Caitlin and Ben’s wedding took place over this bank holiday weekend at Hardcastle Crags; A stunningly beautiful wooded valley with 19th-century Gibson Mill at its centre, which would serve as the venue for the day’s wedding celebrations.
While looking for a live acoustic wedding duo online, Ben and Caitlin found one of these very blog posts featuring audio and video of us performing acoustic wedding ceremony music, as well as some music for drinks receptions and a little acoustic wedding breakfast music. They fell in love with our folk sound and got in touch to enquire about our availability – and we’re so glad we were free on their wedding date, since we had one of the best days so far this year…
Their ceremony would take place on the first floor of Gibson Mill, and the happy couple were in need of some atmospheric and meaningful music to walk down the aisle to. As it turned out, that song was Storybook Love from the movie The Princess Bride.
It’s a good job we don’t just vamp the aisle song’s chords while waiting for our brides to arrive, because we later discovered that Caitlin’s wedding car made a wrong turn on the way to Gibson Mill which, in the winding maze that is Hardcastle Crags, meant a 40 minute detour which we were able to cover by dipping into our catalogue of acoustic wedding music.
So while the assembled guests waited, we treated them to live renditions of ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ by Guns ‘N Roses, ‘What A Good Boy’ by Barenaked Ladies, and ‘Songbird’ by Fleetwood Mac.
This was enough filler to cover the gap, and before long Caitlin was gracefully drifting up the aisle towards her future husband.
The bride and groom selected another beautiful acoustic song for the signing of the register that would be familiar to anyone who’s seen Schitt’s Creek: It’s the acoustic version of ‘Simply The Best’ by Tina Turner that is performed for David by Patrick in season 4. A heart-stoppingly beautiful scene, and a perfectly pitched sentiment for Caitlin and Ben’s big day.
Listen to a couple of Caitlin & Ben’s acoustic ceremony songs here:
While we played and sang to keep the guests entertained, the bride and groom’s incredible photographer Maddie Farris moved in to grab a few close ups as they signed the register. Maddie’s work is outstanding and we were sure that the photos she was taking were going to turn out beautiful – and as wannabe photographers ourselves, we were astounded to see her focussing and zooming at the same time (for the uninitiated, that’s like us trying to play our guitars and tune them simultaneously!!).
Later Maddie and ourselves would share an incredible meal and talk photography, D&D, and not having kids…. but before that was the small matter of Ben and Caitlin’s final acoustic song choice to walk back down the aisle as man and wife. ‘Heroes’ by David Bowie is a cast-iron classic in our books, and was a fantastic way to send them off out into the glorious summer sunshine for their confetti shots.
While the guests and the happy couple grabbed a photo or two, we got ourselves ready for the short walk over the bridge to the adjacent field in which the drinks reception would be held. We’ve recently discovered some clever little slings that can be used to turn any guitar case into a backpack-style, over the shoulders carry case. They’ve been a huge help in freeing up our hands for pushing trolleys, carrying loop pedals, or just generally gesticulating to make a point. We praised the name of Gear4music as we hiked over the footbridge with our hardcases on our backs and our battery powered Roland BA-330 in our clutches.
We played a selection of acoustic songs for the drinks reception, starting with a set of guitar and ukulele numbers like ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ by Joni Mitchell, ‘You’ve Got A Friend In Me’ from Toy Story by the incredible Randy Newman, and ‘Send Me On My Way’ by Rusted Root (made famous in the movie ‘Matilda’), before switching to two guitars for the final half of the drinks reception with an off the cuff medley of ‘Cecilia’ by Simon & Garfunkel which segues nicely into ‘Closer To Fine’ by Indigo Girls.
As our drinks reception music came to an end and we headed back towards Gibson Mill to prepare for the acoustic wedding breakfast set, we were stopped by one of the wedding guests who introduced herself as Brenda and showed us what she’d been working on during our performance… a beautiful, freehand drawing of us playing and singing amongst the flowers! Take a look at the picture below and you’ll be amazed at how much talent can be randomly found sipping champagne at a wedding. When she saw how delighted we were with it, she insisted we keep it, too… so it’s now framed on our wall at home. Thank you so much Brenda!!!
Ben and Caitlin were so kind in including us in the wedding breakfast numbers, and we were blown away by the outstanding sharing plates catered by ‘The Outside Kitchen and bar’, with which we stuffed our greedy faces in the delightful company of Maddie Farris photography as the sun began it’s slow descent toward the treeline.
With the guests fed and watered in a kingly fashion, it was time for our next performance of the day, providing acoustic wedding breakfast music to accompany the final minutes of the meal and ease the transition to the night do. These are often our most enjoyable moments: when people are just full and contented and happy to just sit and soak in the atmosphere before the party begins. We like to start these sets off nice and gently with acoustic covers of songs like ‘All I Have To Do Is Dream’ by The Everly Brothers, and ‘I Love You Always Forever’ by Donna Lewis, before ever so slightly ramping up the intensity with songs like ‘This Is The Life’ by Amy MacDonald, ‘A Little Respect’ by Erasure, and ‘I Want To Break Free’ by Queen…. and depending on the raucousness of the crowd, we might even end with the cheese-bomb that is ‘MmmBop’ by Hanson.
After an amazing meal, the guests lounged with coffee while we retired to the top floor to prepare for our final duty of the day: the live acoustic First Dance of the Bride and Groom! Ben and Caitlin had selected a cute little number by McFly called ‘All About You’ which is as infectious a tune as you’d care to name, and filled with glorious harmonies that we couldn’t wait to sink our teeth into. Sometimes songs are difficult to pull of as an acoustic duo, but much of McFly’s catalogue feels right at home to us, being created as it is by the partnership of Tom and James, so the overlapping melodies and gorgeous harmonies sit well within our wheelhouse.
Listen to the rehearsal of the first dance here:
After the first chorus, we invited the rest of the guests to come join the bride and groom on the dancefloor, and they needed little encouragement, itching as they were to get into their dancing shoes and party the night away. After a final chorus where each end every person in the room sang along, we said our thank-yous and congratulated Ben and Caitlin not only on having tied the knot, but also for accumulating the nicest bunch of friends and family that we could ever hope to play for in a live setting.
We had a lovely time being Caitlin and Ben’s acoustic duo in Hebden Bridge on that balmy summer’s day.
Thank you so much guys, you were incredible… and the colour-matched hi-top sneakers were the perfect touch 😉
Soph & Mat x