On 28th April 2018, Philippa and Darren – the new Mr and Mrs Wothers – celebrated their wedding at the beautiful Beechfield House, with a little help from XO Party Band. What a great party! Thank you to the wonderful couple for having us on your special day.

The Venue

Beechfield House is a luxury country house hotel located in Beanacre, Wiltshire. This was the first time for us visiting this venue, and what a stunning space for a wedding.

The couple had exclusivity of the venue, so the entire hotel was for their party alone. This is an ideal situation, as you know you are the staff’s only priority, and nothing will get in the way.

As you pull up the driveway through the grounds, the building is wonderful to look at, and it’s even better once you get inside. Beautifully decorated throughout, the venue has been finished with a great mixture of modern and traditional – perfect for a wedding. There are different rooms including a bar, lounge and finally through the building to the orangery, which is the main wedding reception room.

There is plenty of room to incorporate your own flair and decoration, but if you were interested in a more simple approach, the hotel wouldn’t need much added at all. Philippa and Darren had gone for an Italian theme for their wedding, which we haven’t seen before. We loved the classy feel and the little touches, like the Italian map seating plan.

The Set Up

We arrived at the venue at 5:30 and began loading in some equipment to a spare room. As the wedding breakfast and evening reception were both being held in the orangery, we weren’t able to set up in our performance space straight away. This happens fairly regularly, and the best option is to load as much as we can into a nearby space in order to cut down on set up time later on. After the drums had been set up, ready to move through, the kitchen had our food ready to eat. As the wedding breakfast continued, and speeches were made, we ate our food and were ready to be called through whenever the room was cleared. When the time came, we switched to top gear to speedily move everything through from the spare room, and the remaining equipment from the van. We all know our individual roles in setting up – soon all the gear was ready to go, and after a quick sound check, it was time for the evening to begin!

The First Dance

 She’s Electric – Oasis

Mr and Mrs Wothers had chosen a song that may not be a traditional first dance, but was perfect for them worked so well, with everyone singing along in the crowd. We played the famous Oasis song ‘She’s Electric’, which was so fun for a first dance. Choosing a song can be hard, and I think it’s important for it to reflect your personalities and for you to feel comfortable, whatever it is that you like. Philippa and Darren’s friends and family soon joined them on the dance floor and gave us an insight to how the evening would continue!

Live Party Band

For the Wothers’ wedding, we had an evening with three sets, packed full of great party songs and a few requests from the couple. After the first dance, we continued with some classic sing-alongs, starting the party straight away and getting the crowd singing. ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ is a great one for this once that famous chorus begins, as well as ‘Higher and Higher’ and ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’. We followed these with our favourite XO Disco Medley – a memorable part being the audience joining in with The Jackson 5’s ‘I Want You Back’, especially the high opening line!

We began the second set with a classic Stevie Wonder song – ‘Superstition’, and kept the party going with ‘Footloose’, ‘Love Shack’ and ABBA’s ‘Mamma Mia’. As Philippa and Darren enjoy a bit of classic rock, we included a bit in this set, and had so much fun. We regularly play ‘Satisfaction’ by The Rolling Stones, but we also included David Bowie’s ‘Rebel Rebel’ and the more modern ‘Song 2’ by Blur. We saved the best for last – ‘Summer Of ‘69’ by Bryan Adams, which is up there with our favourite songs to perform, as people can’t help but sing!

The third and final set began with our Party Medley, which never fails to fill the dance floor. We’ve cooked up the perfect recipe with ‘24K Magic’, ‘Crazy In Love’, ‘Uptown Funk’, ‘Shake It Off’ and ‘Shape Of You’, just to name a few! By this time in the night everyone wants to dance and have fun with these tunes. We also threw in a few classics, like Whitney’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ by The Proclaimers and Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, which is the best for air guitar solos. We came to the end of the night and round the evening off perfectly with an Oasis song – ‘Wonderwall’. However, no one was ready for the night to end, and we were convinced to play a couple of encores!
We were excited to (really) finish the night with a special request from Philippa and Darren, which fit in with their Italian theme – ‘That’s Amore’ by Dean Martin. This song was a bit of a challenge for us, as we wanted to do it the justice it deserved! We encouraged the couple into the middle of the dance floor and began. Luckily everything went well, the crowd loved it and the evening had come to an end.

We’d like to congratulate the new Mr and Mrs Wothers on their wedding, and thank them both for having us. It was a pleasure being a part of your day and we had so much fun! Here’s to an amazing future as a married couple.