The Dotted Crotchets On Tour

Those of you who have been following our latest plans will know that we have recently launched a new branch of The Dotted Crotchets string quartet and trio in Glasgow, available for weddings and events across Scotland. Although bookings are now starting to come in we decided to speed things along a little and get the word out that The Dotted Crotchets are in business. So last week Ruth and Michael spent 5 days on a promotional tour visiting 60(!) wedding venues across Perthshire, Tayside, Fife, Edinburgh and Glasgow, dropping off these pretty packs of information.

If you have just got engaged and are looking for a wedding venue in Scotland there are some really beautiful hotels, houses and even castles to hire. Below we've listed some of our favourite venues that we visited last week, starting with the grand settings of Hopetoun House and Edinburgh Castle and finishing with more alternative and quirky venues such as Timberyard and Edinburgh Zoo.

1. Hopetoun House 2. Rufflets Country House Hotel 3. Edinburgh Castle 4. The Caledonian 5. Timberyard 6. Dovecot Studios 7. Hotel Missoni 8. Edinburgh Zoo 9. House for an Art Lover

Here is a list of all the venues we visited... so many to choose from, and all a perfect setting for a string quartet or trio! Which is your favourite?

Perthshire and Tayside

Scone Palace

Huntingtower Hotel

The Royal George Hotel

Murrayshall House Hotel

Inchture Hotel

Piperdam Golf and Leisure Resort

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Dundee

Invercarse Hotel

Apex City Quay Hotel

Fife

Rufflets Country House Hotel

Fairmont St Andrews

Scores Hotel

St Andrews Golf Hotel

Macdonald Rusacks Hotel

The Old Course Hotel

Craigsanquhar House Hotel

Balbirnie House Hotel

Edinburgh

Hopetoun House

Edinburgh Marriott Hotel

Edinburgh Zoo

Malmaison Edinburgh

The King James Thistle Hotel

The Balmoral

The George Hotel

Merchant's Hall

Hotel Missoni

The Signet Library

Surgeons' Hall

Dovecot Studios

The Carlton Hotel

The Scotsman Hotel

Apex International Hotel

Edinburgh Castle

Timberyard

The Caledonian

Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor Hotel

Sheraton Grand Hotel

The Roxburghe

Apex Waterloo Place Hotel

Glasgow

Glenbervie House Hotel (Stirlingshire)

Pollok House

House for an Art Lover

Sherbrooke Castle Hotel

Cottiers

Hotel du Vin

Oran Mor

Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor Hotel

Glasgow Concert Halls

Glasgow City Chambers

Corinthian Club

29 Private Member's Club

Grand Central Hotel

Radisson Blu Hotel Glasgow

The Lighthouse

Hilton Glasgow

Malmaison Glasgow

Blythswood Square

Thistle Glasgow Hotel

Glasgow Marriott Hotel

We received a very positive response from all the venue wedding coordinators we spoke to, so really looking forward to working with them in the future. And if we missed out your venue on our tour let us know and we'll pop a promotional pack in the post for them.

The Dotted Crotchets

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The Dotted Crotchets in Print

Your wedding is undoubtedly one of the most special days you will share together and for a lot of the couples who book us, music plays an important part in helping create a unique and unforgettable celebration. Therefore we are pleased to announce the launch of our new personalised art prints, which will provide a long lasting memento of your special day.

Treat yourself and your loved one to a personalised music print, featuring the musical score of your favourite Dotted Crotchets' song. The prints are available in either A4 for £15 or a set of three 5x7" prints for £20 (prices include postage and packaging), and both sizes feature your initials and the date of your wedding. Each print is sold unframed (the ones featured in the photos are RIBBA frames from Ikea) and will either be posted to your home or left at your venue on the wedding day.

Whether it’s the song you’ve chosen to walk down the aisle to, your exit song, or even your first dance, if the song is in our repertoire list then we can create it for you. If you can't just choose one song then the set of three 7x5” prints are perfect for the entrance, signing of the register and exit songs.

These prints make the perfect keepsake so order one for yourself or drop a hint to friends and family who are looking to buy you a gift! The option to buy one of these prints will now be included before the final invoice for your string quartet or trio booking is created, but if you have already had your wedding then please send an email to ruth@thedottedcrotchets.co.uk stating which size of print you would like and which song(s) you have chosen.

Love from,

The Dotted Crotchets

A Dotted Crotchets Wedding: James and Yasmin

Back in March we travelled through snow and ice to get to the wedding of James and Yasmin, all the way down at Wrest Park in Bedfordshire. The beautiful venue and vintage styling definitely made up for the long car journey and we were excited about getting to play a new request for Yasmin's arrival. Here's a bit about the day from the bride herself....

"James and I had been together for two years, and we were engaged the day before Valentines Day while away in Manchester, it was a complete surprise, I had no idea! I had always dreamed of the typical fairy tale wedding and couldn't wait to get organising. James and I decided to tie in my love of all things vintage and create a day that was completely unique and reflected both of us.

We spent nearly two years planning our special day and all our hard work paid off on the day. I had spent nearly a year collecting glass vases for our flowers, we chose "afternoon tea" and hired vintage mismatched china for our guests, I used my Nana's old dressing table for our seating plan and had a suitcase to hold all of our wedding cards.

In the evening we had an old pine welsh dresser and I had collected many jars and bowls to display hundreds and hundreds of old school sweets and my aunts made some delicious home made cakes too. The "sweet dresser" was a massive hit with all our guests and we had nothing left at the end of the night!

We wanted some music to entertain our guests from the moment they arrived and we were looking something a bit different, not your typical "string quartet" playing the likes of Beethoven and Bach, when we found The Dotted Crotchets, we were surprised how many of the songs we recognised and started to sing along, we knew our guests would feel the same with comments like "Oh I know this one" or "Isn't this Lady Gaga?" :)

The song I chose to walk down the aisle to took me a while to think of...I had always loved Ben Howard and his song "Only Love" popped into my head one evening and it just kind of stuck! I think it set the scene beautifully! Although to tell you truth I couldn't wait to reach James at the end :) James and I are now happily married and I can't believe 3 months has passed by so quickly! We can't wait to see what the future brings, and look forward to a long and happy life together forever."

James and Yasmin's Wedding Playlist

Bridal Entrance

Only Love - Ben Howard

Signing of the Register

Marry You - Bruno Mars, I Will Wait - Mumford and Sons and Skinny Love - Birdy

Exit

At Last - Etta James

Drinks Reception

A mixture of pop classics, chart hits and film themes

Suppliers

String Quartet: The Dotted Crotchets

Venue: Wrest Park

Photographer: Undivided Love Photography

China Hire: Chintz and China Vintage Hire

Flowers: Creations Flowers

Catering: Stones Events

Venue Styling: Ambience Venue Styling

Congratulations to the new Mr and Mrs Field!

If you would like your wedding to feature on our blog please send an email to ruth@thedottedcrotchets.co.uk for more information.

Behind the Scenes at The Dotted Crotchets HQ

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at The Dotted Crotchets? Well today we thought we would give you a little sneak peek into everything that goes on before we even get to your wedding, and a little bit about the people who keep The Dotted Crotchets so awesome (not that we’re biased!).

Back in 2011 Ruth had a vision, a vision to bring classical music into the 21st Century and within a couple of months The Dotted Crotchets were born. Gone was the idea that a string quartet can only play Mozart and Bach, gone was the idea that a string quartet have to wear formal black all the time. With a more laid back style and a focus on contemporary song arrangements we brought something new to the wedding industry in the North West, and since then the quartet and trio have gone from strength to strength performing for hundreds of weddings and events all over the country.

As the business has grown, so has the number of emails, phone calls and enquiries, and whichever way you contact The Dotted Crotchets it will be Ruth that is on the end of the line. Need some advice on song choices? Don’t know whether to go for the quartet or trio? Having a last minute panic the day before the wedding about none of your suppliers turning up? Ruth is there to guide you through the booking process, help you create a personal playlist or reassure any last minute worries.

As well as dealing with the bookings for both the Manchester and Glasgow quartets, Ruth is responsible for all the marketing, including designing the website and promoting the group through social media. As a violinist she also loves being able to perform with the quartet, but if she’s not available to play then she always makes sure that one musician is in charge on the day, and with such a talented and professional team of musicians your special day will always be in safe hands!

Without our fantastic music arrangements The Dotted Crotchets wouldn’t be the same, in fact we wouldn’t really be a quartet, and the man behind the music is Michael, our talented viola player. Ruth and Michael have been together for almost 7 years and they both share the same passion for playing songs that most people wouldn’t normally associate with a string quartet. All new song requests are arranged by Michael (which means the viola part gets the tune a lot more than it normally would!) and over the past 2 years he has arranged over 200 new songs for the quartet and trio. With a new song request coming in for almost every wedding, as well as the songs that we want to add ourselves, Michael is certainly kept busy!

Oh and that's Jaffa, he's our biggest fan!

Over the next few weeks we’re going to be blogging about other aspects of booking The Dotted Crotchets so if you have any questions you want answered, such as advice on choosing a playlist or what part of the day to have music, then please leave a comment below and we’ll do our best to answer any queries you have.

Love,

The Dotted Crotchets

A Dotted Crotchets Wedding: Rachel and John

Today we have a very exciting post to share with you all, our first 'Real Wedding' feature. The Dotted Crotchets string trio performed for Rachel and John's wedding back in September at the Priory Cottages in Wetherby, and we are delighted to be able to share some photos from the day, taken by the talented Julie Kim, and a little bit from the happy couple on why they chose to feature us in their special day.....

"Dresses, suits, honeymoon, ceremony, flowers, catering, guests, photographer, cake, the weather….Planning a wedding is a big job and with it comes the inevitable stress.  As soon as this happens you lose the focus on what the day is about; the coming together of you, your families and your friends. We wanted to focus on just this and get rid of all the stress. This meant for us we needed to keep everything as informal and relaxed as possible, good for us and good for our guests. Everything we set out to do followed this theme.

Our venue, the Priory in Wetherby, was used for both our ceremony and reception meaning we had much more time to entertain our guests. Easy…awesome canapés and cocktails, but we still needed something extra just to really finish the experience. We had to think about what that extra bit of entertainment was going to be and we considered so many different options but it came down to a few specific things. We wanted the entertainment to be either inside or outside depending on weather, surprisingly this ruled out many things. Mimes and magicians are annoying indoors or outdoors so that also went! We wanted something that would be good for all guests, adults and children alike, and ultimately we wanted to add a bit of class to the day but without it feeling too formal. It was at this point that we stumbled upon The Dotted Crotchets, suddenly we had found something that had ticked all of our boxes.

They covered the whole time from the end of the ceremony until the end of our meal, entertained the adults and interacted with the children perfectly- they were great! The only concern we had was that the ‘sound’ may feel a little too formal for the day we were going for, but because of their diverse range of different types of music we were able to choose pieces that us and our guests were able to relate to. As a little extra bit of fun, being that we are both film buffs, the first ten pieces that we had requested were actually famous pieces of music from film and TV – it was great to see the confused looks on guests faces as they recognised certain ones, before this quickly turned into a competition of who would get the next one first.

Even with the best of planning the day passes you by so quickly, you never have the time you would like to enjoy everything, speak to everyone, manage everything going on etc. What a breath of fresh air it was to have booked The Dotted Crotchets. Their music was fantastic and exactly what we wanted, they interacted with our guests - especially the children, created a superb accompaniment to our meal and just when we were trying to get over to them to thank them for everything they realised we were too busy so just gave us the thumbs up as they exited stage left. Thank you again The Dotted Crotchets!"

Congratulations again Mr and Mrs Blackwell and thank you for sharing your day with us!

If we have performed at your wedding and you would like it to be featured on the blog, or if you would like to book the string quartet or trio for a future wedding please send an email to ruth@thedottedcrotchets.co.uk and we will send you all the information.

The Dotted Crotchets are expanding North of the Border!

Today is a very exciting day for The Dotted Crotchets as we are one step closer to world domination! One of our regular cellists, Alice, is moving up to Glasgow and while her departure is sad news, we are delighted that she wants to expand The Dotted Crotchets into Scotland. Therefore, as of the 13th May 2013, The Dotted Crotchets will not only be taking bookings for weddings and events in the North West of England, but also in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perthshire, Fife and across Scotland.

The Dotted Crotchets Scottish quartet and trio will share the same look and style of the original group, and the repertoire list will be exactly the same. To celebrate the Glasgow launch we've also added a new 'Traditional' section in the repertoire list which includes several Scottish songs such as 'Auld Lang Syne', 'Like a Red Red Rose' and 'Flower of Scotland'. And don't forget we've already got a few contemporary songs by Scottish artists including 'Next To Me' by Emeli Sandé, 'Somewhere in my Heart' by Aztec Camera, 'Many of Horror' by Biffy Clyro and the super patriotic Braveheart theme tune.

Our engagements coordinator, Ruth, will continue to take the couples and clients through the booking process and will be on hand to answer any questions right up until the wedding day when Alice will take control. Our talented music arranger, Michael, will also continue to provide string quartet and trio arrangements for any new songs that are requested.

We can't wait to perform north of the border, and would really appreciate any help in spreading the word to friends, families and work colleagues that The Dotted Crotchets string quartet and string trio are available from July onwards for weddings and events in Glasgow, Edinburgh and across Scotland.

Lots of Glaswegian and Mancunian love,

The Dotted Crotchets

Happy Birthday To Us!

On the 27th February 2011, exactly 2 years ago today, The Dotted Crotchets String Quartet made its performance debut at the Confetti Queens wedding fair at Manchester Town Hall. Since then the quartet and trio have performed for hundreds of weddings, birthday parties and corporate events all over the UK and we are now bigger and better than ever before!

In November 2012 we were to delighted to be nominated and then shortlisted for the Wedding Industry Awards 'Best Live Music' category. Sadly we did not make it to the final stages but after the awards closed we received the anonymous feedback that had been left by all the lovely couples who had voted for us, and to see so many positive and encouraging comments left us feeling like winners.

Now, we're not the sort of people who usually go bragging about how amazing we are, but as it's our birthday we thought we'd take this opportunity to show off just a little bit and share a few of the comments that were left.

“The Dotted Crotchets went down very well, judged the mood and musical taste of our guests perfectly and even took requests on the day. They were talked about afterwards. Before the wedding, they were able to arrange any pieces of music we requested. This helped to make our wedding personal.”

“Brilliant before the wedding with quick responses to queries & asked what we wanted from times, to play list, to their outfits! Couldn't have asked for more: easy to deal with, polite, played beautifully, looked like they were enjoying it & set a wonderful atmosphere. Amazing, would highly recommend.”

“We were very impressed with how helpful all members were through the day and there were many comments from guests on how good they were. A great selection of classic and modern music for all to enjoy. A good professional service all round.”

“A joy to work with! Correspondence was quick, friendly, helpful, and professional, with every effort made to accommodate budget and requirements. Their ability to mix different genres was well received by ourselves and our guests, and songs arranged at our request were a particular highlight.”

“We had never considered having a string quartet for the wedding until we heard The Dotted Crotchets at a wedding fayre. We're so glad they played at our wedding - their music was amazing, they fitted in perfectly in look, they were friendly, smiley, professional. Email contact before was v helpful.”

“The Dotted Crochets were fabulous. From my original correspondence with Ruth to their professionalism on the day, I cannot recommend them enough.The range of songs they play is outstanding and they went down an absolute treat at our wedding. Love them!”

“The Dotted Crotchets provided the most perfect musical accompaniment to our day. Just amazing! The comments we had from our guests was sensational. The communication during the lead up to the event was great, and on the day things went incredibly smoothly and professionally.”

"From the word go 'The Dotted Crotchets' were helpful & professional; Ruth was the consummate professional responding to emails quickly & even remembering me at a fayre despite the fact that I had booked her nearly 12 months earlier! The piece they arranged for us was excellent and playing superb.”

"Excellent string quartet. Asked them to play a song they had not done before and they delivered it note perfect. Loved the different choices of songs. All our guests said they were amazing. Could of listened to them all day.”

“We wanted a blend of traditional but with a contemporary feel for our wedding day music and Dotted Crotchets were just that. We had modern songs playing during our day which just sounded amazing on string and we had so many comments from our guests on their music.”

"The Dotted Crotchets were the most organised supplier from our whole wedding; emails were answered promptly and Ruth gave me a lot of advice when it came to song choices for the ceremony. I would recommend them to anyone who wants top class performers for a good price. Fantastic!!”

Reading through 6 pages of similar comments is enough to know that we're onto a good thing and our Birthday wish for today is that our third year will bring even more success and opportunities.

We'd also like to thank all our lovely clients for booking us and all the amazing suppliers we have worked with over the past 2 years, we couldn't have done it without any of you!

Lots of birthday love,

The Dotted Crotchets x