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Relax with live music in the garden as tulips and bluebells spring to life. Dig out your picnic blanket, top up your glass and let the music carry you away!

We're so excited to be providing live music once again for Music in the Garden, one of the highlights of the Dunham Massey calendar. Throughout May and June, three of our bands will be providing live music in this National Trust site's stunning gardens. We normally only play at private events, so we're so pleased to be doing sets that we can invite everyone to! You'll need to buy a ticket to get into Dunham Massey, but it's well worth it for the gardens, the manor house and the deer park. The live music is an added bonus! Watch this video for a taste of what's on offer:

The bands
Strings Attached, Skylark Jazz Band and Plain Folk will all be performing on different dates. Have a look at these flyers to see who's playing when or check the National Trust website.

For more information, please visit the Dunham Massey website or their Facebook event.

30th December, 2018. Not quite Christmas, not quite New Year, but an absolutely magical time for a wedding. Matt and Jade clearly knew that already, which is why they chose that date for their beautiful wedding in Rudding Park, Harrogate. We loved being there with Plain Folk, our acoustic wedding band, providing music throughout the ceremony.

Plain Folk is usually booked either as a duo or a trio, and in this case it was just the two of us. This smaller, stripped back band is ideal for a wedding ceremony for two reasons. First, we take up very little space, which is always handy in smaller rooms. Secondly, it means we draw very little attention to ourselves, which is how it should be – everyone’s focus should be firmly fixed on the bride and groom! We played a range of acoustic covers throughout the ceremony, including several requests. For the entrance of the bride we played The Blower’s Daughter by Damien Rice, and for the signing of the register we performed an acoustic cover of Alone by Jessie Ware. For the exit song, we played an long-time favourite of ours – One Day Like This by Elbow. What better way to set the mood for the wedding day!

You can see a glimpse of our wedding ceremony performance in this epic wedding film by Clique Visuals.

Rudding Park was the perfect choice of wedding venue for that time of year, its frost-covered grounds twinkling in the winter sun. The wedding ceremony took place in a beautiful chapel located on the grounds, After that, we relocated to the Harrogate wedding venue’s glorious Georgian manor and played background music during the drinks reception. It was so nice to be warm and cosy inside but with spectacular countryside views in every direction!

​It was such a privilege to be part of this special wedding day in such a gorgeous Harrogate venue. The photos by wedding photographer Eye of the Tyne are utter perfection.

If you’re thinking of having live music at your wedding ceremony, read our wedding ceremony music guide for some top tips on how to plan it. There are several points when live music can make a huge impact, and it’s important to get this right as the marriage ceremony is the focal point of your wedding day! Click here to find out more about Plain Folk, our acoustic covers band, or here to see our other amazing Harrogate wedding bands.

Cast your mind back to August 2018. The heatwave was blazing, the flowers were blooming and wedding season was in full swing. One wedding we loved in particular was this one at Hornington Manor, near York, which our string quartet Strings Attached had the pleasure of providing live music for. The happy couple Steph and Eliott looked amazing, as did the guests in their summer frocks and sunglasses. We provided live music for the daytime part of the wedding, from background music as guests arrived, to the ceremony itself, to the drinks reception. And the whole thing took place outside in the glorious sunshine! Here’s how it unfolded…

The ceremony took place in the venue's courtyard, which in that weather could easily be somewhere in the South of France. We played some brilliantly chosen requests, including How Long Will I Love You for the entrance of the bride, and Rather Be for the exit. We even played a string quartet cover of Cold Water for the signing of the register.

Then we all moved to the grounds behind the house. All afternoon, guests were treated to upbeat covers and drinks from a bar in an old horse box! Strings Attached played a range of classic songs in our unique acoustic style. Songs like Lovely Day and One Day Like This always go down a treat, especially when the weather is as good as this was. Nothing beats the sound of cello and violin on a summer afternoon! The whole thing was captured beautifully by Yorkshire-based photographer Mark J. Hillyer.

We couldn’t resist getting a photo with Steph, the gorgeous bride, after our set! As you can see from the photos, this was an absolutely stunning venue. Hornington Manor is a Grade II listed building, complete with a barn that’s perfect If you want that vintage, rustic feeling at your wedding reception. Set in the beautiful surroundings of the North Yorkshire countryside, it suits our string quartet perfectly.

We received this lovely thank you card from Steph and Eliott after the event. You’re welcome guys, we’re so happy we were able to give your wedding a touch of sparkle with our string quartet. We’re sure your guests will be talking about that amazing day for a long time to come!