Beccy and Ross took all three rooms of the Kerry Suite, and the day moved through them. They married in Clanmaurice and Wycombe opened up into one long room, and by the evening that same Wycombe floor was the dancefloor. The staff turn it over in between, and the band works in the gap.
Bowood at a glance
There are two Bowoods, and it is worth knowing which one is on the invitation. Bowood House and Gardens is the Robert Adam mansion and the Capability Brown parkland, at Old Road, SN11 0LZ. Weddings happen a mile west at the Bowood Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort, Derry Hill, SN11 9PQ, just off the A4 between Calne and Chippenham. The resort tells drivers to use SN11 9NF for sat nav rather than the postal code. The Kerry Suite seats 180 for a wedding breakfast and takes 250 in the evening, with its own bar, a lounge and a terrace, and the outdoor Pavilion handles ceremonies that want to be outside. There are 43 bedrooms on site.
Which room you are actually in
The Kerry Suite is three rooms - Kerry, Wycombe and Clanmaurice - split or opened up to suit the numbers, so “the Kerry Suite” on a brochure can mean anything from Clanmaurice at 24 for a ceremony to the whole thing at 250. Beccy and Ross had all three, and the day still moved between them - ceremony in Clanmaurice and Wycombe opened up together, band in Wycombe. The lineup follows the room the dancefloor lands in.
The suite sits on one level throughout. Flightcases and a drum kit go in on wheels.
Music from the ceremony to the dancefloor
We played the whole day at Bowood, which is what the full-day package covers - a duo through the ceremony, a jazz trio across the wedding breakfast, then the band in the evening. The duo set up at the back of the room, so the music came from behind the guests as Beccy walked in and again on the way out. In a room that has just been laid out for a ceremony, the back is where a duo fits without standing in the middle of the photographs.
The evening is the standard Brotherhood wedding shape: a chilled half-hour that carries the first dance, then two fifty-minute dance sets blended in our own arrangements, with DJ playlists filling the gaps. The gap between the daytime music and the band is short here. The room has to be turned over around us, so we set up in whatever window the staff can give.
Recommended band size at Bowood
Wycombe is where the band went, and the 5-piece Brotherhood is the size for it - two vocals, guitar, bass and drums, with either a second guitar or keys in the fifth chair. Keys is the chair we would push for here. It spreads across a function room more evenly than a second guitar, and the same player covers the ceremony and drinks reception earlier in the day.
Six adds a sax or a third voice. If the evening opens the whole suite out rather than keeping the party in one room, that is a genuinely big space and the 8-piece with brass has the room to earn its keep.
Setting up in a room that keeps changing
We bring our own PA and lighting. Monitoring is all on in-ears, so the only thing aimed at the room is the PA and we set the level on the dancefloor rather than inheriting it from the stage. The Kerry Suite has its own bar and lounge opening off it, and keeping the sound in the room means those spaces stay usable while the dancefloor is running hot.
One room doing the ceremony and then the dancefloor puts a turnaround in the middle of the day rather than a long afternoon get-in. The access window is the first thing we ask the resort for.
The Brotherhood are a South Wales wedding band and Bowood is an hour and a half down the M4. More on how we work as a Bath wedding band, or check our availability for your date at Bowood.
