There's many creative ways in which a couple choose where and how they incorporate live music during their wedding day. And matter how big or small of a part I as a wedding singer play. My aim is to have the largest impact possible. This certainly came into fruition for Debbie & Tim's special day. This bride and groom went with a less talked about part of the wedding day order. The Turnover. Which may not even be applicable for every wedding and venue. But incase you're unfamiliar with the term, it's the part just after the wedding breakfast meal, when the speeches have all been delivered successfully and you and your guests are ready for a boogie. However, the room needs to be, as we call it in the wedding industry, "Turned over", which is a fancy phrase for, transformed into the evening do room. Chairs re-arrange, tables discarded, dance floor installed, and whatever else fun activities you have have planned for the evening, input. So instead of leaving guests to aimlessly wander, mingle or in some cases disappear! Having a live singer or musician as a secondary emcee and warm up for the evening do is a great choice! A Turnover Package doesn't also just have to be for this exact spot either. If you've found a small gap in your wedding schedule that you're unsure what to do with, it may be worth asking your wedding singer or musician if they're flexible with this hour and working with you see how you can create magic in just 60mins (other set times may be available). It's also a great way of incorporating live music without blowing your entire wedding budget, as most Turnover packages tend to be at the lowest pricing point in many live singers package pricing. So this could in fact be the solution that you've been looking for. (Continue reading below images).
Bellavista authentic Italian restaurant in Rochdale, just outside of Manchester was the host venue for Debbie and Tim's special day. Which I've been told is must go to if you're a fan of traditional Italian cuisine and stone baked pizza. (Which I am!). The stylish, simplistic, white/cream, hotel villa vibes of the venue worked lovely with the couples royal blue colour scheme. Debbie chose a wild burnt orange dried flower bouquet which popped beautifully against the groomsman and bridesmaids midnight outfits. With the venues main room leading nicely into a their modern bar area and with a gorgeous patio balcony providing stunning views of a (luckily dry and sunny) green Pennines countryside. Their day guest list numbers were on the considerably smaller side. So with this in mind, we wanted to make great use of this space, keep everyone united and make a moment out of this change over hour.
As I'm finding with many of my wedding couples, the bride and groom are huge music fans. And by huge, I mean, Tim the groom has a vinyl collection of records, somewhere in the hundreds! Music was in fact a common passion that drew the couple to each other, and their first date was spent exploring such an impressive collection. So it made perfect sense that not only did they ask to choose all of the songs out of my repertoire for me to perform. But they also had such an eclectic choice of songs. Typical (for me) swing and jazz tunes, along with Post-Modern Jukebox re-works, 1960s dance floor fillers, 50s love songs. Un-typically for me they chose Greta Van Fleet's, Light My Love for their special learnt request. Which if you're aware of Greta Van Fleet and their insane vocals, let's just say...thank you for the challenge! It also makes perfect sense that they used their favourite band names as table names. An idea that I myself would consider for my own hypothetical wedding.
With this Turnover hour being used as a starter course for the evening, after a 3 course meal, we had to get energy's limbered up and raised. So we incorporated family favourites such as "Sweet Caroline" and "Valarie". Which you may think, could conflict with their evening DJ's set. However, another genius idea the couple had, was to ask their guests when RSVP-ing to choose their favourite song and hits that they'd love to get up and dance to at the end of the night. Meaning that they had guaranteed floor fillers, a PM party setlist for everyone, and knew in advance what to expect. So no clashes here thank you. When you as a couple decide to take charge of something like this, as well as my setlist as a wedding singer, it guarantees you a great time. We had proof of this via Debbie the brides none stop dancing. And I mean literally not stop, I don't think I saw her sit down once! Thanks to the quick and coordinated venue staff and Debbie and Tim's decision to book myself as a distraction. The evening disco room seemed magically ready in a blink.
With all of the guests up on their feet towards the end of my set. We found that the typically long lull-y Turnover hour, flew by. Much to Debbie and Tim's dismay, but I guess that's what they say about the whole day "it goes by so quickly". They also say that "time flies when you're having fun!". So with my goal as a wedding singer, to provide a great time for my couple and their guests. In this particularly short but sweet time slot, I think we can say it was a job well done.
Thanks again for the trust!
All the best,
Abbi-Kaye (Viva la Vintage) x
Venue - Bellavista Restaurant Rochdale
Photography - Duncan Edward Photography
Florist - Hidden Botanics
Comments