Venue Spotlight - a perfect spot for live music for your wedding!

We had the pleasure of performing at the stunning Whistle Barns Wedding Venue in Heanor recently, and I couldn't wait to write about it and tell future couples about this stunning space! Whenever we perform at a venue, I like to write about the musical side of things, to give couples a good picture of visualising their live music opportunities here, and to give peace of mind that we're familiar with the venue as well.

Ceremony Space

Tell me this isn't the most beautiful ceremony space! Honestly the pictures do not do this justice one bit, you have to see this in real life, it's simply breathtaking!

Brides/Grooms can have their very own fairytale moment of walking down this grand staircase to meet their partner at the end of the aisle, and it really does make for the most memorable entrance!

We performed for this lovely bride's entrance song, and we were set up just to the right of the staircase when you look at this picture, so we can still see what is happening at the front, and also we're out of the way enough to not intrude on any pictures!

The beauty of having a live musician here, is that the aisle walk including the staircase is fairly long, so we were able to loop various sections of the entrance song to ensure our bride walked down at just the right moment of the song, and we looped the end of the song to give them enough time to settle into the moment before their ceremony began. This is something to consider for this venue, is to ensure your entrance song is long enough for you and your bridal party to enjoy this very special moment and not rush.

We offer standalone music packages as well, so if you're just looking for either your ceremony, drinks or any other part of your day, then we have a package for this! Check out our packages here.

Reception space

*Photography credit of us, Abigail May Photography - check them out here

I am in love with this decor in the bar area, which is used for drinks receptions, it is so classy, but also has a lovely warm vibe as well. We performed in this space for the drinks reception, and we set up just next to the piano, which works well from a space and a power perspective! There's plenty of seating in this area, as well as a gorgeous little snug just next to the area where we were set up with more comfy seating.

One thing to consider for this space, is at the moment there isn't a power source outdoors for musicians to plug into. We do have the ability to play through a battery powered speaker, however we never like to use this as our go-to option, this is always our contingency option in case of power failure - this might not be the case for all musicians, this is just how we operate. You'd be able to have an acoustic musician outdoors, for example a harpist, or string quartet, or if your musicians do operate through battery powered means this would work just fine. We felt on this particular day due to the temperature we would set up indoors anyway, and we did find most people ended up migrating to the comfort of the bar space. This also might change in the near future, so just check with the venue about this if you are planning to have outdoor music!

Wedding Breakfast and Evening Party

We didn't perform for either of these sections, however if you check out the Whistle Barns website, you'll be able to see lots of images of the wedding breakfast space and how it transforms into the party space later on as well. There are lots of opportunities for live music in this space as it's super versatile, and lots of areas where it works really well! I have seen couples have live music during their wedding breakfast, and also full bands for their evening parties, so there really isn't a time during the day where live music won't work here!

Final words?

I love this venue, and I have to shout out the staff as well, as they were truly amazing on the day! They were all super friendly, welcoming, and we never felt we couldn't ask for their help or ask questions on the day. Their organisation was incredible as well, and everything felt so taken care of, and in control of, which is just what you want on your big day!

If you're looking for a beautiful space, where live music is welcomed, then Whistle Barns is definitely one to watch!

We're also proud to be recommended suppliers here as well, so please do check out our page on their website here!