We played West Axnoller Farm in Beaminster, Dorset on 18 June 2022 for Heather and Shaan’s multicultural wedding. A mandap built by the groom and his brother from local timber, a Belle & Bunty bride, slow-barbecued Persian-spiced lamb at the wedding breakfast, and an evening that finished with conga lines through the rain and a bit of crowd surfing for good measure. The day made the Love My Dress wedding pages the following year for reasons that became obvious about ten minutes into the first dance.
A note before the story: West Axnoller Farm stopped hosting weddings in August 2025, closing a 25-year run as a Dorset wedding venue. This post stays up as a record of a great night; the venue itself isn’t taking new wedding bookings.
The Day
Mandap ceremony out in the grounds, baarat horse cart wheeled in for reception drinks, Persian-Indian fusion menu from the venue’s own kitchen run by chef Gordie - the headline dish was a slow-barbecued Persian-spiced lamb shoulder, with Indian sweets to finish. Belle & Bunty designed the bride’s gown, and the florist had built 72 feet of garlands across the mandap. None of which is in the Dorset wedding-venue handbook, and the rooms and the team at Axnoller carried it without strain.
The Evening Set
We played as a 5-piece - vocals, guitar, bass, drums and keys - in the converted barn that doubles as wedding-breakfast room and dancefloor. The couple had brought in the full production for this one: a Nexo PS-series PA with LS subs that we shared with the DJ who took over after our sets, proper moving-head lights, and pin spots aimed at a decent-sized mirror ball. Sharing a hired-in PA with the night’s DJ is the cleanest way to run a wedding with both a band and a serious DJ slot: same speakers, same desk, no changeover hump in the middle of the night. We ran in-ears throughout, no floor wedges. Power on the stage end was convenient and ample.
The first dance was a Calvin Harris track. We started it slow and built to the drop - the kind of first-dance arrangement that lets the couple have their quiet moment and then launches the room straight into the rest of the night on the right note.
The DJ duo who took over after our sets were Tiger Mafia - the groom’s brother’s debut set. He had the room from the moment we handed it over. Somewhere around the second hour the rain came in, and the dancefloor went the other way: conga lines through the wet, crowd surfing, the kind of evening you don’t choreograph.
What They Said
“They were absolutely incredible! Apart from being phenomenally talented musicians, they had so much energy and we loved how they somehow mixed the songs. Genius.”
- Heather & Shaan, featured on Love My Dress
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