There are wedding venues which have been designed to look rustic, and then there are places such as Waxham Great Barn in Norfolk, where the rustic bit has been quietly getting on with being rustic for several centuries without the assistance of reclaimed scaffold boards, strategically positioned milk churns or somebody from Pinterest. It is a wonderfully atmospheric place for a wedding, with vast timber beams, flint walls, enormous barn doors and a courtyard which feels entirely removed from the modern world. On 19 August 2026, this was the setting for the wedding of Cerys and Ethan, where JAM Duo had the pleasure of providing live cello and piano music for their outdoor drinks reception.
Our part of the day began after their 2pm ceremony. Cerys and Ethan had chosen to keep the ceremony itself separate from our music, so rather than setting up inside the barn we headed straight for the courtyard, where we were positioned beneath the cart shed. This proved to be a particularly good spot: close enough for the music to fill the courtyard naturally, but sheltered and tucked neatly away from the general movement of guests, photographers, drinks trays and all the other things which appear immediately after a wedding ceremony.
And this is one of the reasons we rather like playing for wedding drinks receptions. There is something pleasingly uncomplicated about them. The formalities have happened, everybody can finally exhale, somebody has found the champagne and the groom no longer needs to worry about whether he has accidentally left the rings in the glovebox.
A Wedding Drinks Reception at Waxham Great Barn
Waxham Great Barn makes a spectacular backdrop for an outdoor wedding reception. The courtyard is surrounded by historic barns and flint buildings, with the great thatched roofs giving the whole place a wonderfully Norfolk character. It manages to feel substantial and impressive without being overly formal, which suited Cerys and Ethan’s wedding perfectly.
Their styling worked beautifully with the venue too. The bridesmaids wore a mixture of soft pastel colours including light blue, sage green, yellow, peach and pale pink, while Ethan and his groomsmen wore classic black tuxedos. Wildflowers completed the look, adding colour without turning the place into something it fundamentally isn’t. Historic barns don’t really need much decoration. They’ve had a few hundred years to develop their own personality.
With around 65 guests, the wedding also felt just the right size for the courtyard. There was plenty of space for everyone to mingle, without reaching the point where you need a map and possibly a small radio transmitter to locate the bride.
For JAM Duo, we set up with Anne-Marie on electric cello and Jules at the piano, allowing us to create our full cello and piano sound outdoors. Playing outside always requires a slightly different approach from performing in an enclosed room. You don’t have walls and ceilings helping the sound along, so everything has to be carefully balanced to make sure the music travels without becoming overpowering. At Waxham, with no restrictive sound limiter to contend with, we could simply concentrate on creating the right atmosphere for the reception.
Married Life for the Confetti
Cerys and Ethan had made one particularly lovely request for the start of their drinks reception.
As they came outside following the ceremony for their confetti moment, they asked us to play Married Life from Pixar’s Up.
This is, frankly, an excellent piece of music for such an occasion.
It has just the right combination of warmth, nostalgia and gentle whimsy, and it works particularly beautifully on cello and piano. There is also something rather charming about having a piece called Married Life as the first music played after you have, quite literally, just become married.
Once the ceremony guests emerged into the courtyard, the confetti was thrown and everyone started to settle into the reception, we continued with a programme largely based around Cerys and Ethan’s own choices.
This is always how we prefer to approach drinks reception music. Rather than turning up with a rigid set list which bears no connection whatsoever to the people getting married, we build the music around the couple’s tastes and then mix in other pieces which work naturally alongside them.
From Coldplay to Chappell Roan
Cerys and Ethan had given us a particularly enjoyable selection of music.
There was plenty of modern pop, including Olivia Dean’s “I’ve Seen It All”, Alex Warren’s “Ordinary”, Harry Styles’ “As It Was”, Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” and Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.”
The latter is perhaps not the first song most people imagine when somebody says “cello and piano duo”, which is precisely why we enjoy playing it.
One of the pleasures of arranging modern music for cello and piano is discovering how well songs can translate when stripped away from their original production. Beneath the drums, synthesizers and studio effects there is usually a very strong melody, and the cello is particularly good at bringing that out.
Cerys and Ethan had also chosen several Coldplay songs including “Yellow”, “Paradise” and “Sparks.” These work extremely well during a wedding drinks reception because they are instantly recognisable without demanding everyone’s attention. Guests can talk, laugh and wander around the courtyard while the music sits naturally underneath everything that is happening.
And, of course, Yellow played in a courtyard containing one bridesmaid wearing yellow and surrounded by wildflowers somehow felt especially appropriate.
Fleetwood Mac, Noah Kahan and Something from Shrek
The set list moved through a wonderfully broad range of styles.
There was Fleetwood Mac, with both Songbird and Landslide, alongside music by Noah Kahan, including Strawberry Wine and Orbiter. We also played Paramore’s “The Only Exception”, another song which adapts beautifully for cello and piano.
But Cerys and Ethan’s choices also included something we always encourage couples to do: pick music because they actually like it, rather than because somebody on the internet has declared that it is “appropriate wedding music”.
Which is how we arrived at “Accidentally in Love” from Shrek.
Quite right too.
There is absolutely no law stating that every wedding drinks reception must consist entirely of Ed Sheeran, A Thousand Years and six increasingly obscure acoustic covers discovered on Spotify.
We also had “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid, “I See the Light” from Tangled and “Pure Imagination”, giving the afternoon a little cinematic thread alongside the contemporary songs.
Disney and film music often work surprisingly well at weddings because people recognise them almost subconsciously. Someone will be halfway through a conversation, suddenly pause and say, “Hang on… is that from Tangled?”
Yes. Yes it is.
Live Wedding Music That Doesn’t Need to Be Formal
One of the things Cerys and Ethan’s wedding demonstrated particularly well is that live wedding music does not have to mean formal wedding music.
Cello and piano can certainly provide classical music. We regularly play everything from Pachelbel to Bach and Debussy. But a wedding drinks reception is often far more enjoyable when the repertoire moves freely between modern songs, film themes, indie music, pop and the occasional piece nobody expected to hear played by a cellist sitting beneath a medieval-looking cart shed in rural Norfolk.
Cerys and Ethan even included “Bella Ciao” amongst their requests.
Which is probably not found in many traditional wedding musician handbooks.
Fortunately, we don’t own one.
Our approach with JAM Duo has always been to treat the cello and piano as versatile instruments rather than museum exhibits. If a melody works, we can usually turn it into something which works for our combination.
That means our drinks reception sets can move from Fleetwood Mac to Billie Eilish, from Disney to Coldplay, and from Pixar to Chappell Roan without anyone needing to file a complaint with the Royal Academy of Music.
Why Live Cello and Piano Works So Well for Drinks Receptions
The period immediately after the wedding ceremony is one of the most sociable parts of the entire day. Guests who may not have seen each other for years start catching up, photographs are being taken, drinks are circulating and the couple are finally free from the highly organised sequence of entrances, vows and signatures.
Music needs to support that rather than dominate it.
A live cello and piano duo for a wedding drinks reception works particularly well because the sound has enough presence to create an atmosphere while still allowing conversation to happen comfortably.
Unlike a playlist, live musicians can also react to the room – or, in this case, the courtyard.
If guests gather near us, we can adjust accordingly. If everyone disappears temporarily for photographs, we can alter the mood. If the couple suddenly reappear through the barn doors surrounded by guests and confetti, we can make sure Married Life begins at exactly the right moment.
That flexibility is something recorded music simply cannot reproduce.
Wedding Musicians at Waxham Great Barn
From a musician’s perspective, Waxham Great Barn is a wonderful Norfolk wedding venue.
The courtyard setting works particularly well for live music, and the cart shed gave us a useful covered position while still allowing us to be very much part of the drinks reception. With straightforward access and parking available on site, it also made setting up our piano, cello and sound equipment refreshingly uncomplicated.
This may not sound terribly romantic, but after carrying keyboards, cellos, speakers and stands into some venues via spiral staircases, kitchens and what appears to be a forgotten servants’ tunnel, straightforward access is something musicians learn to appreciate with almost unreasonable enthusiasm.
The setting itself was particularly memorable. Looking across the courtyard towards the huge barn, with guests gathered against the flint walls and the colourful wedding party outside, felt wonderfully relaxed and quintessentially English.
Congratulations Cerys and Ethan
We thoroughly enjoyed being part of Cerys and Ethan’s wedding at Waxham Great Barn and are very grateful to them for choosing JAM Duo to provide the music for their drinks reception.
Their music choices were brilliantly varied, their wildflower and pastel styling looked beautiful against the historic Norfolk barn, and the courtyard created a superb setting for an afternoon of live cello and piano.
And we remain particularly fond of that opening request.
There are many ways to emerge from your wedding ceremony as newlyweds.
Walking into the courtyard through a shower of confetti while a cello and piano play Married Life from Up is, we think, difficult to improve upon.
Congratulations Cerys and Ethan. Thank you for inviting us to be part of your wedding day at Waxham Great Barn. We loved playing for you and your guests, and we hope your real married life contains every bit as much happiness as the Pixar version – albeit preferably with rather fewer emotionally devastating opening montages.
