Jamie+Patrick - In Action Photos

July has finally arrived with just a little less heat and humidity than June! Bethany and I played a wedding on Saturday as a cello duet, and it was the first since October 12, 2014, that we were inside! Indoor weddings are a dream for musicians. Outdoor weddings tend to produce beautiful photos, but they're typically not comfortable for anyone else [though there are rare cases of perfect weather]. Our instruments always appreciate stable environments with controlled temperatures.

On another note, we received the images from Sposa Bella Photography from Jamie+Patrick's beautiful cottage wedding at Old Edwards Inn! Lindsey and Craig, we so enjoyed working with you!

[You can read the details about their beautiful garden wedding here]

Next up will be a May recap [with some of the most exciting news to share!] and music lists for our many June weddings. Stay tuned!

Annemarie+Parker - In Action Photos+A Music List

Amy Haynes Photography

Annemarie+Parker's wedding was exquisitely beautiful. Nestled in the heart of downtown Asheville is a plantation house called Albemarle Inn. It is completely unsuspecting, but very beautiful and grand with many tall trees surrounding the small property with privacy.

Below are two photos that I took with my phone while we were getting set up.

Annemarie+Parker summed up our last wedding for May. We are grateful for such a full month of beauty and music! We are now in full swing for June with two double header wedding weekends!

Below is the processional list. We played songs by memory for the Prelude time. It's always helpful to play from memory when there's a bit of wind. Notice the close pin in the photo above?

CEREMONY SELECTIONS:

Ave Maria [Family and Bridal Party]

A Thousand Years [Bride]

La Rejoissance - [Recessional]

Thank you, Amy, for taking some photos of us! It was a pleasure working with you!

Venue | Albemarle Inn

Photography | Amy Haynes Photography

Congratulations to the new Mr.+Mrs. Reading!

Jamie+Patrick, A Cottage Wedding on the Lawn

Happy June! What a whirlwind of a month May was! I look back on the past few weeks with many smiles and memories. A month in review post will be coming soon. Until then, I wanted to write about Jamie+Patrick's beautiful wedding at Piermont Cottage at Old Edwards Inn!

Jamie contacted me in early December about their small destination wedding. With 16 people in attendance, we definitely considered it a privilege to be a part of this very intimate wedding. In one of her emails, I was thrilled to read this:

“I have been working with my parents and fiance and all agree that you guys would be PERFECT for our wedding!”

— Jamie, Bride

Jamie was so easy-going, kind, and joyful. We all so enjoyed meeting her and Patrick at the wedding. Which, by the way, was beautiful and so much fun.

We seamlessly played through our favorite selection of songs for prelude. The Officiant sat down in one of the ceremony chairs while we were playing and just sang and hummed along. It is so special when others enjoy the music in that way! While we were playing prelude, Jamie did a first look with her dad on the lawn. It was so exciting and special to watch all of that while playing music.

That's another reason why our group is special:

We play by ear. That means that we are playing from memory and from what we hear. We're not reading sheet music. This gives us so much musical freedom, the ability to enjoy the music, and the joy to see the events of the day unfold.

IN ADDITION TO WHAT WE PLAYED BY EAR, HERE IS THE COMPLETE LIST OF CEREMONY SELECTIONS:

The Cello Song [Family and Bridal Party]

Canon in D [Bride]

Best Day of My Life - [Recessional]

These selections can be found on our Music Samples page --->

Craig and Lindsey from Sposa Bella Photography were so great to work with. We will share their photos soon! I am so excited to see what they captured from the wedding - every detail was beautiful.

After the wedding, we went to a local shop and ordered burgers! Bethany was the only one who ordered a salad - it looked amazing. We laughed and enjoyed an evening all together in the beautiful Highlands country.

Congratulations to the new Mr.+Mrs. Starnes!

Kiel+Josh, A Beautiful Highlands Wedding

I am overflowing with excitement to journal about our May 9th wedding! I wanted to post here right away, but I needed to make sure I had enough time to thoughtfully write about every detail. This wedding was a favorite of mine for several reasons. Read on!

Kiel and Josh are such a precious couple. I communicated much with Kiel [pronounced like Kyle - you can imagine how many ways I came up with to say it the wrong way...] and her mom throughout the past few months. Kiel's family is from Florida, and she is living in Tennessee, so everyone traveled quite a distance for this destination wedding in Highlands, NC, at the Farm at Old Edwards Inn.

View fullsize

We traveled 4hrs to reach Highlands, NC

Bethany arrived home the evening of May 8th. On the morning of May 9th, we packed the car and headed out for the wedding!

After checking into our hotel, we walked around the small town to explore before the wedding. The weather was nice, yet on the verge of a storm. Thankfully, the wedding was under a beautiful tent with chandeliers. I'm so excited to see the photos from the photographers!

I love it when a couple gives us the freedom as musicians to play from our list of Prelude selections. We played everything from memory, and enjoyed watching some of the guests sing along.

In addition to what we played by ear, here is the complete list of Ceremony selections:

Come Thou Fount [Mothers/Grandmothers]

In Christ Alone [Bridal Party]

Marry Me - Train [Bride]

Love Story - [Bridal Party Recessional]

The ceremony was so beautiful, meaningful, and sacred. I couldn't help but smile uncontrollably. Throughout the ceremony, we got to know the couple and their story through the officiant. Their story was one of waiting on the Lord to provide, and trusting His choice and timing. And then came our next favorite part:

The Vows

They were long. They were sacred. They were Biblical. They perfectly captured the heart of marriage. I looked over at Lauren behind the Keyboard during the vows, and we met eyes. Yes - we want these vows!

As we were packing up after the wedding, we were able to meet Cindy [Mother of the Bride] and the new Mr. and Mrs. Josh Hunter! It is always a joy to meet the people who we have been communicating with for so long. Sometimes a wedding is so busy and exciting that we don't get to meet the couple. We definitely were thrilled to meet and to get to know them better. Kiel and Josh even said they would send us their vows! [For those who don't know yet, a Wescottage Music wedding will be coming very soon! Hang tight for that special post!].

Cindy and the couple kindly invited us four to stay for the reception. We were honored to be included in the celebration of their union! The reception was exquisite. Everyone was so friendly, the food was amazing, and we made some precious memories.

A very packed vehicle

A view of our hotel!

Old Edwards Inn and Spa

A view of the Ceremony location! This is just taken with my phone to give you an idea of the setting.

We set up in the corner, and we had great visibility. The coordinator for the processionals was a family friend. She did a superb job with the hand signals and everything was flawless.

This is where the Bride walked out from when her processional song began.

Old Edwards Inn, The Farm

The Bride!

Reception time!

They had an artist painting during the reception. He was amazing! 

The exit view.

We also enjoyed meeting the photographers - Gry and Brian! They were so kind and took several photos of us. Their images should be ready in a couple months! We are excited to share those with you as well.

Venue: Old Edwards Inn, The Farm

Photographers: Woodward & Rick

Kiel wrote a sweet note to us all. We are so happy to have been a part of their special day!

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Josh Hunter!

8 Tips We Learned From WeddingWire World

After being home for almost a week, we are still playing catch-up! We are excited to share some tips we learned from the WeddingWire World conference at the Gaylord Convention Center in National Harbor.

Before we made the eight hour drive, we performed for Bethel United Methodist Church in Midland. We had such a blast! We played two songs for prelude [Wonderful, Merciful Savior and It Is Well], I accompanied the choir on the cello [Nearer My God to Thee by Dan Forrest], and then we played for offertory [O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus]. We missed having Bethany with us, but are happy that she is still playing the cello with the Galkins. We are excited for her to join us in May for the busy wedding season!

After performing, we quickly hit the road to make the trek  to National Harbor!

Taken with Christopher's new iPhone 6 he got the day before! He's officially joined the Smartphone movement.

After arriving at our hotel, we went across the street to explore the Gaylord. It was beautiful! We needed to ask for directions to the room where we would perform on Tuesday morning since GPS didn't work inside. ;)

Click here to view the list of speakers - there were some very famous people in attendance.

Here are a few tips we'd like to share with you that we learned at the conference:

1. Work hard - be strategic with your efforts
2. Make your website engaging by using aspirational images
3. Incorporate feedback on every page - rather than having a Review or Feedback page
4. Use external and internal links to boost your SEO and to direct the reader [i.e. CLICK HERE to listen to our music samples!]
5. How to set up an LLC and questions we need to ask
6. Use Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube - the trend is to be social. Use it correctly! Pick Facebook + two others to really hone in on.
7. Make sure your website is responsive! Viewers are using their phones significantly more. If your website does not respond to differing electronics [phone, tablet], then don't use it. Find a website that works o n every platform.
8. Clearly differentiate yourself from other like vendors. For example, if a potential client doesn't see the difference between our ensemble and another group, they'll choose the cheaper option - and they should! I know I would. When it comes to music, you tend to get what you pay for. As a wedding vendor especially, be clear on why they should hire you and what makes you different. This is what makes our group different:
   1. We are siblings - all in our early 20s.
   2. We are professional and organized - from the first form of contact to the actual musical performance and congratulatory email post-wedding.
   3. We are flexible - we adapt to the venue and to musicals requests; we also seamlessly cover over timing issues within a wedding.
   4. We are untraditional in ensemble make up - Piano/Keyboard+Violin+2 Cellos. How often to you see two cellists at a wedding? The sound is glorious. Which brings me to the last point:
   5. We are distinct in our sound - I've never heard another group like ours. I have full confidence in our performance and processes.
   6. We love our job - we love to smile and to have fun! We are fully aware that we are entertaining the guests during the prelude prior to a ceremony, in addition to providing beautiful music.

Tuesday morning, Lauren, Christopher, and I performed on the stage from 8-8:50am. It was a joy to share our music with other talented vendors! We realized that not many people see live musicians very often. Canon in D and A Thousand Years always brings out the smartphones and recording devices! 

WeddingWire's EDU Instagram took a photo of us performing! You can view it here.

If you are likewise a small business owner, I hope some of the above tips are helpful! There's so much more that we learned. We'd love to hear your feedback and to hear what YOU learned!

Travel Adventures

We are so excited to travel to Washington, D.C, for the WeddingWire World event at the Gaylord National Harbor!

Since Bethany is traveling with the Galkin Evangelistic Team, only the three of us will be attending. We definitely will miss her!

We will be performing for about an hour during a morning networking session on Tuesday. With over 1,000 wedding professionals in attendance, we will be featured on stage for all to enjoy the background music.

Our new flyers!

Charlotte, NC

From home...

The Capitol

To Washington, D.C.!

Taken last year during my first - and very fast - visit to DC

Follow our posts to stay updated and to read about our adventures!