There are some wedding venues where the setting does quite a lot of the work before anyone has played a note. Swallows Oast, tucked away at Gibbs Reed Farm near Ticehurst in East Sussex, is very much one of those places. For Dan and Nicole’s wedding on 25 September 2026, the ceremony took place in the venue’s woodland setting, surrounded by mature trees and late-summer greenery, before everyone moved back towards the terrace for drinks in what turned out to be extraordinarily warm September sunshine.
JAM Duo had been booked to provide live cello and piano music for both the ceremony and drinks reception. For this wedding we travelled relatively light by our standards, using our Nord Stage piano and Yamaha electric cello rather than bringing the gloss black piano shell. The setting was informal and natural, and the simpler setup suited it perfectly. It also made relocating after the ceremony rather easier, which became particularly useful once the temperature started behaving as though somebody had accidentally ordered July rather than late September.
A Woodland Wedding Ceremony at Swallows Oast
The woodland ceremony area at Swallows Oast is a wonderfully atmospheric setting. The aisle runs through the trees, with guest seating arranged amongst the woodland and the ceremony itself taking place beneath a simple structure at the far end. It feels enclosed without being confined, with shafts of sunlight coming through the canopy and enough of the surrounding countryside visible to remind you that you are very definitely outside.
For the ceremony we positioned ourselves towards the back of the seating area. This is often our preferred position for outdoor weddings because it allows the music to fill the ceremony space without putting the musicians visually between the couple and their guests. It also gives us a particularly good view of proceedings, which is rather important when you are responsible for making sure a bride’s entrance music begins at precisely the right moment.
Outdoor ceremonies can require a little more thought than simply placing a piano in a corner and hoping for the best. Guests may arrive from different directions, bridal parties can be some distance away and the timing of an entrance is rarely communicated via anything as sophisticated as an earpiece and stage manager. Much of wedding ceremony music therefore involves watching very carefully, interpreting distant hand gestures and occasionally working out whether the person approaching through the trees is a bridesmaid or merely somebody who has gone back to the car for their sunglasses.
Dan and Nicole had around 70 guests, making the woodland ceremony feel intimate without being small. Their wedding colours included chocolate brown for the bridesmaids, which worked particularly well against the natural greens and earthy tones of the woodland setting.
Pre-Ceremony Music with a Difference
One of the things we particularly enjoy is when couples choose music which reflects their own tastes rather than feeling obliged to select what might traditionally be considered “wedding music”. Dan and Nicole’s choices certainly fell into that category.
Their pre-ceremony requests included Wonderwall, Dreams, What I’ve Done, Sweet Child O’ Mine and All the Small Things. It is fair to say that Blink-182 does not feature heavily in most traditional books of wedding voluntaries, but that is precisely why we enjoy arranging contemporary music for cello and piano.
One of the advantages of our setup is that almost any style of music can be adapted to work instrumentally. Songs which would normally involve guitars, drums or a full band take on an entirely different character when reduced to piano and cello. The melody becomes more prominent and, particularly during a ceremony, the music can feel elegant without losing the personality of the original song.
It meant that as guests arrived in the woodland, the atmosphere immediately belonged to Dan and Nicole rather than feeling like a generic collection of wedding standards.
Turning Page for the Bridal Entrance
For Nicole’s entrance, the chosen piece was Turning Page. It is a song which works especially well for cello and piano because of its long melodic lines and gradual build, and it has become a popular choice for wedding ceremonies without ever feeling overly predictable.
The entrance itself involved three bridesmaids and a flower girl before Nicole made her way down the woodland aisle. With ceremony entrances, our job is not simply to start the piece and hope everybody reaches the front at an appropriate moment. We shape the arrangement around what is actually happening.
If the bridal party takes longer, we extend it. If things move quickly, we find a musical point at which the piece can resolve naturally. There should never be an abrupt fade-out or the slightly awkward situation where the bride reaches the front while the musicians are still enthusiastically embarking upon another three minutes of music.
Live music gives us that flexibility, and Nicole’s entrance could therefore unfold naturally while we followed the pace of the procession.
Music During the Ceremony
For the signing of the register, Dan and Nicole had chosen another wonderfully varied selection: Follow You, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) and I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.
That mixture rather neatly demonstrates the versatility of cello and piano. An Aerosmith power ballad, The Proclaimers and Bring Me The Horizon might not immediately sound like obvious companions, yet instrumental arrangements allow very different songs to sit together surprisingly well.
The signing is also one of those parts of a wedding ceremony where having several pieces ready is important. Sometimes the formalities take three minutes; sometimes they take considerably longer. Photographs, witnesses and paperwork have a remarkable ability to develop their own sense of timing.
For the couple’s exit, the choice was This Will Be (An Everlasting Love), which provided exactly the sort of upbeat conclusion a wedding ceremony needs. After the quieter atmosphere of the vows and signing, we could lift the energy as Dan and Nicole walked back up the aisle as a married couple and the celebrations properly began.
From the Woodland to the Marquee
Once the ceremony finished, it was time for us to relocate for the drinks reception.
At Swallows Oast, the drinks reception was centred around the outside courtyard and terrace near the main venue. The original plan was, naturally enough, for us to play outside. September, however, had apparently decided that seasonal norms were optional.
It was hot.
Not pleasantly mild. Not “perhaps I shall remove my jacket” warm. Proper sunshine, the sort where a Yamaha electric cello is probably coping rather better than its human operator.
Fortunately, the team at Swallows Oast were extremely helpful and opened up the side of the marquee so that we could set up just inside it. This gave us shade while allowing the music to travel directly out onto the terrace where guests were enjoying drinks and canapés.
It was the perfect compromise. We remained completely connected to the reception outside, guests could see and hear us easily, but our instruments — and indeed the musicians — were spared several hours of direct sunlight.
Outdoor wedding music is lovely. Outdoor wedding music with shade is lovelier.
Live Music for the Drinks Reception
For the drinks reception we continued with the Nord Stage piano and Yamaha electric cello. We did not use our piano shell for this wedding, which kept the setup compact and made the transition from woodland ceremony to marquee considerably quicker.
The Nord Stage is particularly useful for weddings such as this because it gives us the quality and response of a proper stage piano while remaining practical enough to move between different parts of a venue. Combined with the electric cello, it allows us to create a full and rich sound without needing an excessive amount of equipment around us.
Dan and Nicole had given us a substantial list of music for the drinks reception, including Can’t Help Falling in Love, Dancing in the Moonlight, Pink Pony Club, Here Comes the Sun, High, All You Need Is Love, Unwritten, Chasing Cars, Better Together, At Last, A Thousand Years, Young and Beautiful, Mr Brightside, Love Story, All of Me and Africa.
It was exactly the sort of selection we like for a drinks reception. There were slower romantic songs, plenty of recognisable contemporary music and enough upbeat material to keep the atmosphere moving as everyone settled into the afternoon.
Drinks receptions are quite different musically from ceremonies. The music should be noticeable without dominating conversation. Nobody wants to discover that their carefully chosen string duo has somehow turned canapés into Glastonbury.
The aim is to create an atmosphere around the guests rather than demand their attention. Songs such as Dancing in the Moonlight, Africa and Mr Brightside work particularly well because people recognise them almost instantly, while instrumental arrangements keep them elegant enough for the setting.
A Request from Pirates of the Caribbean
Dan and Nicole had also asked whether we could include the Love Theme from Pirates of the Caribbean, which is exactly the sort of request we enjoy receiving.
Film music often translates beautifully to cello and piano because orchestral scores tend to have strong melodies and rich harmonies already built into them. Stripping an orchestral piece back to two instruments can actually reveal more of the writing rather than less.
It also adds something slightly unexpected to a wedding playlist. There is absolutely no rule stating that wedding music must consist solely of Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and Pachelbel — excellent though all three can be in the right circumstances. If a piece of music means something to a couple, then it deserves its place.
Live Wedding Music at Swallows Oast
Swallows Oast worked particularly well for live music because the different parts of the day each had their own character. The woodland created a secluded and romantic atmosphere for the ceremony, while the terrace and courtyard provided a more relaxed environment for drinks afterwards.
For us, the challenge is always to make the music feel part of those changing settings. During the ceremony, every musical cue matters. The timing of the bridal entrance, the signing and the couple’s exit all need to follow the action precisely.
Once the drinks reception begins, the emphasis changes. The music becomes part of the wider atmosphere, accompanying conversations, photographs, drinks and the inevitable process of guests discovering where the canapés are coming from and positioning themselves accordingly.
Because every note we play is live, we can adapt constantly throughout the day. We can extend a piece during a ceremony, change the mood during drinks or respond to what is happening around us. There are no backing tracks running on fixed timings and no playlist which simply continues regardless of the room.
It is one of the reasons we enjoy providing both ceremony and drinks reception music: the two parts of the wedding require very different approaches, despite using exactly the same two instruments.
A Beautiful September Wedding in East Sussex
Dan and Nicole’s wedding at Swallows Oast was one of those September weddings which felt determined to hold onto summer for as long as possible. The woodland ceremony looked wonderful in the sunshine, the temperature was considerably warmer than anyone had much right to expect, and the open-sided marquee gave us the ideal position from which to provide music for the terrace afterwards.
From Turning Page in the woodland to Mr Brightside, Africa and a little Pirates of the Caribbean later in the afternoon, their choices gave us plenty to work with and created a soundtrack which felt personal to them.
We had a lovely afternoon providing the live music for Dan and Nicole and thoroughly enjoyed our first experience of the woodland ceremony setting at Swallows Oast.
And, after approximately 200 weddings a year, we are always grateful for a venue which understands one of the most important requirements of outdoor musicianship: sometimes the greatest luxury is not champagne, flowers or a grand piano.
It is shade.
