Michael & Patrick's Le Manoir wedding reception
Published: 22 Mar 2017 | Written by: Mike Paul-Smith
Photos courtesy of Paul Wilkinson Photography
In August 2016, Down for the Count's 6-piece swing band The Get Downs Lite provided live music for Michael and Patrick's wedding reception at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire.
Michael and Patrick are a great couple from New York, who chose to get married in the English countryside. Our wedding music packages were recommended to them by the team at Le Manoir – where we have been a recommended supplier for over 5 years.
Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons is the Oxfordshire restaurant and hotel of top chef Raymond Blanc. It's the perfect venue for weddings with 50 to 60 guests and is one of our favourite venues to perform at. The staff are friendly, the service is impeccable and, as you'd imagine, the food is top notch.
We've performed at Le Manoir for a huge range of events – including Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve celebrations, birthday parties, and wedding receptions.
Before booking the band, the couple came to see us performing live at London's top jazz club, Pizza Express Soho. Down for the Count perform in public at least once a month – and it's a great chance for clients to come and meet us and hear us play.
Michael and Patrick's wedding ceremony was in Le Manoir's new conservatory, with great views over the private garden. They were accompanied by a string quartet performing classical music.
After dinner, Down for the Count took to the stage with our 6-piece swing and soul band The Get Downs Lite. This is our smallest party band, and it fits in the conservatory space at Le Manoir perfectly. It performs two sets of music - one of swing and jive, and one of soul and Motown - with a varied set list, designed to appeal to audiences of all ages and get them on the dancefloor for a wonderful celebration.
We had carefully planned the set list with Michael and Patrick in advance. The set started with high energy swing music such as Sing Sing Sing and Well Alright, Okay, You Win – great tunes to get everyone dancing straight away.
At the end of set one, we had a special surprise planned for the wedding guests. Patrick is a musical theatre singer/actor, and joined the band to sing two songs – Harry Connick Jr's It Had To Be You and Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud.
The Get Downs Lite then performed soul and Motown music. As you can tell from the photos everyone had a great time partying to our live music, with guests of all ages on the dancefloor.
Our 6-piece swing and soul band The Get Downs Lite is the perfect choice for wedding parties at Le Manoir. It fits perfectly into the space, and creates a great party atmosphere.
At Le Manoir, we are also able to provide classical and contemporary wedding ceremony music - often from our wedding pianist or string quartet, Down for the Count Strings. We can also provide drinks reception music - with loads of options available including a trad jazz band and a roaming pop band.
These options are all available as part of our wedding music packages, with great discounts available for booking more than one group to perform at different stages of your day.
A few weeks after the wedding, we caught up with Michael and Patrick to ask them how they thought everything went. Here's what they had to say:
"We had a wonderful time and our wedding day was something we will remember for a long time. Thank you and please thank everyone from Down for the Count who performed."
Thanks to Michael and Patrick for booking us for their wedding reception entertainment, and to Paul Wilkinson Photography for letting us share their fantastic photos of the event.
Wedding band hire at Le Manoir, Oxfordshire
Down for the Count have provided bands for countless events at Raymond Blanc's Oxfordshire countryside restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons. We have performed for weddings, birthday parties, anniversary celebrations and also at Le Manoir's own Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Year's Eve events.
It's one of our favourite venues and we always love going back there so get in touch to find out about the options for live band hire at Le Manoir and other Oxfordshire venues.