One of the nice things about this job is that you get to be part of the best day in people's lives.  And most people want to spend the best day in their life somewhere pretty amazing, so you get to visit very beautiful places indeed, and The High Rocks in Tunbridge Wells, Kent is no exception!

Its a slightly unusual venue as there are a series of large rocks, or 'high rocks' opposite it and it has been declared a "Site of Special Scientific Interest".

The last time my duo performed here was in 2010, so some time ago.  This time we set up in The Halt, which is a large hall at ground level.  The weather was on our side, but it did get a little too warm at times having to carry our equipment down the steps to the hall!  We did get lots of room in front of the DJ booth to set up which was nice as we are quite often squeezed into much smaller areas.

The bride and groom had asked for some Dire Straits songs, so before the booking we learnt Latest Trick and So Far Away which seemed to go down well!   I have linked to some YouTube videos there, that's not us playing of course! ;)  We were also asked to play the following songs:

Fields of Gold - Sting
Home - Michael Buble
Out Of Reach – Gabrielle
Your Song - Elton John
Songbird - Kenny G (Sax Instrumental)
Heartbeats - Jose Gonzalez
These Are The Days - Jamie Cullum

Careless Whisper - George Michael
Angels - Robbie Williams
Baker Street - Gerry Rafferty
Every Breath You Take – Sting
My Girl - The Temptations
Human Nature - Michael Jackson
Hey Jude - The Beatles
Ocean Drive - The Lighthouse Family
Stand By Me - Ben E. King
Valerie - Amy Winehouse 
Wild Wood - Paul Weller

We've been booked back at The High Rocks in August but on this occasion we will be performing in their other room The Great Hall Barn.

If Kent is considered to be the Garden of England, perhaps Turkey Mill's grounds could be considered the Garden of Kent? The river Len runs through the nine acre gardens of the venue's stunning surroundings. There's a rather charming bridge which the bride and groom cross once all the guests have arrived and plenty of places for guests to explore.

We performed outside at this lovely venue in Maidstone yesterday.  The wedding party couldn't have hoped for better weather. The sun was shining, but it was a comfortable temperature so the guests were able to enjoy the warm sunshine and gentle breeze without overheating!  If you could book this kind of weather for a wedding, I think everyone would, it was perfect!

Turkey Mill was a finalist in the Kent Wedding Awards last year, and you can see why when you visit; they're clearly working hard to make this one of the more popular venues in Kent.  For musicians it's nice to arrive at a venue and find the staff and management relaxed, as usually if they're not stressed you know that everything will be running to schedule and there won't be any unwelcome surprises!   For this particular booking the manager, Caroline, had even phoned us personally beforehand to make sure we had everything we need and knew what we'd be doing.  When we arrived the staff were organised and relaxed and took everything in their stride.  Its an nice atmosphere working alongside fellow professionals who know how an event should run and understand how to make sure everything runs smoothly!  

Due to the nice weather we set up outside The Orangery under the large green gazebo where we had access to a power supply.  People often forget, but when the weather is sunny we still need cover to keep us and our equipment cool during the performance.  

We had been booked to perform as a duo during the photos before the wedding breakfast with myself on saxophone and vocals, and Anthony Herridge on vocals and guitar). This is becoming an increasingly popular option for wedding couples, as there often tends to be a bit of a lull in proceedings for the guests at this point of the day as the photographer rushes to take photos before the guests go in for their afternoon meal. Musicians at this time can make the atmosphere a little more special. 

We had a number of requests from the bride to sing and play certain songs.  We started off with Your Song by Elton John, and then performed Somewhere from West Side Story (saxophone instrumental) and Mr Bojangles followed by When I Fall In Love, Let There Be Love and Fly Me To The Moon.  We finished off with Careless Whisper by George Michael, and finally  Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street which always seems to leave a favourable impression due to the famous saxophone solo!

We had a bit of a surprise as one of the duty managers in charge on the day at Turkey Mill was a landlord from a pub we used to play at called The Walnut Tree in East Farleigh many years ago. It was lovely to see Dom after all these years.