Severn Duo

Hi Alex, Thanks very much for your feedback. There are a few points you’ve made that we feel we need to clarify. Firstly, we’re a little confused as to why you’ve suggested that we only let you know we needed shelter from rain and sun an hour before the ceremony. To keep things objective, I’ll quote the emails we exchanged well before the wedding day: “If you’d like us to play outside at any point, we must be under cover from the sun and rain. If we’re in full sun or rain, the instruments are at risk of damage and we won’t be able to play.” To which you responded: “The ceremony is outside but surrounded by trees (please see attached photos) so there’s limited direct sunlight. We’ll just have to position you and the instruments accordingly on the day. If it rains we’ll be inside (but hoping the weather changes before then!)”. It was therefore rather concerning that on our arrival the wedding co-ordinator completely dismissed our concerns about playing outside in on/off rain and was extremely rude and unaccommodating. We had arrived well over an hour early and there was plenty of time for something to be sorted. Instead, they were adamant we would play outside regardless and ignored our pleas for shelter. This left us with no choice but to call Encore to make them aware of the situation. £60k+ of instruments and equipment would have been destroyed by playing outside in the rain. Besides, the wet would have actually stopped the instruments from functioning so we then would not have been able to provide any music at all. Furthermore, the MP3 you mentioned was a bespoke recording which we had produced at your request before the day. It was recorded from a special arrangement of a song you had requested which we wrote out for string duo for no extra fee. The recording is not a service included in the package you had chosen, however on this occasion we decided to include it for free as we enjoyed playing it and wanted to get it right for you. Getting this recording sorted to be played on the day was a last resort when no other accommodations were granted us by the co-ordinator and this would have ensured you were still played up the aisle to your song request and by ourselves. As far as using a different cellist that day is concerned, it is clearly listed in the FAQs on our page that we pick from a pool of professional players when one of us is unavailable. Although we try to avoid doing this too often, having flexibility with specific players is vitally important to ensure we can fulfil bookings and be flexible for as many clients as possible. We are extremely selective with our pool of musicians and we can confidently say that all of our musicians are professionals of the highest quality. I feel it is important to note that the playing itself went smoothly when the decision was finally made to move indoors and we were given plenty of extremely positive feedback from the guests. Contrary to your claims, we started punctually (we arrived extremely early due to the large distance travelled so were in place and prepared very early on). Had the agreement regarding shelter been fulfilled – or had the co-ordinator been willing to work with us instead of being hostile - there would have been no issue. It is very disappointing that you were dissatisfied with our service, particularly when we went above and beyond to make things work in very difficult circumstances. It is all the more disappointing that you have then chosen to publicly misrepresent the situation. We have compiled multiple screenshots of our email conversations with you prior to the performance which show this review to be dishonest and have forwarded them to Encore. All the best, Jess & Tom