Just before Christmas, Ben got in touch with us and asked us to do something a little different..
We were delighted to be asked to play as Ben surprised his girlfriend by proposing to her. in the luxurious hotel suite Ben had booked for the occasion. We laid all the plans out with Ben beforehand — what time to arrive at the venue, where we should wait while Ben & Jess vacated the hotel room, what to play the moment Ben & Jess re-entered the hotel room, and how Ben wanted his big moment to go.
Even though we all play at many weddings and events throughout the year, we all remarked that we felt quite nervous sitting there in the hotel suite awaiting the arrival of Ben & Jess. To calm our nerves, we requested that the hotel staff give the room a quick ring to let us know that Ben & Jess were on their way up from the bar. When that phone range twice, we knew that we needed to be ready.
We kicked off proceedings by playing Take That’s “Rule the World” (listen here) in time for when Ben led Jess into the room. We were busy concentrating on the music of course, but we could see that Jess was having the shock of her life. A live string quartet in the hotel room that she had just left 30 minutes before! Ben had also hired Steve Bishop, a professional photographer, to capture the special moment, as well as placing several photos of the two of them around the room, and a bottle of champagne on ice.
As we moved onto our next piece, Pachelbel’s Canon (listen here), Ben got down on one knee and asked Jess to be his wife. Thankfully she said ‘yes’ !! Our next piece for the celebrating couple was a special request from Ben for his new Mrs to Be, “Brown Eyed Girl”
We really enjoyed making their moment special and memorable. Ben had chosen the fantastic surroundings of the Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot. She couldn’t fail to say ‘yes’!
Best of luck with your wedding preparations both of you! A massive thanks to the staff at Pennyhill Park Hotel for helping us make Ben & Jess’ day!
UPDATE++++ Steve has added a slide show of all of his pictures which you can view here https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150625202127845
