Confession time! I intended to write this blog yesterday. I had big pans of sitting in the garden under the umbrella, typing away about a wonderful wedding in Stourbridge and a hot night of reggae and joy, but the weather had other plans yesterday and it rained. All day. Rude. So I got my act together and am doing it today instead. However, the confession is that I am, in fact, an idiot. Knowing full well that the reason I didn't write this yesterday was due to the windy rain, and remembering entirely that I took the umbrella down and put it leaning against the shed, I was so excited to sit and write this blog that I picked up the umbrella and absolutely drenched myself. So now, a very soggy trumpet player sits to write about the sunshine and happiness of Antonia and Michael's wedding, whilst drying out under said umbrella on a cloudy but pleasant afternoon.
First and foremost, Antonia has been an absolute pleasure to deal with. She was clear, concise, understanding, flexible and just really nice. So the planning part of the wedding went extremely smoothly.
We used our latest addition to the family - the already infamous Reggu-wagon - to pick up Sugar, Owen and Angus on Friday late afternoon. If you've ever been in a multi-band-member vehicle, you'll know that it doesn't matter how much time one does or doesn't have before pick up, an obligatory stop at the shop is always on the cards, so we did that, and then made our way over to Stourbridge to Katie Fitzgerald's.
My neighbours chickens are extremely distracting!
Anyway, we arrived and were greeted by Grandad, who was just parking up the van on the main road. We soon found Breb, Teebs, Dawn and Charlie Moore. Yes, we had Charlie Moore back after his adventures over summer with many of his own bands, and we were so happy to see him, even though of course we did see him in rehearsal. Finding Charlie is always accompanied by some chanting of his name, and we needed to congratulate him in person on his recent engagement. I'm glad someone has decided to make an honest bass player of him.
The entrance to the wedding is this little secret passageway from the street - secret garden vibes are a winner for me! It's made me want to build little structures in my garden and grow climbing flowers all over them.
We had a small walk through the crowd - accompanied by a wonderful acoustic duo as they enjoyed the afternoon sun and drinks together.
Inside the venue was a door straight onto the stage, and a green room area off to side. Grandad and Breb had an easier time than usual with the load in as the front-of-house equipment was in-situ and supplied by the venue, so they just needed to sort out the stage package (that's like microphone and monitors and our gear for the in-ears and what not).
Dawn's taken on a new responsibility because I'm: a) forgetful b) easily distracted And she's offered to take the photos at gigs for us. I am always 100% dedicated to this task until it comes to actually doing it, and I get distracted, and then it's too late! But Dawn sent me about 50 photos and videos, and that's what I'm using for this blog. Thank you Dawn, you're a life saver! Amusingly, Dawn took on our role for photographer and also knew the couple's photographer for the wedding!
After a little soundcheck where Breb masterfully turned everything into gold like actual midas, we piled into the green room. As it was basically the same set up time as a normal gig, we only asked for some soft drinks and snacks, but Michael and Antonia and the owners at Katie Fitzgerald's looked after us so well! We had cobs, rice and peas, curried vegetables, sausage rolls, pork pie and freshly cooked pizza, as well as lots of soft drinks (posh style, in glass bottles, don't you know) and a special gift of a bottle of rum on top. Feeling incredibly loved and spoiled, we enjoyed some food and got ready to play.
We got to meet an amazing lady - the mother of the bride - and she was so cool. She'd helped with selecting the music for us to play and we'd got all her tunes on there, including I am I said by Mikey Spice, which was in fact her tune. It was a pleasure to meet you, Mama!
Mike and Antonia were a wonderful couple! They were so very clearly in love and they were also just really lovely hosts! It was fabulous to meet Antonia after all the emails and there were obviously hugs.
We played a more traditional set to start with - lots of Bob, classics like 5446 and Everything I Own, and Man Next Door. Antonia and Michael spoke to us in the break and assured us how much they were enjoying it, which was lovely to hear.
The second set got lively with No No No, The Barrington and The Dancehall medley and so many people were up dancing. It's always hard to tell what you'll get at weddings as most people aren't really there for the music, or it might not be up their street, but Michael and Antonia's guests were well up for it. The venue really lent itself to that divide in weddings where some people want to party at that time of night and some people are exhausted or are in a quiet corner catching up with family or old friends. Having the outside area with a covered bar including sofas and comfy chairs really suited everyone who wanted a chill or a chat, and the inside area was the party zone, but you didn't end up with that awkward part where people sat at tables trying to talk over the band! Perfectly done, Katie Fitz!
As an encore we did Three Little Birds and everyone got singing because Sugar gives them absolutely zero option about that.
Once we'd finished, wiped the sweat off and got our tranklements together, we loaded out, said a huge thank you to everyone we saw on the way, and loaded up the cars and the van. The whole night finished with most of the men trying to see who could jump the highest - because grown ups.
Giving thanks to Antonia and Michael, respect to the owners of Katie Fitzgerald's, appreciation to the band and Dawn for stepping up for a new job, and gratitude that we get to call this work.
Saturday (tomorrow) we'll be in Northwich at their Pina Colada Festival!
If you'd like to check out Katie Fitzgerald's, you can do so here: https://www.katiessecretgarden.com/
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