Buckinghamshire Wedding String Duo – Last Thursday, the Manor House String Duo played for a wedding ceremony at the beautiful setting of Notley Abbey near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. This is one of our most local wedding venues and one which we return to frequently. Unusually on this occasion we were only engaged to play some pre-ceremony music (as guests arrived and found their seats) as well as for the ceremony itself. As the weather was particularly nice, the ceremony was held out in the back garden (with the official part of the ceremony taking place under the obligatory structure) and the string duo were positioned to the side under a specially erected gazebo. Whilst we’re always delighted to play outside during wedding celebrations, we have to be careful not to expose our musical instruments to direct sunlight and other elements. If you’d like to find out more about this, do take a look at our FAQs page.

Prior to the ceremony, we played a selection of light classical pieces before performing the eternally popular Pachelbel ‘Canon’ for string duo as the entrance music for the bride. This is a piece of music that many couples are surprised works well for just the two instruments (violin with viola or violin with cello).

During the signing of the register, we played Faure’s ‘Pavane’ and Delibes’s ‘Flower Duet’. At the end of the ceremony, the couple exited to Handel’s ‘Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’. We then performed a selection of music until all of the guests had ¬†made their way to another part of the Abbey to enjoy their reception drinks.

Here is the duo performing ‘Jesu Joy of Man’s desiring’ by J.S.Bach: