A look back...
We started with a bang for as we saw in the New Year once again at Restaurant 107 in Cranleigh, Surrey. A wonderful place full of fantastic people and some now very familiar faces.A few months later we were invited to perform once again for their Valentine’s Day dinner which was a beautiful evening where we sang for all the lovely couples enjoying their evenings.
“You guys are fab!! Thank you so much!” Jim Markos
In March we were asked to perform in London at St James Hotel for a corporate dinner. St James is a beautiful hotel and provided a perfect venue for us to sing at. The guests were lovely and danced the night away to all our favourite party songs!
April brought around our first wedding of the year. Vintage style weddings are massively in fashion this year and Sophie and Matt’s wedding was no exception to this apart from the fact she also put a twist on it and incorporated an Alice in Wonderland theme too! Very unique! We were asked to performed for their wedding reception in Christchurch, Hampshire. As the very new Mr & Mrs Juniper took to the floor we kicked of the evening by singing their first dance “Thinking out Loud” .We adore this song so it was an honour to sing it for them. All their guests then flooded the dance floor as we sang lots of wedding party classics to celebrate the marriage of this wonderful couple. Thanks for having us!
A few words from Sophie...
“Thank you for performing at our wedding reception! I booked The Nightingales on the strength of their online demo. Being a Professional Singer myself I am very picky and as such it took me a long time to find an act I was happy with!
In the lead up to our wedding day the communication we shared was friendly and accommodating.
On the night they kicked off our evening entertainment by singing our 'first dance' song for us. They then kept their set upbeat and quirky, which is what I had requested. This ensured that our guests danced and had fun.
Their sets really set the party mood for the rest of the evening, and it is down to them that everyone enjoyed themselves and had fun right from the beginning of the night, which is exactly what we wanted. Our guests thought they were great. I would not hesitate to recommend them.
The new Mrs. Sophie Juniper
It was a busy weekend for us as following such a fun wedding we then zoomed up to Brentwood, Essex to perform at Steve’s 60th Birthday party. This was another wonderful event and full of family, friends and lots of love for Steve. They made us feel very welcome and were a pleasure to perform for. Steve had requested a mix of easy listening jazz, some vintage classics and some songs they could dance to! Thanks for a brilliant afternoon!
“I cannot praise the Nightingales highly enough. From the point where they were booked they were co-operative and worked with me to agree a time schedule and a song list that fitted our requirements. They remained in contact up to the day and arrived on time. They look and acted professionally. Their music volume was contained at my request at a level where we could all speak normally at a family gathering and later when when asked they raised the performance and blew us away. They were as good in real life as their promotional pictures and sounded better than their demo video. An outstanding performance. It was a genuine pleasure working with you. I wish I had an event a week to offer you! You were fabulous!! They are still talking about you!! Thank you for making our event so special.” Steve Knott
June was all about 1940’s events! At the beginning of the month we were invited back to Restaurant 107 in Surrey to sing for their first dinner dance event. The live music event was themed 1940’s vintage which was right up our street! We donned our red lipstick, victory rolls, high heels and sang up a storm for all their 1940’s attired dinner dance guests! Super fun!
A few weeks later we were booked to perform in Dartford, Essex for a 1940’s style Street Party to commemorate 70 years since WW2 ended. The Moat Homes staff also were taking part in a sponsored walk from Canterbury to raise money and awareness for local Veterans. We sang our 1940’s vintage songs as the walkers crossed the finish line to much applause from their friends and families and tucked into their fish and chips! It was a very special day that we were proud to perform at. We love our job as we get to be a part of some wonderful events.
Our final vintage event was to return to the Wings and Wheels event in Essex where we performed last year. The crowd is notoriously riotous which makes this gig lots of fun! We had a wonderful evening showcasing some of our new repertoire which went down really well... some clever vintage twists on current pop songs!
Jane Stephenson, Festival Event, Essex
"Excellent!"
Stow Maries aerodrome was the venue for Richard's 60th birthday party and what a great time we had. This is the only WW1 aerodrome still standing in the country and we really were taken back in time. The guests who all dressed in 1940's style certainly looked the part as they filled the dance floor of this brilliant venue.
"5/5 The Nightingales were excellent, on time, lovely voices and very professional. They made the party the success it was - fantastic ladies. Their song repertoire suited the event - a birthday party in WW1 aerodrome. One guest commented that they were "stonking" - we totally agree. Very highly recommended" Jane & Richard Evans
On a gorgeous sunny Friday afternoon in August we arrived at The Talbot in Dedham, near Colchester, Essex for the wedding of Charlie & Lewis. We set up outside on the stunning green lawn and as the guests arrived from the church, the breeze gently blew and the guests sipped champagne whilst we sang some easy listening tunes to set the tone as we awaited the bride & groom. Charlie and Lewis had the best arrival yet as they sailed up the river from the church, they moored up and as they made their way onto the lawn the guests cheered and they smiled as they heard us singing their request for LOVE, one of their favourites and ours! The time flew and our 2 x 45 minute sets were over before we knew it! We finished the drinks reception to rapturous applause as the guests entered the marquee for the wedding breakfast.
“I would like to say a huge thank you to Emma and Lucy for singing at the wedding! Everyone said how great you were and I really thought that it made the drinks reception on the lawn really special - which was exactly what I wanted. Thank you for making my day fabulous.” Charlie & Lewis
On 20th September Jim and Nora celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary with their family and friends at the beautiful Burnham Beeches Hotel in Slough, and they booked us to entertain their guests after their celebration lunch had been served. Nora and Jim requested just a 40 minute set but it was made up of their favourite songs, infact many of them had a story behind them, like Hot Hot Hot to remember all the years they spent living in the Argentinian heat in Buenos Aires, they chose our Abba medley as these were firm favourites with their precious Grand-daughters who all enjoyed a good boogie on the dance floor. By the final song everyone was stood up dancing and enjoyed a very special moment as Jim & Nora danced beautifully together to When I fall In Love…..needless to say there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Just beautiful.
“Once again may we thank you and Lucy for such an entertaining performance yesterday. You made a major contribution to our big day. We were delighted and you received many complimentary comments from our guests.” Jim & Nora Wright
It was back to the 1940’s at The Army Reserve centre in Catford and we were booked for the entertainment for one of their annual events. Everyone looked amazing as they arrived in their 1940’s attire and quickly got into the spirit of the event singing and dancing as we performed 2 x 45 minute sets of 1940’s vintage classics. We gave our final rendition of LOVE and handed over to the DJ, it was homeward bound for us but the guests stayed on the dance floor throwing some serious shapes!
On Sunday 22nd Novemeber it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas as we headed to Petworth for the start of our Christmas season. We absolutely love this event and indeed this was our 3rd returning year. The Petworth House Christmas fair was this year moved into the grounds, enabling bigger marquees for more amazing sellers and a fantastic marquee for the shoppers to rest their weary feet, enjoy some mulled wine and mice pies and listen to us! We sang 3 x 30 minute sets throughout the day entertaining all the visitors with festive treats. We premiered our version of the Christmas Alphabet and Santa Claus got stuck up the chimney which went down brilliantly and Rudolf the red nose reindeer was a massive hit as everyone merrily sang along. We can’t wait to return this year!
Amongst all the festive preparations it was lovely to put on our polka dot dresses and perform for a 1940’s themed 90th Birthday party. The Page family were so lovely as they welcomed us into their home in Ashford Kent. The house was buzzing and all the guests had gone to so much effort, there were soldiers, pilots, land girls and plenty of victory rolls and red lippy! We sang a mixture of classic 1940’s songs and threw in some of our modern songs with a vintage twist for all the younger guests. This was a request from Sue’s daughters who had found us on google and thought it was great that we could offer something for everyone whilst keeping in with the theme of the party. Our vintage version of “All about the bass” especially was a great hit with all the party goers! After a fantastic rendition of Happy Birthday from everyone, we hit the road armed with fabulous cupcakes….the perks of performing at parties! Yummy!
For the last 3 years we have spent our Christmas Eve at the beautiful Audleys Wood Hotel in Basingstoke. We were over the moon to be back again for a 4th year and delighted to entertain all the guests who were checked in to celebrate Christmas. As the fireplace roared and the guests enjoyed their afternoon tea we sang a lovely selection of festive tunes getting everyone in the mood for the big day.
“Thank you for performing for us on Christmas Eve – we had great feedback from our guests” – Simon Winter – Sales & Events Supervisor
To see out 2015 we were so happy to be back at the fantastic Restaurant 107 in beautiful Cranleigh, Surrey. As in previous years, Jim Markos and his wonderful team put on an incredible evening with an amazing 7 course menu and created an atmosphere perfect for New Years Eve. The dance floor was full all evening as a we sang a mixture of songs from the Andrew’s sisters In the mood to Sam Smiths I’m not the only one, there really was something for everyone. We have since found out this was to be our last New Year’s Eve at Restaurant 107 as it has now been sold. We wish Jim all the best for whatever is around the corner and very much look forward to working with him again in the not too distant future.
Here’s to 2016 and a fantastc year ahead for The Nightingales!