On Septermber 18th I returned to one of my favourite new venues Shilstone House. This is a really lovely venue with lots of helpful staff.  Congratulations to Hayley and Ben on a cracking ceremony. So nice to see people singing along and dancing along when I play some of the tunes.  It was nice to play 'No place I'd rather be' again after a while.  It was a day of pop and rock classics in the September sunshine.

I love a September wedding. Today I was at another of my regular venues. @deerparkcountryhouse. This time to play for the wedding ceremony of Lauren and Charlie. We had Robbie Williams Angels for the glorious entrance of the wedding party. We then had All of me and Perfect for the signing and the Bruno Mars Marry you for the exit of the bridal party. It was a really lovely ceremony which was unique when the groom and his friends arrived at the ceremony on their motor bikes. Brilliant!

Lovely wedding at Rockbeare Manor with the Exe Valley String Quartet. Great venue with stunning views. We played ‘Tale as old as time’ for the entrance of the bride which is always magical. This was followed by ‘Stand by me’ and ‘How long will I love you’ for the signing of the register and ‘isn’t she lovely’ for the exit of the bride and groom. We played two brand new arrangements as well during the drinks reception- ‘In my blood’ by Shawn Mendes and ‘Sweet Caroline’ by Neil Diamond. A great day.

I played for a very intimate wedding ceremony and drinks reception on Tuesday at @boveycastle . Congratulations Kleber and Lucy. Lovely to play some different pieces today. Girl from Ipanema, Fly me to the moon and Dream a little dream of me. I like playing the light jazz repertoire.  Solo violin seems to work at very small intimate wedding ceremonies like this one.

Lovely wedding today with Sidmouth as the back drop.  This is The Sidmouth Harbour Hotel.  Nice to play outdoors in the sunshine.  Congratulations to Milly and Danny. Due to the liscence detail at the hotel I had to play acapella when outside so although this was a challenge it was a new refreshing sound and something I haven't had to do before.  I also played some piano tunes for the guests during the wedding breakfast.  Great song choices, How long will I love you, Adventure of a lifetime and then my new arrangement of Wildest Dreams from Bridgeton for the signing of the register.

It was great to be back with my rock choirs yesterday.  We had a big sing together in the Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey, Torquay. Two 90 minute sessions with 100 singers in each choir.  It was truly a very special and highly emotional experience for all of us.  We haven't been able to sing like this for over 18 months so the emotional release of singing our favourite songs LIVE and in harmony will be a memory I will treasure for a very long time.  It was great to see everybody all looking so well.  Choir members travelled from all over Devon and Saltash and Cornwall to be with us yesterday. I love the variety in my job.  One minute I am a violinist and then next I am a choir leader.  Either way I am a performer so to have my audiences back is impossible to put into words.  Great day!

I had a great day in Weston Super Mare on Sunday playing with the British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at The Playhouse Theatre. Nice to dress up and play with a 40 piece orchestra. We played a great programme of pieces including film themes and opera arias with two amazing soloists. The concert ended with all of the popular 'Last night of the Proms' classics. Great to have a live audience and great to see them singing their hearts out. #lovemyjob #goodtobeback.

Well what a lovely gig we had today. I joined up with the Exe Valley String Quartet today as we played for a wedding ceremony at St Stephens Church in beautiful Ashill by Collumpton and then off to the drinks reception in a private garden close by. It was a real pleasure to play a programme made up completely of classical music. Lot's of Mozart and Bach and lots of opera favourites as well with all the classic Opera melodies on the request list. Great to play these pieces.

Some more pictures from Wednesdays wedding ay Brickhouse Vineyard. A beautiful venue in the lovely sunshine. A nice small and intimate wedding ceremony with 1000 years for the brides entrance, 'I vow to thee my country' for the signing of the register and then a new arrangement that I have just written of 'Shine' by Years and years for the wedding party exit. (A great track!). I also stayed on to play for the drinks reception which gave me the chance to play another new arrangement, this time Aha's famous classic 'Take on me'. Another lovely wedding. Congratulations to Rachael and Craig.

Last Saturday I joined the Exe Valley String Quartet as we returned to a very familiar venue. We play many weddings and events at Bovey Castle every year so it was nice to be back after a break due to Covid. A beautiful wedding and the chance to play some of our classical repertoire pre ceremony. We played outside overlooking Dartmoor for the drinks reception. This gave us the chance to play a few of our new arrangements and some old pop and rock classics.

Friday 20th August I played at Staddon Heights Golf Club for the wedding of Rachel and Craig. This was the view from the ceremony! It was a lovely ceremony taken by the brides father both from America. Rachel came into 'All of me' and the wedding party exited to 'Viva La Vida'. I then played on for an hour or so for the drinks reception. A lovely gig with lots of really positive feedback. Congratulations to Rachel and Craig.

Wednesday 18th August. Short trip down the A38 to the very beautiful Shilstone House to play for the wedding of Robbie and Emma. What a lovely place to play. We had the very lovely 'Canon in D' for the entrance music, 'All of me' for the signing and then a brand new arrangement of 'Simply the best' for the exit music. We then went into the gardens for the drinks reception where I rocked things up a bit with Sigala, Bastille and even a little bit of Moana! Great day. Congratulations to Robbie and Emma. Lots of lovely guests giving me lots of lovely feedback.

My busy August continued in Torquay on Saturday 14th August. Another traditional church wedding and again playing the piano/organ in the ceremony. Congratulations Emily and Warren. I played a little bit of violin pre ceremony and then it was a real pleasure to play Trumpet Voluntary and Mendelssohns Wedding March for the entrance and exit. I accompanied Megan, one of the bridesmaids as she sung 'Grow old with me' beautifully during the signing of the register.

A road trip to Dorset last Wednesday 11th August. A traditional church wedding ceremony which was really lovely followed by some electric violin at the very beautiful Sopley Mill. Congratulations to Matt and Rachel. It was nice to play some piano for the hymns today and to accompany the very talented Zoe who was one of the bridesmaids. Thank you to Marian Keohane the brides mother for looking after me with a very tasty three course meal before driving back to Devon.

Saturday 7th August I went off to the amazing Paschoe House. I have played there many times with the Exe Valley String Quartet but this was my first visit as a soloist. Congratulations to Cerys and Jack on your beautiful wedding ceremony. I played 'Can't help falling in love with you' for the entrance of the bridal party. I then played 'A million dreams' and my new arrangement of 'Hold my girl' by George Ezra which was a special request from Cerys. I then played 'Adventure of a lifetime' by Coldplay for the exit. I love playing that opening riff on the fiddle!! The rain didn't make any difference to the day as I played a varied set list for the drinks reception.

Back to the solo gigs this weekend. Friday 6th August I went off to a new venue for me - Barons Hill Farm. Lovely to play in the great outdoors and I even had a tractor in the audience - now that's a first. Congratulations to Laura and Tom on your wedding. I enjoyed arranging and learning "Old Pine' by Ben Howard for Laura's entrance. I also played Shotgun and Don't stop me now' in the signing of the register and then the happy couple exited to 'I will wait' by Mumford and Sons. I loved the venue and the festival vibe to the occasion.

I know that I say this a lot but I really do get to play at some beautiful places. I started August with a wedding just down the road at The Great Barn Devon with the Exe Valley String Quartet. We played for the ceremony only today in a beautifully converted barn with a really lovely acoustic. The bride and bridesmaids walked into 'Can't help falling in love with you'. We played 'What a wonderful world' and 'Moonriver' for the signing of the register and then 'God only knows' by the Beach boys for the exit of the bridal party and guests. Lovely venue and lovely weather.

I ended a very busy July with a road trip up to North Devon and the stunning Tawstock Court with the Exe Valley String Quartet. Wow. This was our first visit to this venue and it was a lovely place to play. The wedding was outside over looking the gorgeous North Devon countryside. We played some of new arrangements today including I Giorni (Einoudi), Photograph (Ed Sheeran) and Always remember us this way (Lady Gaga). The happy couple made their exit to the very popular Viva La Vida (Coldplay). We went inside then to accompany the first part of the wedding breakfast. Another lovely wedding. Onto August!

I had a weekend away from my solo gigs last weekend and a lovely weekend with the Exe Valley String Quartet.  On Friday 23rd July we played at Deer Park Hotel nr Honiton.  This was an outdoor wedding in very hot conditions down by their amazing summer house. We played a selection of classical favourites before the ceremony and then a selection of pop music and film themes for the rest of the ceremony and the drinks reception.  On Saturday we drove up to Somerset and to a new venue for us Forde Abby nr Chard.  The ceremony was indoors so it was really nice to play in such a great acoustic.  We then went outside for the drinks reception.  Again we played a mixture of genres including 'Can you feel the love tonight' from The Lion King and our brand new arrangent of 'Royals' by Lorde which works really well for a string quartet.  The guests at both weddings were very appreciative of our playing which is always nice to hear.

July 18th 2021. My extremely busy (but totally enjoyable) July continued with a return to Rockbeare Manor but this time as a solo violinist. Congratulations to Megan and Ben on a beautiful wedding in the glorious sunshine. Megan wanted 'My Heart will go on' just before her entrance in memory of her Nan. Megan walked into my new arrangement of Let it go (James Bay). I played 10,000 hours and Pompeii during the signing and then the bridal party and guests 'danced' out to Came here for love (Sigala, Ella eyre). A really lovely gig and its always nice to get lots of positive feedback on the day. Thank you.