty five people present and this made the occasion especially personal. Our appearance was a complete surprise to the groom and the guests; it had all been arranged in secret by the bride, who had spent the last few months playing her husband-to-be recordings of different pieces to discover what he liked best, without him realising  she had an ulterior motive.
Sedgebrook Hall Hotel

 

Performing at Sedgebrook Hall Hotel
As the guests arrived we played baroque –  Bach, Purcell, Vivaldi and Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – then the couple  walked into the room to the accompaniment of Wagner’s Bridal Chorus. For the signing we played Pachelbel’s Canon followed by the Flower Duet by Delibes

Widor’s Toccata for String Duet!
We ended the ceremony with Widor’s Toccata. This was the first time we had performed  Roger’s very technically demanding arrangement of this work and it’s surprisingly effective for string duo.Luckily the weather was beautifully sunny and during the drinks’ reception there was another surprise for the groom: a performance of One Day Like This, his favourite song.

Free Sheet Music

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We are currently offering customers  a Free Sheet Music violin and cello duet which can be played at their wedding ceremony or event.
free sheet music

Our increasing repertoire

Over the last year we’ve  added more and more  pop songs to our repertoire and most of these adapt excellently for string duo as they have long, flowing phrases.

The power of music
Music has a way of expressing feelings that is often more powerful and intense than words, and we are very committed to helping clients chose the piece which will fulfil their most romantic dreams.  We will be continuing to widen our selection of songs over the coming year with more and more sheet music arrangements. You can like to our sheet music sales’ page here:
https://www.fedorastrings.com/product-category/sheet-music-sales/

Baroque Sheet Music for String Duet

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Roger is busy working on new baroque sheet music for string duet at the moment. We feel strongly that many of the  pieces suitable for wedding ceremonies are not usually performed, and it’s these which we’re intending pioneering. We now have our own versions of Vivaldi’s Gloria, Charpentier’s Te Deum, some movements from a Corelli violin sonata, Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair and Lark in The Clear Air; and more music is underway. My own commitment to this has been to promise to work out how to use Finale Print ( a computerised music notation system), so that I can arrange music myself. .Our other motive is that we love the music and are desperate to play it!

 

A Persian Wedding

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Yesterday we played for a Persian wedding where the reception was at the bride and groom’s home. We’d given a concert here before, at a birthday party last February, so it was especially enjoyable for us to meet this couple and their friends again and be part of such an important occasion in their lives.

We played two Iranian pieces at the start of the reception. We’d prepared these especially for this event  and liked the music so much that we decided to include it in our normal repertoire. There was a Persian wedding ceremony after the traditional church one, and while this took place we moved to the huge and luxuriously furnished marquee in the garden and then played for two hours while the guests chatted and had drinks and canapés before the main meal.

I’d been working as a music examiner in Northern Ireland the previous week and had borrowed a cello so that I could play in the evenings and stay in practice. Roger had arranged Rimsky Korsakov’s Hindu Song , which we performed for the first time, and the whole occasion was very friendly.