If you are planning your wedding at Larkspur Lodge near Knutsford and are looking for live wedding musicians, JAM Duo provide cello and piano music for ceremonies, drinks receptions and wedding breakfasts throughout the day.
We have performed at Larkspur Lodge ourselves, which means we already know the venue, its layout and how music works within the different spaces. That may sound like a comparatively minor detail when choosing your wedding suppliers, but on the day it makes everything considerably easier. We know where we are going, how the wedding tends to flow through the venue and, importantly, how to provide live music that becomes part of the atmosphere rather than taking it over.
JAM Duo is Anne-Marie on cello and Jules on piano. Every note you hear is performed completely live, with no backing tracks, and it is always the same two musicians who arrive to play for your wedding.
Larkspur Lodge – Key Information
- Location: Near Knutsford, Cheshire
- Venue style: Exclusive-use countryside wedding venue
- Main setting: Characterful 200-year-old restored barn
- Ceremony: Dedicated indoor Ceremony Room
- Reception spaces: Lodge Room, Bar Lounge, Whisky Snug, terrace and gardens
- Ceremony capacity: Up to approximately 150 guests
- Evening capacity: Up to approximately 180 guests
- Best suited to: Ceremonies, drinks receptions and wedding breakfasts with live music
- JAM Duo experience: We have previously performed at Larkspur Lodge and know the venue and its layout
About Larkspur Lodge
Larkspur Lodge is an exclusive-use wedding venue in the Cheshire countryside close to the market town of Knutsford. At its heart is a characterful 200-year-old barn which has been carefully restored as a wedding venue while retaining many of its original features.
It is very much a venue with its own personality. Rather than being a conventional hotel where weddings occupy one function room among many, Larkspur Lodge has a collection of distinct spaces designed around the wedding day itself. These include the dedicated Ceremony Room, the main Lodge Room used for dining and celebrations, the Bar Lounge, Whisky Snug, terrace and gardens. Couples have exclusive use of the venue, allowing the day to move naturally from one part of the celebration to the next.
The Ceremony Room is particularly distinctive, combining timber, warm lighting and greenery with some more unusual touches, including vintage cinema seating. Elsewhere, the barn styling continues with exposed beams, foliage and atmospheric lighting. It manages to feel rustic without requiring everybody to spend the day sitting on hay bales and drinking something out of a jam jar, which we regard as a considerable advantage.
Larkspur Lodge can accommodate larger celebrations while still feeling intimate enough for smaller weddings. There is also a substantial outdoor area and garden, giving couples the option of making use of the Cheshire countryside when the weather behaves itself.
Live Music for a Larkspur Lodge Wedding Ceremony
The ceremony is one of the places where live cello and piano can make the biggest difference to a wedding at Larkspur Lodge.
Rather than pressing play on a recording and hoping that the bridal party happens to walk at exactly the speed anticipated three months earlier, we play everything live. Jules watches what is happening in the room and adapts the piano part while Anne-Marie follows on cello. If an entrance takes another twenty seconds, so does the music. If everybody is suddenly ready rather more quickly than expected, we can bring the piece naturally to its conclusion.
This is particularly useful for the bridal entrance. There is no requirement to calculate how many seconds it takes bridesmaids to walk down the aisle or to have somebody standing at the back attempting to fade out Spotify at an appropriately romantic moment.
We can also provide music as guests arrive, for the signing of the register and for the couple’s exit at the end of the ceremony.
Our repertoire ranges from classical favourites such as Canon in D through to contemporary songs, film music and arrangements of music which may have a particular meaning to you. Because everything is genuinely live, we can also move between pieces and adapt arrangements to suit what is happening during the ceremony.
Drinks Reception Music at Larkspur Lodge
After the ceremony, live music can continue through the drinks reception.
Larkspur Lodge works particularly well for this because the wedding naturally progresses through its different spaces. Depending on the plans for your day and, inevitably, what the Cheshire weather has decided to contribute, guests can gather around the bar and lounge areas or make use of the terrace and gardens.
For drinks receptions we deliberately change the character of the music. This is not the moment for everybody to sit in reverential silence staring at the cello. Guests are talking, photographs are being taken, champagne is appearing and somebody is normally attempting to locate an elderly relative who has wandered off in entirely the wrong direction.
Our role is to provide the soundtrack underneath all of that.
We mix recognisable contemporary songs with film themes, classical crossover and more relaxed arrangements, adjusting the volume and repertoire to suit the atmosphere in the room. The result is live music which guests notice and enjoy without preventing them from having a conversation.
Why JAM Duo Love Playing at Larkspur Lodge
Having performed at Larkspur Lodge, one of the things we particularly like is that it feels like a wedding venue rather than simply a building in which weddings happen.
There is a sensible progression through the day, with different areas for the ceremony, reception and celebrations. From a musical point of view that gives us the opportunity to change both the repertoire and the atmosphere as the wedding develops.
The Ceremony Room suits the sound of cello and piano especially well. There is enough character in the room for the music to feel warm and intimate, while the visual combination of timber, greenery and atmospheric lighting sits naturally alongside acoustic-style live music.
We also like the fact that Larkspur Lodge manages to combine its rustic character with the practicalities required for a modern wedding. Having spent a great many weekends carrying a piano, cello and sound equipment into venues across Britain, we have developed an unexpectedly strong appreciation for places that understand suppliers actually need to get equipment into the building.
More importantly, however, it is simply an enjoyable venue in which to play. It has atmosphere without being overly formal, plenty of individuality and spaces where live music feels completely at home.
Cello and Piano Wedding Music at Larkspur Lodge
JAM Duo can provide music for as much or as little of your Larkspur Lodge wedding as you would like.
We regularly provide music as guests arrive, throughout the wedding ceremony, during the drinks reception and through the wedding breakfast. Because we are entirely self-contained, we can relocate between different parts of the venue as the wedding progresses.
And unlike ensembles built around backing tracks, there is no prerecorded accompaniment underneath what we do. Anne-Marie plays the cello, Jules plays the piano and that is what you hear.
For couples planning a Larkspur Lodge wedding, that also means you are booking musicians who have already performed at the venue and understand how the day works there. We can help you choose music for the important moments, suggest pieces which work particularly well for your ceremony and make sure the music fits naturally around the day rather than the day having to fit around the music.
If you are looking for Larkspur Lodge wedding musicians, or would like live cello and piano music for your wedding in Cheshire, we would be delighted to be part of it.