Rebecca & James | Liverpool Town Hall Wedding Singer

Rebecca and James originally booked me for their Drinks Reception and Wedding Breakfast, but somewhere along the way, as we got to know each other better, that plan grew slightly. Then quite a lot. By the time their wedding day came around, they had added their Ceremony too, and Rebecca had also booked me to sing at her Hen Party after coming to watch me perform live at Emily’s in Formby.

So when I turned up on their wedding morning, it honestly did not feel like arriving to perform for people I had only spoken to through emails and video calls. I had already met them multiple times, performed for Rebecca and her bridal party, and got to know so many of the people who were going to be part of the wedding day itself, which made the whole day feel incredibly relaxed from the very beginning.

Rebecca is a die hard Swiftie, so naturally, there was always going to be plenty of Taylor Swift involved. One of the benefits of doing her Hen Party first was that we managed to get quite a few of her absolute favourites “out of the way” beforehand, which meant James was allowed at least some musical input for the actual wedding day. Only fair, really. The aim was always to make their wedding playlist feel completely personal to the two of them, rather than accidentally turning the entire thing into the Eras Tour, although I am fairly sure Rebecca would have been completely happy with that outcome.

Their wedding ceremony took place at Liverpool Town Hall, which, despite me walking past it almost every day for the last six years, was actually my first time performing inside. I genuinely was not prepared for how beautiful it was. The rooms are absolutely stunning, and from a singer’s point of view, the acoustics were incredible. It is one of those spaces where live music just seems to fill the room effortlessly, which made it such a beautiful setting for their ceremony.

There were, of course, a few Taylor Swift songs woven into the ceremony, including Rebecca’s aisle entrance to Invisible String. For her entrance, I created a completely bespoke acoustic arrangement of the song so it felt softer and more suited to the setting and the moment itself, and it worked beautifully. Watching Rebecca make her entrance into such a grand room, with that song accompanying her down the aisle, was one of those moments where everything just seemed to come together perfectly.

From Liverpool Town Hall to The Racquet Club

After the ceremony, it was time for a fairly speedy pack down and the short journey over to The Racquet Club in Liverpool for the rest of their celebrations, although from the guests’ point of view, it hopefully looked far more effortless than it actually was.

Earlier that morning, before heading over to Liverpool Town Hall, I had already stopped by The Racquet Club to meet the team and get as much prepared as possible. There was absolutely no way I wanted the wedding guests leaving the Town Hall, arriving at the reception venue and finding me halfway through carrying speakers through the door. Ideally, I wanted the reaction to be more along the lines of how on earth has she beaten us here and already set everything up? So after the ceremony, it was a quick hop, skip and jump down the road, a microphone change, my iPad connected, and we were ready to go before everyone arrived.

We moved straight into their Drinks Reception live music, keeping things relaxed with cool acoustic versions of well known songs, with a little more Taylor Swift thrown in for good measure. The layout at The Racquet Club also made the transition into the Wedding Breakfast incredibly easy. I was able to remain set up in the same area throughout, so there was no need for another full pack down, secret speaker relocation or emergency PA hiding behind a curtain, which for me is always a win.

The brief for the day was pretty straightforward. Keep the ceremony and Drinks Reception elegant and relaxed, then get the party started during the Wedding Breakfast. This is where things got particularly fun.

Because I had already performed at Rebecca’s Hen Party, I had also managed to become quite friendly with her bridal party and some of the women in her family. Rebecca and I decided that we wanted to give them their own entrance into the Wedding Breakfast, but crucially, we planned the whole thing without actually telling them. So when the venue gave me the nod that everything was ready, I asked all of the guests to make their way to their seats before calling for the bridal party to stay behind.

You can imagine the confusion. A few of them immediately started asking what I had planned while Rebecca and I were just looking at each other trying not to give anything away. She had chosen a song that came with its own little inside joke amongst the group, and one of the things she really wanted was their genuine reaction when the music started. So they were given no real warning other than to trust me, follow my instructions and that they would know exactly what to do when the time came, which admittedly sounded slightly ominous.

Once everybody was seated, I hosted this part of the day so we could get the entrances running smoothly. First came the bridal party, making their entrance to Applause by Lady Gaga, before Rebecca and James followed them into the room to Love Story by Taylor Swift. It worked perfectly. Everyone immediately understood the assignment, the room came alive, and it completely set the tone for everything that followed.

I carried on through some fun favourites before gradually turning things up during the second half of the Wedding Breakfast and getting everyone involved. Rebecca and James had chosen an afternoon tea style Wedding Breakfastrather than a traditional three course meal, which gave the whole afternoon a much more relaxed feel and worked brilliantly with the livelier entertainment. There was no sense of everyone sitting quietly waiting for the next course to arrive. Instead, people could chat, move around, sing along and gradually get more involved as the music picked up.

At one point, guests were given ribbons to wave and swirl around while we sang, which looked absolutely gorgeous across the room and created such a fun atmosphere. I genuinely cannot wait to see the professional photos from that part of the day.

A Wedding Built Around Music

Once my part of the celebrations came to an end, the entertainment was far from over. Rebecca and James had booked The Reverie, a pop punk band, to take over for the evening, which could not have suited them better.

Their entire day had been built around music that they genuinely loved rather than simply choosing what they thought a wedding was supposed to sound like. From acoustic Taylor Swift at Liverpool Town Hall, to singalong favourites over afternoon tea, and finally pop punk into the evening, every part of the soundtrack felt completely personal to them.

That is always one of my favourite things about creating bespoke wedding music packages. The music does not have to fit neatly into one genre, and it does not have to follow a standard formula. It just needs to feel like you.

Rebecca and James, thank you both for trusting me with so many different parts of your wedding celebrations, from the Hen Party right through to the ceremony and reception itself. By the time the wedding finally arrived, it genuinely felt like I was turning up to celebrate with people I already knew rather than simply arriving as your singer for the day.

I have absolutely loved getting to know you both, plotting surprises with Becky, befriending the bridal party and somehow managing to squeeze the appropriate amount of Taylor Swift into proceedings while still allowing James a few song choices of his own. Now we just need to find another family occasion that can reasonably justify booking me again, although at this point I am not sure we actually need a reasonable excuse.