There are wedding venues where you arrive and spend the first twenty minutes wondering where somebody has hidden the ceremony room. Larkspur Lodge is not one of them.
Set near Knutsford in Cheshire, it has that rather appealing mixture of rustic character and polished wedding venue practicality: exposed timber, warm lighting, greenery, candles and enough fairy lights overhead to make an electrician quietly reconsider his career choices.
On 14 August 2026, we had the pleasure of providing live cello and piano music for the wedding of Olivia and Will at Larkspur Lodge. They booked JAM Duo for two hours, covering their indoor wedding ceremony followed immediately by their drinks reception.
With around 78 guests, a sage green and pale pink colour scheme and a ceremony room beautifully dressed with greenery and candlelight, the setting worked wonderfully for live music.
And, as ever, every note we played throughout the afternoon was completely live — just Anne-Marie on cello and Jules on piano.
Arriving at Larkspur Lodge
Supplier access at Larkspur Lodge is helpfully straightforward, with musicians and other wedding suppliers asked to use the rear entrance from the car park.
This may not sound like the most glamorous aspect of a wedding blog, but anyone who regularly transports a digital piano, cello, amplification, stands and several assorted cases will understand that easy access is one of life’s small luxuries.
Our first setup was inside the ceremony room, positioned to the right-hand side as requested.
The room itself is particularly striking. A high timber roof stretches above the ceremony space, with strings of tiny lights running between the beams. Large artificial trees and greenery soften the room, while candles line the black-and-white tiled aisle leading towards the ceremony table.
It is a room which already has plenty of atmosphere before anybody plays a note.
Music as the Guests Arrived
Guests began arriving from around 1pm, ahead of the 2pm ceremony.
Olivia and Will had put together a lovely selection of music for this part of the afternoon, including:
Love Story
Yellow
Angels
You’re Still the One
A Thousand Years
They had particularly asked us to make Baby I’m Yours the final song before the ceremony began.
That sort of detail is something we always enjoy.
Pre-ceremony music is sometimes treated as merely background music while everyone finds their chair, but it actually performs a rather important job. It establishes the atmosphere in the room before anything formal happens.
Guests are arriving, greeting one another and gradually settling down. Then, almost without noticing it, the room begins to change. Conversations become quieter, people start looking towards the aisle and everyone realises that the wedding is about to begin.
Having a specifically chosen final piece before the bridal entrance helps that transition beautifully.
At around 1.45pm the ceremony was announced and the final preparations began.
Can You Feel the Love Tonight for the Bridal Entrance
For Olivia’s entrance, the choice was Can You Feel the Love Tonight.
It is one of those songs which translates particularly well to cello and piano.
The cello can take the vocal melody while the piano provides the harmony underneath, giving the piece plenty of warmth without making it excessively grand.
And that balance matters.
A bridal entrance should feel significant because, frankly, it is significant. But it should still feel like the couple rather than the opening sequence of an historical epic involving three thousand horses and a fog machine.
Olivia entered the ceremony room accompanied by her bridal party of five bridesmaids, with Will waiting at the front.
Against the warm lights, greenery and candles of the Larkspur Lodge ceremony room, it made for a lovely entrance.
Because we play everything live, we are also able to shape the music around what is actually happening in front of us.
There is no fixed backing track which decides that the bride must reach the front in exactly two minutes and seventeen seconds or face the musical consequences.
We can extend phrases, repeat sections and bring the music naturally to its conclusion when the bride reaches the ceremony area.
It is one of the simplest advantages of having live musicians, but also one of the most important.
Music During the Signing
Once Olivia and Will were married, there was music during the signing of the register.
Their choices were:
Lover
Believe
It’s All About You
The signing is another part of a ceremony where live music works extremely well.
For the couple, there are documents to sign and photographs to take. For everybody else, there is a short period where they are essentially sitting patiently and looking towards the front of the room.
Music prevents that section from feeling like an administrative interval.
Instead, it becomes another part of the ceremony.
Lover is particularly lovely for cello and piano and has become a very popular choice with our couples. Its gentle melodic style suits the cello wonderfully and gives us plenty of opportunity to shape the music around the pace of the signing.
Sweet Disposition and the Newlyweds’ Exit
For Olivia and Will’s exit from the ceremony, they chose Sweet Disposition.
A very good choice.
The recessional is the point where the entire character of the ceremony changes.
The formalities are finished, the couple are married and suddenly everyone can relax.
The music therefore needs to lift with them.
Sweet Disposition has exactly that quality. It builds naturally, works brilliantly instrumentally and creates a proper sense of movement as the newlyweds walk back down the aisle.
With the ceremony complete at around 2.30pm, everyone moved through for drinks.
And so did we.
Drinks Reception Music in the Bar
The original plan, weather permitting, was for us to perform outside on the grey decking area.
However, Larkspur Lodge has specific regulations governing outdoor music. Instruments outside cannot be amplified and performances must remain within the designated decking area.
For our setup and the number of guests, the better option on the day was therefore to move into the bar.
This worked extremely well.
Sometimes people assume that drinks reception music must automatically be outside if the weather is reasonable. In reality, the best location is the one where guests can actually hear and enjoy the musicians.
The bar created a relaxed, sociable setting and meant that we could provide the proper balance between cello and piano without worrying about the limitations which naturally come with unamplified outdoor performance.
It also gave us a comfortable second performance area for the remainder of Olivia and Will’s two-hour booking.
A Brilliant Drinks Reception Playlist
Olivia and Will had chosen plenty of music for the drinks reception, and it was a wonderfully varied list.
There were modern favourites such as Until I Found You, As It Was, A Sky Full of Stars and Pink Pony Club, alongside songs including Paradise, Africa, One Day Like This, This Year’s Love and Chasing Cars.
Then there were classics such as Brown Eyed Girl, Friday I’m in Love, Here Comes the Sun, Bitter Sweet Symphony and Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.
That variety is exactly what works during drinks.
A reception does not need every song to sound the same.
Guests are mingling, photographs are being taken, champagne is appearing with suspicious regularity and people are moving between conversations.
The music can therefore wander quite happily from romantic ballads to 1980s pop, modern chart songs and familiar classics.
We also had requests including Beautiful Girls, High, Crazier, All About You and music from The US Office.
It makes for a much more interesting performance for us too.
One minute Anne-Marie is playing a soaring cello melody, the next Jules is finding himself recreating an indie guitar riff on a piano.
Perfectly normal afternoon at work, really.
Why Live Music Works So Well During Drinks
Ceremony music has an obvious focal point.
Everybody is seated and listening as the important moments happen.
Drinks reception music is slightly different.
It should add atmosphere without demanding everybody’s attention.
That is why cello and piano works so well.
It has enough presence to shape the room, but it never needs to become intrusive.
Guests can stand nearby and listen properly if they wish, or simply enjoy the music as part of the atmosphere while talking to friends and family.
And because we perform without backing tracks, the sound remains natural.
There is no prerecorded rhythm section suddenly attempting to turn the corner of the bar into Wembley Stadium.
Just cello and piano, played live.
Sage Green, Pale Pink and a Beautiful Ceremony Setting
Olivia and Will’s sage green and pale pink colour scheme suited Larkspur Lodge particularly well.
The groom’s sage suit and pale pink details worked beautifully with the soft colours used elsewhere in the wedding, while the ceremony room’s greenery tied everything together.
The wedding cake display was another lovely detail, with cupcakes arranged around the central cake and flowers continuing the soft pink and green theme.
The whole day felt carefully put together without feeling over-designed.
There is a fine line between a wedding which has a coherent style and one where somebody appears to have attacked the venue with a Pinterest account.
Olivia and Will got it just right.
Two Hours of Live Wedding Music at Larkspur Lodge
Our booking finished as guests were preparing to move through for the wedding breakfast at around 4pm.
In just two hours we had provided music for guests arriving, Olivia’s bridal entrance, the signing of the register, the newlyweds’ exit and their complete drinks reception.
It is actually a very effective way of incorporating live music into a wedding day.
The ceremony gains the emotional impact of live cello and piano at all the key moments, and then the musicians continue seamlessly into the drinks reception while everyone relaxes after the formalities.
For couples who want live music to form a meaningful part of the day without necessarily having musicians throughout the meal and evening, it works extremely well.
Thank You, Olivia and Will
Most importantly, a huge thank you to Olivia and Will for choosing JAM Duo to be part of their wedding at Larkspur Lodge.
We genuinely enjoyed spending the afternoon with you both and providing the music for your ceremony and drinks reception.
From Baby I’m Yours immediately before the ceremony to Can You Feel the Love Tonight for Olivia’s entrance, Sweet Disposition as you walked back down the aisle as husband and wife, and a wonderfully varied drinks reception playlist afterwards, it was a pleasure to play every part of it.
Larkspur Lodge looked fantastic, your guests were lovely and the bar proved to be a great setting for the second half of our performance.
Thank you for trusting us with the music for such an important part of your wedding day.
We hope you both had the most wonderful celebration — and we wish you every happiness for the future.
