Real Weddings is a new blog series where we interview real couples who’ve booked their wedding music through Encore.
Next up on our Real Weddings blog series, we caught up with Becky and Will. The happy couple definitely made the most out of their fête style wedding in the midst of the pandemic back in September 2020. This wedding was personal, intimate and mostly DIY! With a singing pianist to set the mood for the reception and newlyweds special first dance, finishing with a DJ set to get the crowd jumping in the evening, the day was a stunning success.
Anyone looking to have a beautiful wedding, but maybe on a budget, this is the perfect inspiration for you. Especially with some Covid restrictions still in place!
Fact file
- Number of guests: 3 lots of 30 (due to COVID restrictions)
- Budget: £5000 – £10,000
- Location: Parent’s Garden in Five Oak Green, Tonbridge, Kent
- Wedding themes: Festival; outdoor; pandemic; English country house; fête; afternoon tea.
Contents
Thank you so much for sharing your special day with us, here at Encore, Becky!
To start off, please introduce yourself and your partner!
“My name is Becky, and my partner is Will. We met each other at university. It was my first night out at uni and I had gone to the student bar, that’s where I met Will! We were actually friends for around 5 months before we went on our first date. That was around 7 years ago now!”
The Music
Ceremony: Pre-recorded
- Bride entrance: A Thousand Miles – Boyce Miles
- Bride and Groom exit: Accidentally in Love – Counting Crows
- Acoustic covers of popular songs as filler
Reception: Encore’s Singing Pianist Lora
- First dance: Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid
- Father, daughter dance: You Are So Beautiful – Donny Osmond
- Dinner: Acoustic covers of Disney songs as background
Encore Singer Lora acoustic set for Becky and Will’s reception.
“Lora played beautiful, scaled-back acoustic Disney songs to fill the silence whilst we were eating. Before the wedding, we actually asked Lora if it was possible for her to learn two brand new pieces, one being for our first dance – it was Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid which needed timing adjustments – and it was no problem at all! She also performed them both beautifully!”
I know Under The Sea may seem like a weird choice but it was actually the first song we heard on our first date. The bar we went to actually had a Disney themed room!
Why book Lora?
We were looking for musicians on Encore whilst trying to take into consideration location as well as singing style, and also if they were able to take song requests.
Lora, also sounded amazing on all of her samples and was super nice, friendly and flexible too… We both agreed she’d fit the style of our wedding!
See more reviews and performance videos of Lora here.
Thinking of hiring a solo vocalist for your wedding? Lora is versatile, friendly and obviously of course incredibly talented! Listen to more of Lora here.
Why did you choose Encore for your wedding music?
I was searching for music for the wedding a little while. Encore seemed very reasonably and competitively priced. Definitely good value for money!
Becky’s dedicated Encore Booking Specialist for her wedding: Perrine Gouarne
THE SUPPLIERS
Games – DO IT YOURSELF! (DIY)
“We made most of our decorations and games ourselves; with the help of my mum and mother-in-law! My dad is a carpenter so he was very handy when it came to making our fête style games!”
It saved us a lot of money and honestly, I feel it made everything feel so much more personal!
“Our wedding cake was even handmade by my husband’s Nana! It looked so cute and tasted pretty amazing too!”
Venu – Becky’s Parents Garden!
“We actually used my parents garden as our venue, again it saved us a lot of money and made things that little bit more special and personal…”
The marquee was provided by Cavendish Marquees!
Food – Bespoke Buffets Kent
“They were recommended to us. Again it was great value for money and delish food! We had afternoon tea which is what we were after for our fete style wedding and then to finish off the night, a Hog Roast!”
“The bar we used was from The Village Bar Company”
Wedding Dress – The Hop Farm
“I was choosing between two stores for my dress. When I went into The Hop Farm, they had so much more variety and I felt the ladies in there were a lot more helpful!”
Toastmaster – Chris Metherell
“We met with him maybe a few times before the wedding, and he literally thought of everything; things that didn’t even cross my mind. For example, he asked us if we’d told the girls either not to wear heels or to wear heel stoppers as our wedding was on grass! He made sure all of our guests signed the Track and Trace sheet, and even announced the speeches and organised the group photos!”
Florist – Rose Bud Florist
“We did have a florist, we chose them as they were a small fairly new business and they were in Five Oak Green which is where my mum and dad live so they were local”
Photographer – James Ireland
“Our photographer was James Ireland, he was amazing, we chose him for his more natural style of photos and the fact he lives really close to us. Before he encouraged us to have an engagement shoot which was included in the package just to get us used to the big day and become more comfortable around the camera which did help a lot and the pictures were amazing. On the day he was amazing as well, he had an idea for a picture of us with us shaking champagne bottles! He was really, really good.”
ADVICE FOR COUPLES
Do you have any advice for future couples?
“If you can… don’t do it in COVID haha! Aside from that, I’d say do as much as you can yourself, it will save you so much money and make you feel quite fulfilled! Also, getting as many quotes from different venues and caterers etc was helpful too – just so you know what you’re getting and if you could get a better deal elsewhere… and lastly get a toastmaster! He took a lot of pressure off us, I don’t know what we would have done without him!”
What was your favourite moment of the wedding?
“My favourite parts of my wedding were probably, the first dance, the father-daughter dance and the ceremony. They were each small and intimate which made it all the more special. The song we did the father-daughter dance to was actually a surprise from my dad! I had no idea and I loved it.“