London Wedding String Duo at the Savoy Hotel – Last Saturday, the Manor House String Duo played for a civil ceremony held at the Kensington and Chelsea Register Office on the King’s Road. This was just the type of occasion which suited the string duo perfectly as a string quartet would have taken up far too much space in the room and would have restricted the amount of guests who could have fit in! The other factor which was very much in the duo’s favour was that the register office had a very quick ‘turnaround’, meaning there were ceremonies both before and afterwards. The duo was able to enter and exit quickly and without fuss. Also, we only took up two seats on the Routemaster bus which transported us all between venues!

We were all transported from Chelsea to the opulent surroundings of The Savoy Hotel on the Strand, where the wedding reception was to take place in the Savoy Bar Grill. Again, a string quartet would have struggled to find enough room to have set up and played, but our violin and cello fit very neatly into one of the alcoves. You can read an article with advice on how to choose musicians appropriate to your venue called ‘Wedding String Duo – Getting Your Musicians To Fit Your Venue’.

During the reception drinks and wedding breakfast, we performed a handpicked selection of modern covers as well as a few jazz and light numbers chosen by the bride and groom. We finished playing just after the speeches and managed to speak briefly with a delighted bridal couple before departing.