There are some wedding venues which seem almost suspiciously well designed for summer.
The Great Tythe Barn in Tetbury is one of them.
A beautiful Cotswold setting, a broad lawn, a garden ceremony area, plenty of space for guests to wander around with a drink afterwards, and of course the barn itself sitting there looking exactly as a proper old English barn ought to look.
For Leah and Johnny’s wedding on 10 August 2026, everything came together rather beautifully.
The ceremony took place outside in the garden, followed by an outdoor drinks reception on the lawn in front of The Great Tythe Barn. We provided live cello and piano music throughout, beginning as guests arrived and continuing right through until the drinks reception finished at around 4pm.
It was a wonderfully relaxed wedding, helped considerably by the fact that the weather had decided, for once, not to behave like Britain.
The sun came out, the garden looked fantastic and the whole afternoon had exactly the sort of atmosphere couples hope for when they plan an outdoor Cotswold wedding.
And Leah and Johnny had chosen a very good selection of music to go with it.
Live Wedding Music at The Great Tythe Barn Tetbury
Leah and Johnny had around 67 guests joining them for their wedding at The Great Tythe Barn.
The colour scheme suited the setting perfectly. The bridesmaids wore light dusky blue, while Johnny and the groomsmen wore ecru-coloured suits with light blue ties. Flowers were a mixture of pastel pinks, peaches, whites and blues.
It all worked beautifully against the green of the lawn and the warm tones of the barn.
We arrived in good time to set up before guests began arriving from around 1pm.
One of the advantages of playing cello and piano for weddings is that we can adapt our setup to suit the venue and the day.
For Leah and Johnny, everything was outside. The ceremony took place in the garden, with the reception following on the lawn in front of the barn.
It meant the music could flow naturally through the afternoon without guests ever feeling that the atmosphere had suddenly stopped and restarted somewhere else.
Music as Guests Arrived
Pre-ceremony music is one of those details which is sometimes overlooked.
It shouldn’t be.
The half hour or so before a wedding ceremony begins is when the atmosphere really starts to build. Guests are arriving, finding seats, greeting one another and trying to work out whether they recognise the person three rows ahead from some previous Christmas party.
Music helps tie all of that together.
Leah and Johnny chose:
At Last – Etta James
I’ve Been Waiting For You – ABBA
Glasgow Love Theme – Love Actually
Lover – Taylor Swift
Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles
It was a lovely mixture.
The Glasgow Love Theme always works beautifully on cello and piano, particularly outdoors. It has that gentle cinematic quality which suits a wedding perfectly without becoming too grand.
Lover by Taylor Swift is another song which has become a firm favourite at weddings, and Here Comes The Sun is difficult to argue with when the sun is actually shining.
On this occasion it was less of a song title and more of a meteorological statement.
Chasing Cars for the Bridal Entrance
For the bridal entrance, Leah chose Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.
She had also given us one very useful instruction: she wanted a softer opening for the earlier members of the bridal party, followed by a stronger musical moment for her own entrance.
This is exactly where live wedding music comes into its own.
The bridal party included two page boys, three bridesmaids and the maid of honour before Leah herself made her entrance.
Now, anyone who has ever involved small boys in a wedding procession will know that the phrase “carefully timed entrance” should be treated with a certain amount of flexibility.
They may walk beautifully.
They may stop.
They may decide that the aisle suddenly looks like somewhere they have absolutely no intention of going.
The answer is not to panic.
Because we are playing live, we can adapt immediately.
We can extend an introduction, repeat a phrase, hold back the main theme or move forward slightly depending on what is happening in front of us.
Leah specifically wanted Chasing Cars to be recognisable and to have enough time to develop properly before her own entrance.
So rather than simply starting a recording and hoping the timings happened to fit, we could shape the arrangement around the procession itself.
The earlier part of the bridal party entered over a softer section, allowing the song to establish itself gently.
Then, as Leah prepared to make her entrance, the music could build into a more recognisable and emotionally stronger part of the song.
That is one of the reasons we are so fond of live ceremony music.
The music follows the wedding.
The wedding does not have to follow the music.
Live Music for the Signing
Once the ceremony was underway, Leah and Johnny had chosen three songs for the signing:
I’m Yours – Jason Mraz
All About You – McFly
Marry You – Bruno Mars
Again, it was a nice mixture of familiar songs without falling into the trap of choosing music simply because somebody somewhere has decided it belongs on a wedding playlist.
The signing is one of the more flexible moments in the ceremony.
Depending on paperwork, photographs and the registrar, it can last anything from a few minutes to rather longer.
Live music gives us the freedom to adjust accordingly.
If things move quickly, we can bring a piece to a natural conclusion.
If photographs take longer, we can continue without an awkward silence developing.
And with cello and piano, songs like All About You and I’m Yours work especially well because the melody remains instantly recognisable while the arrangement stays elegant enough for the setting.
It Must Be Love for the Wedding Exit
For the couple’s exit, Leah and Johnny chose It Must Be Love by Madness.
An excellent choice.
Wedding exits work best when the music changes gear slightly.
The formal part of the ceremony is finished. The couple are married. Everyone is smiling. The atmosphere lifts immediately.
It Must Be Love has exactly the right mixture of familiarity and cheerfulness for that moment.
It also makes a refreshing change from some of the more predictable wedding exit choices.
There is nothing wrong with the classics, of course.
But if you can leave your wedding ceremony to Madness, why wouldn’t you?
Drinks Reception Music on the Lawn
After the ceremony, everyone moved onto the lawn in front of The Great Tythe Barn for drinks.
This is one of the best settings for live wedding music.
The formal part of the day has finished, people are relaxing, photographs are being taken and guests are wandering around with drinks in hand.
The music needs to sit comfortably within that atmosphere.
It should be noticeable without becoming intrusive.
That is where cello and piano work particularly well.
Leah and Johnny had chosen a drinks reception playlist which covered an impressive amount of musical territory.
Pink Pony Club – Chappell Roan
Beautiful Girls – Sean Kingston
Golden Hour – JVKE
Accidentally In Love – Counting Crows
Sweet Disposition – The Temper Trap
Africa – Toto
New York New York – Frank Sinatra
I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing – Aerosmith
Amazed – Lonestar
Hey Jude – The Beatles
Better Together – Jack Johnson
Make You Feel My Love – Adele
Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
Stuck On You – Lionel Richie
Unwritten – Natasha Bedingfield
Everywhere – Fleetwood Mac
Signed Sealed Delivered – Stevie Wonder
Angels – Robbie Williams
Dancing In The Moonlight – Toploader
How Deep Is Your Love – Bee Gees
Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison
All Time Low – The Wanted
That is quite a playlist.
In the space of a drinks reception, we effectively travelled from Chappell Roan to Frank Sinatra by way of Toto, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith and Stevie Wonder.
Which is a perfectly sensible journey when you play weddings for a living.
Why Cello and Piano Work So Well for Drinks Receptions
A drinks reception is very different musically from a ceremony.
During the ceremony, the music often has a specific function.
It accompanies an entrance, fills the signing or marks the exit.
During drinks, the music becomes part of the atmosphere.
It needs to be flexible.
Guests may be chatting quietly one moment and cheering during photographs the next.
With live cello and piano we can respond naturally.
If the atmosphere becomes more animated, we can lift the energy.
If things become quieter, we can bring the dynamics down.
There are no backing tracks fixing us to one tempo or one volume.
Every note is played live.
This also means that songs from completely different genres can sit comfortably together.
Pink Pony Club can become an instrumental cello and piano arrangement and, several songs later, we can move into Frank Sinatra or the Bee Gees without the drinks reception suddenly sounding like somebody has changed radio stations.
The sound remains consistent even though the repertoire changes.
Outdoor Wedding Music in the Cotswolds
Outdoor weddings are particularly well suited to live music, but they do need the right setup.
An acoustic instrument on its own can disappear surprisingly quickly outdoors.
Sound behaves very differently outside, especially once guests begin talking.
Our setup is designed so that the cello and piano remain clear without being overpowering.
That means guests can enjoy the music without having to raise their voices over it.
At The Great Tythe Barn, the lawn provides a lovely open setting for this.
Guests can move around, enjoy the surroundings and still hear the music wherever they happen to be standing nearby.
The result is a relaxed atmosphere rather than a formal concert.
Exactly as it should be.
A Proper Summer Wedding at The Great Tythe Barn
One of the nicest things about Leah and Johnny’s wedding was simply how relaxed it felt.
There was no attempt to make the day unnecessarily complicated.
A beautiful outdoor ceremony, music in the garden, drinks on the lawn and a genuinely warm atmosphere among the guests.
The colour scheme worked beautifully with the venue, particularly the dusky blue bridesmaids’ dresses and the pastel flowers.
Johnny and the groomsmen’s ecru suits also suited the summer setting perfectly.
And because the music had been chosen so personally, the soundtrack felt like part of their wedding rather than something added on afterwards.
That is always what we are aiming for.
Wedding Musicians at The Great Tythe Barn Tetbury
We thoroughly enjoyed providing live cello and piano music for Leah and Johnny’s wedding at The Great Tythe Barn in Tetbury.
From the pre-ceremony music as guests arrived, through Leah’s carefully timed entrance to Chasing Cars, the signing and their joyful exit to It Must Be Love, the ceremony had a really personal soundtrack.
Then, with the formalities complete, we moved into a relaxed drinks reception on the lawn with music ranging from Chappell Roan and The Temper Trap to Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder.
A beautiful venue, glorious weather, excellent music choices and a genuinely lovely couple.
Thank you, Leah and Johnny, for inviting us to be part of your wedding.
It was a real pleasure.
If you are planning a wedding at The Great Tythe Barn in Tetbury, elsewhere in the Cotswolds or across Gloucestershire and are looking for live wedding musicians, JAM Duo provide cello and piano music for ceremonies, drinks receptions, wedding breakfasts and other parts of the wedding day.
Every note is played live by Jules on piano and Anne-Marie on cello, with no backing tracks, allowing the music to adapt naturally to your timings and the atmosphere of your wedding.
