It is April 17th 2021 and it feels so good to be back playing live music for real live people at a wedding.  This was my first visit to the very beautiful Baeconside House in North Devon which looked absolutely stunning in the Devon sunshine. Congratulations to Abigail and Chris on a beautiful ceremony.  It was small and intimate which I really like.  The ceremony was outdoors with the beautiful countryside as the backdrop.  Abigail and her bridesmaids walked into 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri.  I played 'Perfect' by Ed Sheeran and 'Can't help falling in love with you' by Elvis during the signing of the register. The bridal party then danced out to 'No place Id rather be' by Clean Bandit.  I then continued to play a wide range of music to accompany the drinks reception and photos.  I love this bit because it gives me the chance to try out some new arrangements.  I managed to try out 'Sweet child o mine' by Guns and Roses here.  We know it works for string quartet and goes down well but it also works for solo violin as well although note to self - ' Don't get too over excited in the big solo at the end - I nearly broke my E string!'. Great gig, great to be back.  Im now looking forward to a very busy summer programme both with the Exe Valley String Quartet and also as a solo musician.

After a challenging year it was so nice to be back playing my violin to an appreciative bride and groom and their guests.  It makes such a difference to have a live audience as you can feel the music and feel the love so much.  I have missed this all so much.  It's the little things like having a chat with the guests afterwards and talking about music and hearing them hum along quietly while you play.  2021 is going to be great for musicians everywhere.  We have all missed entertaining you but Im also certain the you have all missed us as well so watch out 2021....the year that music returns in a very big way!  It was a bit of a trip today down to Crantock Bay near Newquay but well worth it.  A lovely couple, congratulations kerry and Matt, and a lovely group of very appreciative guests.  The CBay Cafe bar bistro is a stunning wedding venue overlooking the sea and the bay and the staff where incredibly welcoming and friendly.  A really really nice day.  Thank you.

I think that may well be me done for 2020 now. Looks like more restrictions are in place on weddings from today. Yesterday I had another short trip up to the beautiful Brickhouse Vineyard. This time to play for Helen and Tom. A stunning day in the sunshine playing my violin whilst people mingle and chatter with a glass of bubbly. What else could you want? I played a new arrangement that I have just done of L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole which went down really well. Congratulations to Helen and Tom on a glorious wedding. More time to practice now over the winter and write arrangements! Cheers.

To complete a busy week I played at a very intimate wedding at the very beautiful Brickhouse Vineyard followed by the cozy Thefollydevon. Congratulations to Milo and Krisna on a romantic occasion. I was asked to write an arrangement of a popular Malaysian folk song for Krisnas entrance which sounded so nice on the violin. Milo entered to 'Theme from a summer place'. It was nice to play a few jazz standards as well today like 'At Last' by Etta James and 'Fly me to the moon'. I even had some lunch as well which was amazing! There is something very romantic about playing at a wedding where the only guests present are the bride and the groom - nobody else! #weddingviolinist #elopementweddingviolinist

I had a lovely afternoon with the Exe Valley String trio last Thursday. We played for the ceremony and drinks reception in Budleigh Salterton in the beautiful sunshine overlooking the sea. Congratulations to Laura and Adam on a beautiful wedding in stunning surroundings.  We played Canon in D for the brides entrance and the drinks reception started with Marry You by Bruno Mars.  It was so nice to play live music with human beings!

Lovely wedding ceremony yesterday at The Moorland Garden Hotel. Congratulations to Olivia and James on a beautiful wedding. Olivia walked into Canon by Pachelbel. I played 'All of me' and 'Say a little prayer for you' during the signing of the register and the wedding party exited to 'Sky full of stars' by Coldplay. This was my first visit to this hotel and really enjoyed my first experience. Lovely hotel, lovely setting and lovely staff.  Busy day yesterday. After playing at a wedding in Yelverton I dashed back to Dawlish to play at the St Patricks night at the The Ugly Duckling Dawlish. I joined Francine (Guitar and vocals) and Colin (Bass) as we played Irish jigs, reels and airs and other tiddly tiddly tunes. We also had a good sing of many classic Irish songs. Lovely evening with lovely food in a lovely restaurant. Thank you for the invitation to play.

January and February is always a little bit quieter in terms of concerts and gigs.  This gives us the oportunity to have a little breather.  We still continue to practice and work on new material.  We recently spent the afternoon meeting clients at Bovey castle for their Wedding open day.  I have also been busy arranging new pieces for weddings and events coming up in the spring.  These new pieces include Tchaikovsky Waltz from Eugene and Onegin and Tightrope (Greatest Showman), Never Gonna Let you down (Rita Ora) and Past the point of no return (Phantom).

Lovely Christmas wedding at the very beautiful Langdon Court. Congratulations to Laura and Matt on a lovely wedding. Busy one for me (as I like it!). Violin for the ceremony (All of me, I will wait and Best day of my life). Upbeat tunes and songs on the violin for the drinks reception. To finish off the day I played some background piano classics for the wedding breakfast. Phew! That is it for the year now.

We played at the very beautiful Ottery St Mary Church today for a festive Christmas wedding. Although the weather was awful outside there was a warm and festive atmosphere inside. This was a wedding with all the trimmings. String Quartet, Organist, Choir and Bell Ringers. Pachelbels Canon for the brides entrance and then some of Handel's Water Music for the signing. This was our final gig of 2019. We would love to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a huge thank you for following us this year and in fact this decade. 2020 is already looking like another great year for the Exe Valley String Quartet. Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year everybody!

I always enjoy a traditional church wedding. On Friday I was at St Johns Church in Exmouth to play for the wedding of Stevie and Ryan. It was beautiful. The acoustics were great and the guests were very appreciative. I was on the piano for the hymns and the violin for the pre ceremony, brides entrance, signing of the register and wedding party exit. It was so nice to play Ave Maria, Air on G string, Greensleeves and Canon in D. I then played a bespoke and incredibly unique arrangement of Beyonce's Crazy in Love!!! What a job - so cool!

I have just come to the end of another busy weekend as a wedding and event violinist and pianist. I spent the weekend in Somerset playing at the very lovely Coombe Lodge at Blagdon and also today I had the pleasure of playing at Clevedon Hall. Both stunning venues (even if Saturday was very wet and windy.) Two lovely weddings and as always a privilege to play at both. Requests included All of Me, A Million Dreams and A Thousand Years. I also played on the grand piano at Coombe Lodge for the drinks reception including a bit of Bob Marley for the bride! Congratulations Sherrol, Chris, Rhiannon and Sam.  Nice to be back in Weston Super Mare as it gave me the chance to catch up with mum and dad and my sister Sarah.

I had a lovely afternoon with @ExeValleyStringQuartet yesterday. Even though the weather was wet we played for a really beautiful wedding ceremony and reception at Rockbeare Manor. We played the wedding theme from 'Up' which is gorgeous and then we wrote a bespoke arrangement of 'Came here for love' for the bride and groom which is another great tune for strings to play.

I had the privilege of playing at Beth and Francis's wedding yesterday at the very beautiful Haldon Belvedere (Lawrence Castle). I used to work with Beth at Isca Academy and it was lovely to see her so happy on her special day. I played an arrangement of 'For the dancing and the dreaming' from How to train your dragon which is such a lovely melody. Congratulations to you both and best wishes for your future together.

Wow! What a weekend we have just had. We spent the whole weekend playing at the amazing South West Bride and Westpoint Wedding Show in Exeter. We talked to lots of lovely couples and their families about their music for their special day. We have lots and lots of couples to get back to this week with details of all our wedding packages. Its all very exciting!! Thank you to everybody who came to see us.

Today I had the privilege of playing for Justine and Bens wedding in Salcombe. What a beautiful place to get married with the harbour as the back drop. Lots of musical theatre and film music today all on the electric violin. I also accompanied an amazing vocal quartet on the piano in the signing of the register as they sang original arrangements of 'Is this Love' by Bob Marley and 'All you need is love' by The Beatles. A fab day!

We have so many beautiful places on our doorstep here in Devon. Today I had the honour of playing for Hayley and Dean as they were married at the stunning New Barton Barns in Wembury. Hayley walked down the isle to 'Paradise' by Coldplay and then we had 'A Thousand Years' and 'Stand by Me' during the signing of the register. The wedding party started the celebrations by walking out of the ceremony to 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' by Queen. I then accompanied the guests drink reception with this amazing view of the sea. I played electric violin for this programme. Just Wonderful!

We played at the very beautiful Bovey Castle today for another beautiful wedding. Slightly 'light jazz' feel to the requests today. Etta James 'At Last' and Gershwins 'Summerime' for the signing of the register. Really lovely pieces to play as a quartet. We played 'Signed Sealed Delivered' for the exit of the bridal party which was a new one for us but again very cool to play. 'Beaky' the parrot liked the music very much and even 'wolf whistled' some of the ladies at the wedding!

What a scorching day it was Saturday for the wedding of Hannah and Richard. This was our second visit to the very beautiful Ever After - A Dartmoor Wedding. A busy gig as we played for pre ceremony drinks on the lawn. We then moved onto the ceremony where we played Hey Jude and Stand by Me. As the groom was a big Spurs fan we were asked to play the wedding party and guests out to the theme from the Champions League Football show. It went down well with all the guests. Then off to play lots of upbeat pop and rock covers for the main drinks reception. Congratulations to Hannah and Richard. Fabulous wedding!

Fabulous wedding today at the very lovely Lakeview Manor. Our first visit to this lovely wedding venue near to Honiton. Congratulations to Bex and Scott on a beautiful day. We were asked to play our brand new arrangement today of A Million Dreams which is such a cool melody. We then went off out into the garden and played under the gazebo for the drinks reception.  This is the end of a very busy but totally amazing week of gigs.  Four weddings in five days.  450 miles.  4 gorgeous wedding venues in 4 beautiful parts of the lovely South West of England.  Time for a short rest now!  More weddings at the end of August.