Tonight took us out to a farm just outside Raglan, in the heart of Monmouthshire, for a wedding in a marquee the size of a small aircraft hangar. This was the second time we’d played for this family - their first booking went well enough that they had us back.
A Marquee on the Slope
The marquee was up on the family’s large rear lawn, right next to the open fields, and the lawn slopes - so it was sitting on tall legs to bring the floor level. You walk up a couple of steps from the grass and the whole thing is dead flat inside. It’s a clever bit of kit, and it means a sloping garden is not the obstacle to a marquee that people assume.
The room itself was enormous. Long banqueting tables down the middle, dancefloor at one end, and a built stage already in place when we arrived. We ran the van and cars down the drove alongside the lawn to a ramp at the back of the marquee, so the load-in was about as painless as it gets - we just had to dress the stage.
Our PA, Our Lights
The stage was theirs, but the sound and the lighting were ours. We brought the full 5-piece rig: PA spec’d for a big tented room, and our own lighting to lift the dancefloor once the evening light dropped through the marquee windows. We run in-ear monitors rather than floor wedges, so the stage stays clean and we keep tight control of the volume on the floor - which matters more in a marquee than a stone-walled barn, because canvas doesn’t hold the bass the same way.
First Dance: “Love You for a Long Time”
The couple chose “Love You for a Long Time” by Maggie Rogers for their first dance, and we played it live. It’s a lovely one to open with - warm, unhurried, the kind of song that fills a marquee without anyone having to try too hard. From there we built the night the way we like to: a relaxed first set early on, then two longer sets to take the floor through to the end.
The Suppliers Made the Room
A marquee wedding depends on the suppliers you bring in, and this family chose well. Drinks were run by Behind Bars, keeping the room watered all night, and the wedding catering was from Prickly Pear, run by Jane out of the Brecon Beacons with everything sourced locally. Proper homemade cooking, and the best-smelling marquee kitchen we’ve walked past in a while.
Photography was by Aga Tomaszek, a Cardiff-based wedding photographer with a proper documentary eye - she’s shot weddings everywhere from London to the Himalayas, and she goes after the real moments rather than the posed ones. We’re looking forward to seeing how the night came out.
Why a Marquee Works for a Wedding
You start a marquee wedding with a blank room and build exactly the day you want. You pick the caterer, the bar, the florist, the band, with no in-house supplier list to work from and no fixed limiter on a wall. You dress the space however you like and arrange it around how you want the night to flow.
The trade-off is that you’re building everything from scratch, including the practical bits - level floor, power, a plan for the weather. Get those right and a back lawn is entirely yours for the day.
Wedding Band Across Monmouthshire and South Wales
We’re based just down the road in Newport, so working as a Monmouthshire wedding band is home turf - Raglan, Abergavenny wedding venues, Usk, Chepstow and the farms and country houses in between. Marquees turn up across the whole South Wales wedding band patch.
Same night, our sister band The Sisterhood were over at Celtic Manor playing a corporate in the Caernarfon Suite - two very different rooms, one busy Saturday.
Congratulations to the happy couple, and thanks to the family for having us back.
The Brotherhood are a South Wales-based wedding band, playing marquees, barns and country houses across the Monmouthshire wedding band patch and the wider region. Get in touch to check our availability for your date.
