Music for a wedding in Queen’s College, Cambridge – On Friday, we performed as a string duo for a wedding held at Queen’s College in Cambridge. Suzanne, the bride had asked for a very unusual request: that I should play on a violin that she had made herself in 2009. When I opened up the case, to my delight the violin was absolutely exquisite. It had a beautiful finish with a back made out of a single piece of wood. The proof of the pudding was in the eating and the violin had as wonderful a tone as it had in appearance and this made for a very special day.

Wedding music Queen's College Cambridge — Vaughan playing a violin made in 2009 by Suzanne the bride

Myself and Tony on the cello started by entertaining guests in a chamber in the medieval part of the college. Despite there being a high level of talking in the room, the resonance of the plaster and brick meant that we also could project and be heard without drowning out individual conversations. This is the beauty of being entertained by acoustic instruments: not only can we offer a wide repertoire of music for string duo, but also can moderate our volume of playing to suit the particular requirements of an event.

The wedding was also unusual in that we now had a two and a half hour break before joining the live band to perform a rendition of ‘Stand By Me’ as the music for the first dance. The band were very approachable and kindly miced us up so as to provide a balance with the rest of the group. This ended our contribution to the day and after congratulating the bride and groom we made our separate ways home.