Wedding at Folly Farm, Pensford

May 2025

One of our favourite things about being a wedding band is when a couple asks Re-Release to do something that's genuinely personal to them.

Ben and Sarah's wedding at Folly Farm in Pensford was a good example. They asked us to learn a special song for their first dance: “I Love You Always Forever” by Donna Lewis.

Now, learning a song especially for a wedding is always slightly more exciting than turning up with the usual setlist. You know that for one particular song there are two people standing in front of you who have chosen it because it means something to them.

So, no pressure then!

We got to work on it and added it to our repertoire especially for their wedding.

When the moment arrived, Ben and Sarah took to the dance floor and we played it live for them. There's always a noticeable change in the room during a first dance. A few minutes earlier everyone's been chatting, drinking and generally making quite a lot of noise. Suddenly everybody goes quiet and watches the couple.

It's a lovely part of the evening to be involved in.

Then, of course, the first dance finishes and we can get back to the slightly less romantic business of trying to fill the dance floor.

Thankfully, Ben and Sarah's guests were more than happy to help with that.

The rest of the evening was a brilliant party, with plenty of dancing and singing and a crowd who clearly weren't planning on spending the night sitting down.

We're always happy to learn something new when it means making a wedding that little bit more personal.

And we're pleased to report that Donna Lewis has officially joined our setlist.

Wedding at The Hidden Lake, Maisemore Court

May 2025

The very next evening after a suburban wedding booking in Clifton, we headed for the Gloucestershire countryside, to The Hidden Lake at Maisemore Court, for Nickie and Wijnand's wedding.

There's something quite different about arriving at a venue like this. Everything feels peaceful. There's countryside, there's the lake, there's plenty of space and, for a while at least, everyone seems remarkably calm.

Then a wedding band arrives.

We got ourselves set up while the celebrations carried on around us, and gradually the atmosphere started to change. Guests were chatting, drinking and catching up, but there was a definite sense that people were beginning to think about the evening party.

Once we started playing, they didn't keep us waiting.

The dance floor filled up quickly and stayed busy, with plenty of dancing and singing throughout the evening. It was one of those crowds where you can tell almost immediately that you're going to have fun playing.

There's also something quite nice about the way weddings work from our point of view. We arrive knowing virtually nobody, spend a few hours playing music with a room full of strangers, and then leave feeling as though we've somehow been part of the guest list.

The Hidden Lake made a brilliant backdrop for the day, and the contrast between the peaceful surroundings outside and the noise coming from the dance floor inside was rather satisfying.

Thanks to Nickie and Wijnand for letting us be part of the celebrations. We had a great evening — and the lake remained reassuringly free of discarded drum kits.

Wedding at The Redan Inn, Chilcompton

July 2026

There's a part of being in a wedding band like Re-Release that doesn't make particularly exciting reading.

Getting there on time. Finding the venue. Getting the equipment in. Setting everything up. Checking that everything works. And making sure we're ready to play when we're supposed to be playing.

We actually think that stuff matters quite a lot.

For Rhiannon and Luke's wedding at The Redan Inn in Chilcompton, our job was straightforward: turn up prepared, get everything sorted and then provide the music for the evening without giving the couple another thing to worry about.

That's what professional wedding entertainment should do.

By the time the evening reception got going, we were ready. Rhiannon and Luke could concentrate on enjoying their wedding rather than wondering whether the band had arrived, whether the sound system was working or whether someone had remembered to bring a microphone.

Then it was simply a case of doing what we'd been booked to do.

And thankfully, the guests did their bit too.

Once the music started, the dance floor filled up and we had a brilliant crowd in front of us. Plenty of dancing, plenty of singing and exactly the sort of atmosphere we're hoping for when we arrive at a wedding.

The Redan Inn provided a lovely setting, and the whole evening came together without unnecessary drama.

Which, honestly, is exactly how we like it.

We're aware that booking a band is one of the many things couples have to organise for a wedding, and the last thing we want is to become another thing they need to think about once the big day arrives.

Turn up. Set up. Play well. Keep the party going. Pack everything away.

Simple.

That's really what we want couples to get from booking us: one less thing to worry about.

Wedding at Priston Mill, Bath

July 2026

Alex and Saskia's wedding at Priston Mill was one of those nights where the party seemed to gather momentum rather than needing much encouragement from us.

Their guests were ready to dance, which is always a useful starting point when you're the band.

Re-Release got through our live sets with a packed dance floor, plenty of singing and the usual mixture of people showing off moves they probably hadn't attempted since 1998.

But there was another part of the evening we particularly enjoyed — what happened after the live music finished.

One of the benefits of booking us is that the music doesn't have to stop when the band does. We can carry on with an after-gig disco, using a playlist chosen by the couple themselves.

And we really like this approach.

Rather than handing the music over to some completely unrelated playlist, couples can choose the songs they actually want to hear. Guilty pleasures, indie classics, 90s dance tracks, cheese, hip-hop, pop — whatever works for them and their friends.

It's also a good way of keeping the atmosphere going. One minute we're playing live, the next we're controlling the music and keeping people on the dance floor without that sudden feeling that the party has finished.

By the end of the night, Alex and Saskia's guests had made full use of both.

For us, that's a big part of what makes a wedding evening work: good live music, followed by the songs people really want to hear when they're still not ready to go home.

Priston Mill provided the setting. Alex and Saskia provided the playlist choices. Their guests provided the dancing.

We just tried to keep up.

Wedding at Court Farm Country Park, Wolvershill

July 2025

We knew we were in the countryside when we arrived at Court Farm Country Park for Francesca and Tom's wedding.

There were fields. There were animals. There was considerably more fresh air than we're normally exposed to. And there was absolutely nowhere to hide a vanload of band equipment from the elements.

This was proper countryside wedding territory - the sort of place where you half expect someone to arrive at the reception on a tractor.

Thankfully, Francesca and Tom had provided considerably more sophisticated entertainment than that - they’d booked Re-Release.

Once we'd got the gear in, cables down and everything plugged into the correct sockets - always a satisfying achievement at a rural venue - we could get on with preparing for the evening.

The guests were in a great mood, and it didn't take long before the usual wedding transformation began.

People who had spent the afternoon looking perfectly respectable suddenly discovered that they were excellent dancers.

Or, at the very least, extremely enthusiastic ones.

Once we started playing, the dance floor filled up and stayed busy. There was plenty of singing, plenty of dancing and the sort of atmosphere that makes you forget you're supposed to be concentrating on playing the right notes.

That's one of the things we love about countryside weddings. You get all that peace and quiet during the day, then, come evening, you effectively turn a field in Somerset into a nightclub.

Not sure the local wildlife appreciated the bass quite as much as we did, but the humans certainly seemed happy.

Francesca and Tom's guests were brilliant, and we had a great time playing for them.

We left the countryside, the cables and possibly a small amount of our hearing behind us.

Wedding at The Orangery, Clifton, Bristol

July 2026

As a band, Re-Release always enjoy playing in and around Bristol. And Douglas and Sarah’s wedding at The Orangery at Goldney House in Clifton was no exception.

It's a venue that makes a pretty good first impression. You've got the historic surroundings, the gardens and the Orangery itself, so even before we've plugged in a single cable, there's already plenty going on. Our job, of course, was to provide the soundtrack for the evening.

We got everything set up and waited for the party to get properly underway. There's always that moment at a wedding when everyone has finished eating, the drinks are flowing and the dance floor is sitting there looking suspiciously empty.

Then the band starts.

And suddenly everyone remembers what it's for.

Douglas and Sarah's guests were a brilliant crowd and it didn't take long for the dance floor to become rather busier than it had been a few minutes earlier. There was plenty of dancing, plenty of singing and that lovely mixture you get at weddings where different groups of friends and family end up partying together as though they've known each other for years.

That's one of the things we enjoy most about playing weddings. We're obviously there to play the music, but we're also there to help turn the evening from a wedding reception into a proper party. The Orangery was a fantastic setting for it, and we really enjoyed being part of Douglas and Sarah's evening.

A lovely Bristol wedding, a brilliant crowd and a very enjoyable night for us.