Broughton Wedding

“Thank you so much for a fantastic wedding day, we were blown away! From the ceremony to the drinks reception to the last dance you were fantastic, the selection of music kept the dance floor full all evening and so many of our guests commented on how brilliant you were! We are so glad we chose the horn section they added a little something special to the evening! We would (and have) recommend you to anyone.
Thank you again, Mr & Mrs Broughton!”

On the 6^th October 2017, XO, Surrey Wedding Band, travelled to one of our favourite venues – The Barn at Bury Court – for the wedding of Louise and Matt. We were privileged to be involved with most of the day – as well as the full band evening sets, we also performed acoustic sets for the wedding ceremony and drinks reception.

The Venue 

We have been lucky enough to visit The Barn at Bury Court quite a lot throughout the past few years, and what a spectacular venue. We always love a barn wedding, as it lends itself so well to different themes and brings it’s own character. The Barn at Bury Court has a great balance of traditional barn character, with beautiful beams and wooden accents, but also creates a sleek feel with modern touches.

The venue has the perfect space for a wedding ceremony at one end of the barn – a perfect bridal entrance, with the aisle leading up a few steps to an ideal platform for the ceremony to take place. Cream curtains create a beautiful background for the ceremony, but double up to hide tables for the wedding breakfast – no stressful turnarounds needed here!
The wedding ceremony space then doubles up as a great space for the evening party – ample space for a 7-piece band (hint) and plenty of dancers.

Check out the venue’s website here: www.burycourtbarn.com

The Ceremony

It is always such an honour to perform and be a part of a couple’s wedding ceremony – Louise and Matt’s ceremony was absolutely beautiful. Emma, Carl and Ross arrived at 12:30 to set up the three-piece acoustic set (vocals, piano and guitar) in plenty of time before the ceremony.

As the ceremony time approached, we played a live acoustic set whilst guests arrived, took in the beautiful setting and took their seats. Matt and his groomsmen waited excitedly on the platform, as it was time for the bridal party to arrive.

The couple had chosen a few songs for us to play during the ceremony and their choice for the bridal march was an acoustic version of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered’. It was great fun to play this song in a slightly different way, and it set the tone perfectly for such a happy ceremony. When it was time for Louise and Matt to sign the register, we played the new classic ‘All Of Me’ by John Legend, followed by a short taste of ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri. It was soon time for the registrar to announce the new Mr and Mrs Broughton, and the couple left the room with our rendition of ‘Ho, Hey’ by The Lumineers.

The Drinks Reception

After the ceremony, the guests left the barn out into the gardens for the drinks reception – the day was beautifully warm for October. After a quick turnaround, Ross and Emma were ready to play a piano and vocal duo set for everyone to enjoy. We love during these sets, as it is quite relaxed, and we manage to through in a mixture of our favourites, from ‘Halo’ by Beyoncé to ‘Walk of Life’ by The Dire Straights to ‘Runaway’by The Corrs. During this time, everyone enjoyed the drinks and delicious canapés (we can vouch for these!), and the photographer for the day captured all the group shots, as well as sneaking the couple off for their photos, which surely will be treasured for years to come.

The Evening Set Up

The room was set and everyone was ready to sit for Mr and Mrs Broughton’s wedding breakfast. The curtains splitting the barn were still drawn, meaning we could discreetly set up for our evening set during the wedding breakfast. Everyone else arrived to help, and tonight there were 7 of us – we love having the 7 piece party band with the horn section! We began setting up with our star cloth backdrop, new mixing desk (exciting!), lights, speakers… the list goes on. During this time we were treated to the most incredible dinner, which prepared us nicely for the evening. Luckily the day ran quite nicely to time, Matt and Louise cut the cake, and everything was ready for us to begin the first dance.

The First Dance 

Gravity – John Mayer

A newly married couple’s first dance is always such a special moment and it’s so important to us to make it perfect for them. Louise and Matt had chosen ‘Gravity’ by John Mayer, which was great for us, as we’re all big fans. We called everyone around and announced the new Mr and Mrs Broughton onto the dance floor. It was so lovely with everyone watching the couple, before all joining in to fill the dance floor.

Live Party Band

After the first dance, we kicked off our first set with some old classics – ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, ‘Higher and Higher’, ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ and many more, before starting our disco medley, which always gets everyone going – the mixture of old and new means everyone can sing along and warm up their best dance moves.
We came back for our second set with ‘Loco In Acapulco’ the Four Tops floor filler. Having our 7-piece band with the horn section means we can have fun with a few different songs – the intro for this song sounds amazing (if we do say so ourselves!)

A few other songs included in this set were “Footloose, ‘Hey Ya!’ and ‘Johnny B Goode’, finishing with some classic Beatles. We love including a real mix of songs from all eras so everyone can get involved.

As we approached the end of the evening, we pulled out the big guns – a few more modern songs usually go down well at this point! We love ‘24K Magic’ by Bruno Mars, ‘Shape Of You’ by Ed Sheeran, and Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’ can always guarantee to fill the dance floor.
Before we knew it the evening was finishing – what an incredible couple and amazing crowd!!

We’d like to thank Mr and Mrs Broughton so much for including us in your special day. We hope everyone had the best time and we wish you all the best for your future together.
We’d also like to give a shout out to the amazing staff at The Barn at Bury Court, who are always so accommodating, as well as Katy the photographer who was so lovely!