Mr & Mrs Middleton - 03.12.22 - Wharfedale Grange
Bride to be: “We’d like to add live music to our ceremony and we have an idea: A ‘Love, Actually’ style surprise of ‘All You Need Is Love’, after the vows...”
UC: “We can do this.”
Bride to be: “I wasn't even sure this would be possible!!”
How exactly would it be possible?
We weren’t quite sure at first but we were excited to work on this ‘flash mob’ style performance*.
* If you haven’t seen the film 'Love Actually', check out the wedding scene for which we were attempting to bring to life, albeit on a smaller scale.
(Thankfully it wasn’t a request to perform the Hugh Grant dance!)
Anyway, thinking caps on and Fast Forward to Sat 3rd Dec 2022 [video tape whirry noise]
10:30am.
A cold sunny morning. We arrived to set up in the beautiful North Barn at Wharfedale Grange. Not a guest in sight, which was very important. We had to stay, well, undercovered.
We decided that three live musicians plus backing track was the best way to deliver this flash mob, from both a logistical and financial point of view. So we provided a singer, guitarist and a trumpet player.
The North Barn features a glass-fronted mezzanine which wasn’t being used that day and so Clark (singer) and Dan (guitar) hid up in the shadows, while Pete (trumpet) sat amongst the guests with his trumpet hidden under his seat! At this point the only people who knew about this were the bride & groom...
With sound checks complete and the guests beginning to arrive we sat patiently and waited for our cue:
1:25pm.
As the ceremony drew to a close, the registrar announced the new ‘Mr & Mrs’. Everyone began to applaud. We pressed play…a recorded choir sings the opening:
“Loooove, looove, love…”
The applause stops.
All of a sudden, on the top of the mezzanine, out stepped Clark to sing! You could hear everyone in the room inhale with excitement and surprise!
As the chorus came in, up jumped Pete from amongst the guests and blew the roof of the building with the bellowing trumpet line ‘wah, wah, wah-wah waaahhhh’.
Dan hopped on to his platform and delivered his guitar solo before Clark got the room singing along to the title lyrics “ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE”.
An amazing way to kick off the entertainment!
A really special moment. Something we had never done before but so pleased about how well it went down!
As the song goes... "there's nothing you can do that can't be done".
DRINKS RECEPTION
After the ceremony, Undercovered provided a live singer with guitar to create the soundtrack to the drinks reception - a selection of acoustic songs to keep guests entertained right up until they were called through for the wedding breakfast and the all-important speeches!
(To anyone currently planning a wedding, this may be when you are having photos taken and so having music and entertainment here is really valuable. It keeps guests together too, especially if you would like them to be in your photos.)
EVENING RECEPTION
What a party! A wedding. At Christmas. When England were still in the World Cup (for the time being). The whole atmosphere was just so electric!
8pm Up stepped our 6-piece band for two live sets of back-to-back hits. As always, every ounce of energy went into making sure everyone had a good time and this was matched by the reaction of everyone on the dance floor. The bride & groom created their own playlists to go in between the band sets so they were satisfied that every one of their favourite songs got played on their special day. What a musical feast.
What’s more, given that England were playing in the World Cup, we were asked by the newlyweds to play ‘Three Lions’.
What we didn’t know was that Jim Sharrock - drummer of The Lightning Seeds - was there! A great guy and talent who was more than happy to join us on stage (you can watch the video on Undercovered's social media pages).
We may have misheard Jim but we’re pretty sure he said: “Even after 7 weeks on tour with The Lightning Seeds, finishing off at the Royal Albert Hall, I think playing with Undercovered has been the highlight of my year”.
Although, the music was quite loud we can’t be sure if he said this. He may not have said it at all. Oh well, I guess we’ll never know…
Nevertheless, it was a true celebration of love and music.
As musicians, it never fails to excite us when we are asked to play such an important role in any wedding.
A special thank you to Mr & Mrs Middleton for having us, to Wharfedale Grange for hosting and Phoebe Jane Photography for capturing the day perfectly.
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PLANNING YOUR WEDDING?
Undercovered can help bring your ideas and event to life.
www.undercovered.co.uk