If you’re spending a late-summer Saturday catching up with friends and family, this one fits right into that kind of day. It’s the sort of afternoon where people are still finishing coffee, getting dressed, helping set out centerpieces, and suddenly it’s time to walk down an aisle and celebrate love and family.
On Saturday, September 12, we’ll be out at Shadow Lake in Geneseo for a private wedding. It’s a 3pm start for the ceremony followed by cocktail hour, which usually means we’re in that in-between light: too early for sunset, but late enough that people are settling in and ready to stop running around for a moment.
This is our first time playing at Shadow Lake, but we’ve heard about it from other musicians and a couple of photographers who’ve worked there. The big things they all mentioned were how beautiful it is. From a practical standpoint, that usually means we’re paying attention to wind on the mics and where the sun is hitting the keys and guitar.
Show Details
- When: Saturday, September 12, 2026 – 3:00pm
- Where: Private wedding at Shadow Lake, Geneseo, IL
- Who: Bell & Field (piano & guitar duo)
- What to expect: Live music for the ceremony and reception, including the couple’s chosen processional and first-dance songs, softer instrumentals while guests arrive, and a mix of piano-led ballads and acoustic covers as the afternoon turns into evening.
About Bell & Field
We’re a piano-and-guitar duo that spends a lot of weekends doing exactly this: learning a couple’s key songs, showing up early enough to sort out cables and soundchecks, and then adjusting the set in real time based on who’s actually in the room (or in this case, by the lake). Some moments call for just piano under a quiet conversation, others call for everyone singing the chorus whether they planned to or not.
About the Venue
Shadow Lake used to be a campground, and a group of local couples put in the work to turn it into a wedding spot. It sits just north of Geneseo, with a big lake and a lot of trees around it, and they’ve built out a large tented area for gatherings. From our side of things, that means we’ll likely be setting up with the lake in our sightline, keeping an eye on the weather and making sure the sound carries evenly without getting swallowed up by all that open space.
We’re looking forward to meeting the families, playing the songs that matter to this couple, and doing our small part to keep the day moving smoothly from ceremony to the first round of toasts.
The musical portion of our first Bell & Field appearance at Kewanee Hog Days involved guitar, piano, sax, two speaker towers and no feedback problems. The post-show portion involved three grown musicians packed into a carnival rocket ship while Tom stared intensely at a tuft of hair on the back of Greg’s head.
Sunday arrived with nearly ideal weather, especially after the incredible heat the day before. A breeze moved through the Chop Tent, the temperature stayed comfortable, and our little corner had just enough room for the three of us and our gear.
Tom and Paul kept playing while I recovered. They used the unexpected duo time to try songs we don’t normally play as a trio, including Can’t Help Falling in Love, All I Have to Do Is Dream and Elvis Presley Blues. The songs went over well, giving the afternoon a musical detour rather than simply leaving a piano-shaped hole in the set.
The rain arrived about 45 minutes before our 1 pm start at Edison’s Gastropub, which is excellent timing if you are a cloud and less useful if you are carrying instruments.
The intermittent rain continued through much of the set. By the final notes of Tiny Dancer, the weather had supplied nearly every variation available between damp and slightly less damp.
Then Greg and Payton performed Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. A few nerves showed through, but the performance was sublime. Payton did great on both songs, and she is looking forward to learning more material with us and making more appearances.
Before we left for this private party, we ran through A Horse with No Name one more time.
Once the sun was out of the way, the lighting setup got to do its part. Greg does not simply run one sound-synced program and hope for the best. He has different scenes arranged for different kinds of music, so he rotated the lights throughout the night.
Sunday afternoon shows are starting to grow on us. There’s something about loading out while there’s still daylight that feels like we’re getting away with something.
When we arrived, Lisa welcomed us, recorded a quick pre-show welcome video (Tom handled the talking; Greg did his usual “stand there and try not to look awkward” routine), and showed us where to pull the cars around back so we could unload right next to the performance area. We will never stop appreciating an easy load-in.
We’d played the night before, and Greg’s voice had already taken a beating. He’d slept badly, got up around 7:00 a.m., and by the first song at Tres Rojas, it was clear his voice was mostly air.
Tom also took a few solo turns, including “Heart of Gold” and an original called “Our Time,” which Greg hadn’t heard him play in ages. There’s a different kind of focus in the air when we play an original. Covers tend to trigger shared memories; originals ask everyone to lean in and listen to a story they’re hearing for the first time.
We’d heard about Tiny Acres out near Monmouth, but driving down that long country road for the first time felt a little like we’d taken a wrong turn into someone’s private farm lane. Then the trees opened up, the pond came into view, and suddenly there was this whole little event world laid out in front of us.
The place itself is impressive. There’s the 1850s ceremony barn up on the hill, looking over the pond, with rows of chairs set up like it’s permanently five minutes before a wedding. There’s an overnight cabin, outdoor spaces with grills and picnic tables, and the main event building where we played. You can tell somebody actually thought about how people move through this place.
Once we got set up and sound‑checked, we realized this room was built with sound in mind. No weird slapback echo, no dead zone at the far end. People could be standing at the bar and still hear the music clearly, but we never felt like we were blasting anyone out of their chairs. It’s rare that a long, rectangular room feels that balanced, and this one did.
Somewhere later in the night, someone tossed out a request for “Gin and Juice.” Not exactly in the Bell & Field standard catalog. I gave it a shot anyway—one verse, acoustic, very tongue‑in‑cheek—then stopped, laughed, and admitted that was probably as far as I could responsibly take it. That one verse got a bigger reaction than some full songs, and it reminded me how sometimes you don’t have to nail a request to make it fun; you just have to meet people halfway.
We packed up through that magic load‑in door, said our goodbyes, and headed back down the long road to Monmouth. On the way out of town, we hit Taco Bell, debriefed the night, and started game‑planning our show at Tres Rojas Winery the next day. It’s hard not to feel lucky when your “work meeting” is about playing songs you love and eating bean burritos and tacos.
Late November in Iowa usually means coats in the car, short days, and people deciding whether they’re ready for winter yet. A Friday night at a winery and distillery sounds like a pretty solid way to delay that decision for a few hours.
