A Breton Château, a 4am Flight: Destination Wedding Band in France
Our alarms went off at a time that really should not have a name. By 4am we were standing in Gatwick, half asleep, coffee in hand, with Nick's sax case the only instrument making the trip. A couple of hours later we touched down in Nantes, and by mid-morning we were on the road heading west into Brittany.
The reason for the early start? On Saturday 27 June we were playing Austin and Sophie's wedding at Domaine de Locguénolé just outside Kervignac in Morbihan. If you are planning a destination wedding in France and wondering whether hiring a UK wedding band is a practical option, this is your answer. It absolutely is, and here is exactly how it all came together.
How a UK Band Ends Up at a Wedding in Brittany
The booking came through our friends at GigHeaven an agency we genuinely love working with. Austin is American, Sophie's family is French, and the wedding was bringing both sides of the Atlantic together on the Breton coast. Somewhere in the planning, they decided the soundtrack should come from a band over in the UK.
We were not going to argue with that.
Arriving at Domaine de Locguénolé
If you have not come across it, Domaine de Locguénolé is a five-star Relais and Châteaux hotel tucked into around 25 hectares of woodland on the edge of the Ria du Blavet. There is a 19th-century château with grey slate roofs, an older Breton manor house, an orangery opening onto the pool, and slightly randomly, a proper wooden boat parked on the lawn that guests can actually stay the night in.
The weather had clearly been booked well in advance too. Hot, sunny and properly summery, exactly the kind of day every couple hopes for.
Before things got going we wandered down to the water. The tide was out, the estuary had turned into a wide sweep of shiny mud with little streams running through it, and a handful of yachts were moored out in the deeper channel. Tall pine trees leaned out over the bank like they were trying to get a better look. It was genuinely hard to believe we were about to set up a drum kit a few minutes' walk away.
Travelling Light: How a Destination Wedding Band Gets Its Kit to France
This is the question we hear most from couples planning a wedding abroad. How do you get all your equipment over there?
For this one, the answer was straightforward. Apart from Nick's saxophone, every instrument was hired from a local AV company in France. They delivered it, set it all up and had everything ready for us when we arrived. Drums, keys, guitar and bass rigs, the lot.
It meant six of us could fly over with little more than hand luggage and a saxophone. No van to drive across the Channel, no worrying about fragile kit getting knocked around in transit, no excess baggage headaches. Working with a trusted local supplier meant the setup was seamless, and we were able to focus entirely on the performance rather than the logistics.
If that is the thing putting you off exploring a destination wedding band for France or elsewhere in Europe, it genuinely does not need to be.
Cocktail Hour After an Outdoor Ceremony
Austin and Sophie said their vows outside, and we picked things up straight afterwards for the cocktail hour. It was the full six-piece: Jess on lead vocals, Nick on sax, George on guitar, Tom on keys, Rai on drums and Greg on bass.
There is something about playing to a crowd that has just watched two people get married. Everyone is buzzing, the drinks are flowing, and in this case half the conversations around us were in English and the other half in French. Live music turned out to be a very effective common language.
Learning Scary Pockets Songs for the Day
A little confession: Scary Pockets are one of our all-time favourite bands. If you have seen their videos, you will know the vibe. They take well-known songs, flip them into funk and perform them live with brilliant musicians, letting the groove do the talking. A lot of what we try to do at NeoRoots, reworking songs people know and love with rhythm and feel at the centre, owes something to them.
So when we found out Austin and Sophie were big fans too, the excitement in our WhatsApp group was very real. On top of our usual set, we spent a solid chunk of rehearsal time working through a few of their arrangements specifically for the wedding.
The one we had been most looking forward to was their take on Sam Cooke's Bring It On Home to Me. Slow, soulful and a little gritty. Hearing it drift across the lawn of a French château in the early evening sun was a genuine pinch-yourself moment for all six of us.
The First Dance
For their first dance, Austin and Sophie chose the Scary Pockets funk version of Hall and Oates' You Make My Dreams, and we got to perform it live for them.
This is not a slow, sway-on-the-spot first dance. It is a grinning, can't-stand-still, everyone-wants-to-join-in-by-the-second-chorus kind of first dance. It suited them perfectly, and by the time the chorus hit for the second time the dance floor had already filled itself.
Keeping the Father-Daughter Dance on Track
Live events rarely go 100 percent to plan, and a big part of the job is making sure nobody notices when they do not.
Sophie's dance with her dad was set to play through the venue's own sound system. On the night, there was a technical hiccup and the track simply would not play properly. Rather than leave the two of them standing on the dance floor waiting, we ran it through our own system instead, and they got their moment without missing a beat.
We would bet most guests never knew anything had gone slightly off-script, which is exactly how it should be.
Then the Party
After that, it was the part we genuinely live for. A packed dance floor full of American and French guests, many of whom had only just met, all singing along to the same soul and R&B choruses like they had known each other for years.
When our final set wrapped up, Greg swapped his bass for the decks and DJ'd the celebration into the early hours. The energy never dropped.
Why This One Will Stay With Us
We play some beautiful venues across London and the Midlands, and we love every single one of them. But there is something different about setting your alarm for 4am, flying out to another country and finding yourself on an estate like Locguénolé, performing songs by a band you love for a couple who love them just as much.
For a sense of how we approach destination weddings and what a full-day live music package looks like, take a look at how we performed at Tankardstown House wedding band in Co Meath, another international celebration where the journey was absolutely worth it.
A huge thank you to Austin and Sophie for having us, and to everyone who helped make the day so special.
Venue: Domaine de Locguénolé
Wedding coordinator: Gwendal Katan, La Tablerie
Photography: Ja and Charles
Flowers: Le Naturel Fleuriste, Vannes
Booking agent: GigHeaven
Planning a wedding abroad and looking for a live band who will travel? We would love to hear about it. Take a look at our wedding band hire packages to see how we structure the day, then Tell us your date, your venue and your vision and let's start planning something brilliant together.
