A Bride’s Perspective

 

It’s every little (Welsh) girl’s dream to have a male voice choir sing at her wedding, is it not?  Well, it certainly was for me!  We are the Land of Song, and to my mind, the haunting, melodic tones of a male voice choir epitomises my Welsh nationality and heritage and feeds the hiraeth for the country I’m proud to call home.

 

Fast forward a few(!) years to that little girl planning her own wedding, and with costs mounting on a daily basis, I thought a male voice choir would remain just that: a dream.  That was until I made an enquiry to the wonderful Cardiff Arms Park Male Voice Choir. 

 

First bit of good news was that they had our date available, but the best bit of news was that they were not going to break the bank!  I was genuinely surprised to learn that their services were so reasonably priced. 

 

I’m a long-standing Cardiff RFC and Cardiff Blues fan, and so the Cardiff Arms Park Male Voice Choir was the obvious choice for me.  Very quickly, the faces and voices I have recognised over years with their familiar smart blue blazers became one of the most important parts of our day. 

 

Once booked, Rob, Trevor, Gary L and John, who comprise the wedding committee, quickly sprang into action to ask questions, get to know us and find out all of the little details that were going to add to our most amazing day.  They were so helpful in terms of their advice for timings, song choices (Rob responds so calmly and warmly to a frantic WhatsApp message asking what would be a good song for the recessional!), what would work best and, most importantly, what we might want to rethink!  We instantly knew we were in very experienced and capable hands. 

 

A few weeks before our wedding, my husband and I went to see the choir at one of their rehearsals.  Despite being relatively low in numbers (thanks to Covid!) they sounded absolutely incredible, and their enormously talented Musical Director, Ieuan Jones, and accompanist, Joseph Cavalli-Price were so accommodating, ensuring that they rehearsed most of the numbers we wanted for our wedding so we could hear the magic for ourselves.  At the end of nearly every song, there’d be at least one friendly face looking over to us winking and whispering advice such as, “that’s a lovely one for you to walk in to!” or, “keep that one for the rugby terraces!”

 

With our song choices agreed, Rob kept in regular dialogue, made sure we had everything we needed from them and generally provided a calm, friendly and steady hand in the run-up to the day.  

 

Then to the day itself.  Walking in to the soothing and romantic sounds of the choir singing Elvis’ I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You was so emotional and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  Thanks to the fabulous Les, the choir marshal who expertly organised the 40+ choristers, the gents were lined up in the choir stalls, smiling, winking and nodding encouragement and love to my husband and I, and they still to this day have no idea how much their friendly faces calmed my nerves!

 

The choir’s performance throughout was exceptional. There was no awkward congregational mumbling through hymns, because the gents were there to carry us through and everyone seemed to sing with more gusto as we took their lead.  The songs they performed during the signing of the register were songs that meant something to us and the choir knew this and performed each one of them as if it was their last ever performance.  They really were incredible.  Having them there meant we didn’t have that lull in proceedings which often happens when the couple get whisked away to sign the register.  The number of comments we received from guests was astonishing and each and every one of them was hugely positive. 

 

You don’t need to be Welsh to appreciate a male voice choir and I can’t begin to write down every way in which they added to our special day.  So, for any brides and/or grooms who are thinking about booking a choir, here are just a few of the benefits of choosing Cardiff Arms Park Male Voice Choir: -

 

• They’re the ultimate professionals; 

• Between them, they have decades of experience and that shows in every song they sing and performance they give; 

• The MD and Accompanists attention to detail is second to none, which results in the purest, warmest, most beautiful of sounds when the choir sings;

• Their main concern is doing the best job they possibly can for you, and your happiness and enjoyment of your day is their primary objective;

• They’re so, so warm and welcoming. Nowhere will you meet a friendlier bunch;

• They’re so helpful, offering sound advice and honesty in a professional and respectful manner;

• Awkward mumbling through hymns is a thing of the past as you have the professionals there to lead you through; 

• They’re VERY reasonably priced;

• They will be a huge hit with your guests!  In fact, these are just a couple of comments we’ve received from our guests:

 

Brother of the bride: “The choir was the most wonderful touch and I’m absolutely signing up!” (Sorry gents, he lives on the south coast of England, so a bit too far for him to come for rehearsals!)

 

Friend of the bride: “You looked beautiful and it was a fabulous service, but the choir made it for me!”

 

I can’t rate the Cardiff Arms Park Male Voice Choir highly enough and I strongly recommend any brides/grooms thinking about it to book them as soon as possible!  I promise you; you will not regret it! 

 

You guys totally stole the show - the number of amazing compliments we had about the choir is incredible. Thank you so much for making our day so special.

 

Liv xx