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News Real Wedding

Kylie and Jake’s Happy ever after

For Kylie and Jake, their special day took place at the wonderful Boathouse on Shelley Beach.

Testimonial

“After many years of watching DUKE perform at various events, it was an absolute dream to have them entertain at our wedding. DUKE was an absolute standout on the day and we received such lovely compliments. From ceremony to reception, they created the perfect playlist and combination of songs that was thoroughly enjoyed by all but also complimented us to a tee! Through the entire process they were very organised and prompt. Even with the craziness of rescheduling dates and sudden changes, they were flexible, understanding and super positive. The little things on the night did not go unnoticed either, and we truly appreciated their quick efforts to help clear the room to kick off the dancing! We can’t thank them enough and will forever be recommending to all our family and friends.”.
– Jake and Kylie

Although Jake and Kylie had whisked away earlier in the year and eloped with their nearest and dearest, Duke had the honour to perform for them when they shared their vows once again for Friends and Family post-Covid.

Duke performed at both their wedding ceremony and the reception at the Shelley Beach Boathouse. We were thrilled to re-live the night with the amazing photography from Alex Marks.

Surrounded by family and friends at their wedding Ceremony upstairs at Shelley Beach Boathouse, Kylie entered to the sounds of “Simply The Best” performed by the Duke Duo.

Festivities then kicked off downstairs, with our Duke Trio featuring Chris Gable, entertaining guests during Dinner and Dancing. Josie then wrapped up the night with a blazing DJ set.

Huge thanks to Kylie and Jake for having us be part of their amazing wedding day!

Photographer: Alex Marks 

Videographer: Joyride Films

Flowers: White House Flowers

Reception Venue/ cake: The Boathouse Shelly Beach

Makeup: Joanne Bentley

Hair: Courtney Hurst 

Celebrant: Claire Belford

Transport: Kombi Weddings

Categories
Corporate Events Industry Events News

Duke at Bombora Open Day

Duke Music made an appearance at the recent Bombora Pavilion open day.  Operated by Days Like These Events, this is one of Sydney’s newest wedding venues situated on the shores of the Northern Beaches of NSW on Queenscliff beach, Manly.  We had the privilege to be able to connect and exhibit alongside 30 other weddings vendors.  Nouvelle Glass, our partner brand offering personalised glassware, also made its first wedding open day appearance.  Here are some photo highlights of this jam packed day.

Vendors

Categories
Real Wedding

Elise and Nic’s magical waterside wedding

To say we’re excited about Elise and Nic’s magical waterside wedding is an understatement. This darling couple have been loved-up for so long, it feels like we’ve been waiting forever for them to finally get hitched. Elise and Nic were supposed to be married in May 2020, however the first round of Covid-lockdowns in Sydney had other plans for them. After postponing their plans for 12 months, Elise and Nic finally tied the knot in Sydney’s Northern Beaches in May 2021. Duke was there to help them celebrate, providing the perfect wedding music from their Ceremony to the Dance floor. Here’s the shimmy on how their magical wedding day went down. We say a huge thank you to Charlotte Exton Photography for these gorgeous images.

About their Ceremony

Nothing brings us more joy than a peaceful and romantic Ceremony location that sings with a sense or reverie. From the moment we set eyes on their Ceremony location we couldn’t help being taken aback by the serenity. McCarr’s Creek Reserve in Church Point is dappled by tall Spotted Gum Trees and runs beside a rocky shore and sandy beach. It also extends into larger bushland areas in the National Park. This setting provided the perfect backdrop for Elise and Nic to share their vows and be married.

Their Ceremony was elegantly styled by the wonderful team from Little Lane Events and their impeccable eye for detail. We know many readers will be vying for some of the styling crafted by Little Lane for Elise’s wedding day, but to be fair she did have a slight wedding advantage, being one of the Little Lane Team members herself! Her unique taste and flair for styling and all things weddings resonates throughout their entire wedding day, as you can see.

Elise and Nic’s magical waterside wedding Ceremony was officiated by the lovely Lisa Parker from Married By Lisa. She’s arguably one of our most favourite Celebrants. Lisa takes great pride in creating beautiful, bespoke Ceremonies delivered with joy, warmth, and professionalism. She’s a pleasure to work beside and we’re a great team.

Our Duke duo performed live throughout their Ceremony, with Elise walking down the aisle to our rendition of ‘Feels Like Home’ by Chantal Kreviazuk (one of our favourite songs). During their Signing guests chatted amongst themselves as we performed our version of ‘I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You’ (you can listen to it here). Warmly congratulated by Lisa and formally introduced as Husband and Wife, Elise and Nic recessed down the Aisle together to our rendition of ‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Love’ by The Blues Brothers. Our song carried them through to their Champagne tower which was the perfect way to celebrate their newly minted marriage.

Josie and Tim are the best in the biz. I’d heard them perform many times at weddings I was working at and they were so good that I booked them for my own and didn’t even consider anyone else. Not only are they incredibly skilled and incredibly professional musicians, but they’re also so much fun and just great people. They made sure our wedding day had an epic soundtrack – and they made it seem effortless! Couldn’t recommend them highly enough.

– Elise and Nic

Off For Photos

About their Wedding Reception

The handiwork of Little Lane Events continued to impress us as we arrived at Elise and Nic’s wedding Reception. BYRA was transformed into a magical, awe-inspiring, wedding wonderland. From the floral arrangements, to the styling pieces, to the lighting and ambience.. It’s hard to imagine BYRA being a sailing club in any way at all! Congratulations to Little Lane Events for this wonderful transformation. It was the perfect setting for Elise and Nic to see their wedding celebrations from day into night.

Our Duke duo continued to perform throughout their Canapes-style Reception to provide a mix of pop hits and classic covers to warm everyone’s hearts and help liquify the evening. If there was such a thing as the perfect speeches, Elise and Nic’s friends and family had exactly those, with just a touch of the theatrical. Elise’s two best mates surprised her with a rendition of a song they had all performed together years before, in their high school musical. It was such a delight to see them sharing such a special moment together.

When it came time to kick their heels up, Elise and Nic opened the dance floor by sharing their first dance to ‘I’m So In The Love With You’ by Ball Park Music. Josie’s DJ skills rolled everyone on into the night with a rocking mix of 90’s + 00’s bangers, dappled with some epic country singalongs and pop hits.

Thank you to Elise and Nic for having Duke Music be a part of your wedding day. It was our joy to perform for you.

Elise and Nic’s Wedding Vendors;

Live Music – Duke Duo + DJ
Celebrant – Married By Lisa
Photography – Charlotte Exton
Styling and Coordination – Little Lane Events
Videography – Story Of Us

Categories
Real Wedding

Alex and Phil’s intimate Freshwater wedding day

With many of our Clients wedding plans being impacted by Covid-19, we’ve seen our fair share of cancellations, postponements, and re-schedules. But planning your wedding day in 3 weeks takes the (wedding) cake! Alex and Phil achieved this very feat, and with bucket loads of success and good spirits to boot.

Getting ready..

Alex’ wedding look

Alex’ look was wonderfully elegant in her Suzanne Harward Couture ‘Aurora’ gown. Iconic Melbourne Designer Suzanne Harward has been creating breathtaking couture wedding gowns and red-carpet dresses for more than four decades. She specialises in made-to-measure and ready-to-wear lines that exhibit the finest quality in luxurious textiles and complex couture construction techniques. Her ‘Aurora’ gown is a part of her limited-edition Utopia collection of never to be repeated handmade couture gowns.

Alexandra and her Bridesmaids carried exquisite bouquets made by White House Flowers in the Northern Beaches. The delicate array of white Roses and Orchids, were later perfectly complemented by the floral styling at the Reception (more to come on that, later!).

At their Freshwater Ceremony by the beach, feat Duke Duo.

Coming down the Aisle

All eyes were on Alex as she gracefully made her way down the Aisle to Duke’s rendition of ‘Sea Of Love’ by Cat Power. Met by Phil, they were all smiles whilst their Celebrant Mary-Louise indulged us in some novel history about Freshwater, before marrying our lovely couple in a relaxed Ceremony (we should mention, she’s also a Relationship Coach, a Yoga Teacher, and a JP – impressive!).

Phil and Alex celebrated to the sounds of Duke’s cover of Ho Hey by The Lumineers, to the throws of petals and cheers by their nearest and dearest.

Alex and Phil’s Reception.
It’s time to begin!

Covid, who?

As we mentioned earlier, pulling together the plans for a wedding in just 3 weeks is no mean feat. After Covid changed their original plans, once the restrictions eased in NSW Alex and Phil didn’t hesitate to bring together the day of their dreams. We think it came together with finesse and grace – well done Alex and Phil! Ok, onto the exciting stuff..

Hi Josie and Tim, 

Phil and I would love to thank you so much for doing such a fantastic job at our wedding! The music was perfect at every stage of the evening and totally made the event! 

We also wanted to thank you for transitioning to silent disco later in the evening – we weren’t sure how it was going to work but I think it’s safe to say it was an absolute hit!

Alex and Phil

Making their wedding day uniquely theirs

Entering their Reception to ‘You Make My Dreams Come True’ by Hall and Oats, our Duke Duo went straight on to play a beautiful mix of current pop hits and classics while guests enjoyed Entree and Mains service. (We caught a tasty glimpse of the menu with our crew meal, which was the most exceptional fillet of Snapper we’ve ever eaten!).

After an obligatory round of hilarious and heartwarming speeches, Alex and Phil cut their cake then made their way to the Dance-Floor for their First Dance. We were honoured to perform an acoustic version of Beyonce’s ‘Love On Top’ (you can check out the version, here). We hadn’t ever heard this version until we were asked by Alex and Phil to learn it for their wedding day, we highly recommend you have a listen if you’re looking for something a little familiar but also very unique.

Once the Dance-floor opened, the party kicked into gear!

Although there are some sound-restrictions at Pilu (which are in place in full respect of the neighbours and surrounding community) no body can stand in the way of a dancefloor when there’s a silent disco! Thanks to the team at Silent Rave, Alex and Phil and all their guests were all able to celebrate like there’s no tomorrow to Josie’s DJ bangers.

Thank you so much to Alex and Phil for having us be part of your wonderful wedding day at Freshwater. We had such a blast playing live and DJ’ing for you!

Thank you to Jason Corroto for these wonderful photos. Be sure to scroll to the end of this blog post to check out Alex and Phil’s full list of incredible vendors who helped to make their special day!



Alex and Phil’s vendors include;

Live Music and DJ – Duke Music – www.dukemusic.com.au
Photographer – Jason Corroto – www.jasoncorrotophoto.com
Kombis – Kombi Weddings – www.kombiweddings.com
Makeup – Aleisha Johnson Makeup – www.aleishajohnson.com
Hair – Courtney Hurst – www.courtneyhurst.com.au
Dress – Suzanne Harward – www.suzanneharward.com
Flowers – White House Flowers – www.whitehouseflowers.com.au
Venue – Pilu – www.pilu.com.au
Celebrant – Mary-Louise – www.freshiecelebrant.com
Silent Disco Headphones – Silent Rave – www.Silentrave.com.au

Alex and Phil’s Wedding was also featured in Together Journal. Head to this link to check it out.

Categories
Real Wedding

Ashleigh and Jarrod’s Sydney Harbour Wedding at Q Station Manly

Choosing the perfect wedding venue – Q Station

Ashleigh and Jarrod’s Sydney harbour wedding at Q Station Manly was undoubtedly the perfect way to kick off the new year! With simplistic styling, decor, and of course great music, their 3rd of January nuptials were complete with their families and friends as witnesses to help them celebrate the day.

Ashleigh and Jarrod chose the Q Station Manly wedding venue for both their ceremony and reception —a beautiful hotel located on 30 acres of bushland with a backdrop of the Sydney Harbour. Playing off the colors of the venue space, Jarrod and his groomsmen dressed in dark green suits and bow ties with touches of light pink and white on the boutonnieres.

Ashleigh’s leading ladies

Ashleigh and her leading ladies sipped champagne in matching floral pajama sets before dressing in their dark teal green gowns. The foliage on the property perfectly complemented their attire and looked beautiful next to Ashleigh’s gown—an ivory, spaghetti strap, wrap dress with floral embellishments. Keeping it light and elegant, Ashleigh wore her hair down in waves and completed her look with a long veil.

Their ceremony music (and the amazing water views)

Their geometric ceremony backdrop at the waterfront set the scene with a relaxed arrangement —seating for some while others stood and waited anxiously for Ashleigh to walk down the aisle. Jarrod and his groomsmen waited at the top of the aisle while their bridesmaids walked down in pairs. An acoustic version of “Yeah Yeah Yeahs” by Maps was performed by Duke Duo and Quartet as the bride-to-be walked in visible excitement to her soon-to-be husband.

The two sealed the ceremony with a kiss and were officially announced husband and wife as they made their way into their next chapter together accompanied by a live rendition of Shalamar’s “A Night To Remember” while walking back up the aisle. The certificate signing playlist included “This Must Be The Place” by Talking Heads and Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay.”

Photo location after (great) photo location at Q Station

There are so many gorgeous spots at Q Station. The party captured stunning group photos as well as couple’s portraits across the venue. (Oh, and we’re not kidding when we say we get to work with some of the most gorgeous couples!).

Ashleigh and Jarrod’s party-fuelled Reception

After snapping a few shots with Days Like These Photography, the couple and their guests moved into their reception… Not to be started without a grand entrance from the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and the couple themselves!

“Duke Music were absolutely amazing at our wedding at Q Station! They played a beautiful acoustic set at our ceremony, kept the mood through the canapés, dinner and between speeches, and set the dance floor alight for the rest of the evening with a three-piece band! Josie was super professional in the lead up to the wedding and on the day. She had loads of great advice for the day, and allowed us to pick songs from a wide repertoire, giving all the special moments a personal touch. We couldn’t recommend Duke Music more for your wedding or event.”Jarrod Bird – Married at Q Station Manly

Your first dance doesn’t just have to be the two of you

Ashleigh and Jarrod shared their first dance together to Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family”. During their first dance Duke brought all guests together on the dance floor to celebrate the new Mr. and Mrs!

After kick starting the festivities, Duke kept the dance floor alive for the rest of the night. It was the perfect end to a day they will look back on for years to come!

Congratulations Ashleigh and Jarrod and thank you again for booking your entertainment with us.
Thank you to Days Like These Photography for the use of your wonderful images.

VENDORS

Venue: Q Station

Stylist: Poco Uno – Ash Macedo

Event Planning: Days Like These Events

Photographer: Days Like These Photography

Florist: Hannah Sherwood

Makeup: Makeup by Leah

Hair: Laura Morris

Celebrant: Married By Jess

Master of Ceremonies: Anthony Hess

Live Music & Band: Duke Duo and Quartet

Categories
News Real Wedding

Jess and Chris’ beachy boho wedding

Our couple, Jess and Chris, wed on 1 February 2020 at the Beachside Dojo Manly, Australia and the day, planned by Cloud 9 Event Management, could not have been more perfect!

We had the honour of bringing music to their Northern Beaches wedding and let us tell you, it was a night to remember!

The bridesmaids and groomsmen dawned a beautiful navy blue which perfectly accented Jess and Chris’ Beachy Boho Wedding ceremony and reception decor, featuring white florals and pops of greenery with Monstera leaves and tropical palms, arranged and styled by Mabel & Elsie.

Their first look

Jess and Chris had their first look and were all smiles when he turned around and saw her in a beautiful, spaghetti strap A-line gown which featured a low back and a deep illusion front plunge.

About their Ceremony and Reception

The couple chose to have live music at their ceremony and reception which is what we truly specialise in.
Jess was accompanied down the aisle by her father to a live performance of Ruelle’s “I Get To Love You” performed by Duke.
Friends and family attended their intimate ceremony. Saskia from Dovetail Celebrants married the couple, and we’d be lying if we said a few tears weren’t shed!
After being announced as husband and wife, they recessed back down the aisle to Duke’s rendition of “Best Day of My Life” by American Authors.
The perfect choice of song, as it was most definitely one of the best days of their life!

Moving into cocktail hour, guests enjoyed live music performed by Duke who was also accompanied by Chris Gable. They entertained the guests throughout dinner before heading into speeches that Jess and Chris gave to one another with their flower girl—also their daughter—present!

After cutting their two tier ombré blue cake, which featured gold accents and florals seen throughout their decor, the couple headed out to the rocks for some stunning sunset photos, captured by the very talented Ripple Weddings.

Sunset photos beachside in Manly

Returning from their portraits, they shared their first dance together to Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”. After that, it was time to get the rest of the night started! Duke DJ’d the remainder of their reception performing songs that had guests up and dancing the rest of the night. (Not to mention, plenty of songs that were dear to Jess and Chris’ hearts).

Congratulations Jess and Chris on your perfect wedding at the Beachside Dojo Manly.

To see everyone having such a great time on the dance floor is the reason why we love what we do.

Are you looking for live music for your wedding day? We serve couples in Sydney, Melbourne, and beyond! Get in touch and let’s start planning (it’s music to our ears!)

Vendors

Venue: Beachside Dojo

Wedding Planner: Cloud 9 Event Management

Photographer: Ripple Weddings

Florist & Stylist: Mabel & Elsie

Celebrant: Saskia from Dovetail Celebrants

Cake: Copper Fork Cakes

Live Music & DJ: Duke Duo with special appearance from Chris Gable (Event Entertainers)

Duke Music

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