We recently played during the ceremony and drinks reception of the wedding of Kat and Gavin at the stunning Astley Bank Hotel in Darwen, Lancashire. Kat and Gavin are a wonderful couple and it was a pleasure for us to contribute so much to their big day.
We always pride ourselves on saying that we are willing to learn any song and we haven’t yet been beaten by any of them! As an acoustic duo, we always put our own slant on the originals and make the version our own. Doing this is one of our favourite parts of being Lux Bay. We have learned many stunning songs for ceremonies, with most of them subsequently making their way into our regular set, and it’s amazing to be able to add a truly wonderful moment to a wedding day. The feedback we’ve received over the years in relation to this has been wonderful and it means so much to us to have that level of trust placed with us. There is always a very slight hint of trepidation when we’re involved in such a pivotal moment of the day but we thrive on that and it’s something which makes our input truly unique and memorable.
We delivered much of our regular setlist though there was one very special request from Kat for the moment when she walked up the aisle – Beyonce’s ‘Love On Top’. It’s the song which, for the first time, very nearly beat us (for a number of reasons)!
Firstly, we changed the key a little to suit us better though the chords aren’t exactly conventional ones – for the musicians out there, transposing an F#m7b5 isn’t the most straightforward task to address! Additionally, when we play Lux Bay versions of songs, our versions are inevitably more stripped back than the originals. This adds to the intimacy and bespoke nature of every wedding we play though it can, on occasion, highlight those songs which are heavily produced and recorded with more instrumentation than you first realise. This was certainly the case with Love On Top and we quickly became aware that the core melody and chord structure of the song actually sounded a little ‘off’ / discordant when performed by just a voice and guitar. It wasn’t terrible but just didn’t feel right to us. This really concerned us, not only as we worried that people may think we were messing up the song but also as we wanted to play the perfect version for Kat and Gavin. We agonised over this for weeks and at one point even considered recording a version for Kat and Gavin to illustrate how it sounded. However, this really didn’t sit comfortably with us, so we spent more time perfecting the song. Becci made some slight tweaks to the vocal part which worked really well and Mick replaced a few of the chords with ones which made our version warmer and more pleasing to the ear. In the end, we had a version which we were happy with and, most importantly, which Kat and Gavin loved it on the day – Kat told us she had tears in her eyes as she heard the first few lines! The hard work definitely paid off and to such an extent that we will now include the song in our regular wedding breakfast set – quite the turnaround from our initial view!
So, despite this being our biggest challenge yet, we maintained our record of perfecting every request we’ve received. This means a lot to us as it’s a record we’re really proud of!
If you are planning your wedding and want a wonderful version of a song that is really special to you, please do get in touch. Or if you want something truly original, why not contact us about performing a bespoke song especially for you? Either a favourite song with the lyrics changed to ensure your story is the central theme (and please check out the example on our website) or a completely new song, written especially for you. We hope it doesn’t sound arrogant but we’re really good at this and we adore this part of being Lux Bay. These are the moments which will bring a true wow factor to your wedding day and will live with you forever. We even include a recorded version of the song whenever people ask us to do this.
Thanks for reading and best wishes.
Becci and Mick
