Robin & Hannah

Our wedding began with a small ceremony in a tiny wooden chapel on the edge of a cliff near to where we first met. Twenty-seven of our closest friends and family attended the intimate ceremony.

We absolutely loved the band and so many of our guests have said they were the best event band they've ever seen!

The reception was held at Athelhampton House in Dorset, near to where we live and the perfect venue for a winter wedding with it's huge Christmas tree and open log fire.

The chapel (St Catherine-by-the-sea, Holworth) was decorated with holly, mistletoe and pine cones. After the ceremony, 119 guests joined us for mulled wine, winter pimms and mince pies followed by afternoon tea in the coach house and another 90 guests joined us for the evening reception.

At Athelhampton the theme was Christmas, gold and pine cones! My bridesmaid wore gold, our 12 tables were named after the twelve days of Christmas, holly and small pine cones covered in gold glitter glue marked out the place settings and the table centrepiece was a hurricane vase with a candle and gold covered pine cones. My bouquet had pine cones, roses, eucalyptus and thistles.

I found Function Central via an online search for Dorset wedding bands. We knew of a couple of good local bands who had played at friends' weddings but we wanted to choose someone new for us all to dance to! Function Central were really helpful and very professional – their communication was great, from the moment I sent my initial enquiry.

I never thought I would hire a band that I hadn't previously seen live but as soon as I saw Blue Juice online I knew they were the band for us! Rob and I have quite different tastes in music but we both really enjoy funk and soul. Blue Juice had such a good set-list that appealed to guests of all ages.

We absolutely loved the band and so many of our guests have said they were the best event band they've ever seen. We chose Let's Stay Together by Al Green as our first dance and Blue Juice performed it brilliantly. The dancefloor was packed from start to finish.

Favourite moments of there day included our ceremony at the chapel, sloe gin and pastries by the sea, our time together on the beach for photos after the ceremony, all three speeches and dancing all night to Blue Juice. A particular highlight was the band's performance of Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody" at the end of the night.

My advice to other couples getting married would be: surround yourself with people you like and trust (including your suppliers). Delegate to friends and family - they really do want to help so make use of their talents! Ask your friends for their recommendations (photographer, florist etc).