Our first wedding as Bell & Field began, appropriately enough, with hundreds of feet of extension cable.
We have played together for years, but weddings come with their own particular set of rules. The details matter. The timing matters. And when the ceremony area is a considerable distance from the reception tent, the extension-cord department suddenly matters very much indeed.
Fortunately, we had arrived prepared to become a small electrical utility with guitars.
Two Systems, One Very Long Power Run
We set up two separate sound systems: Greg’s older Bose tower inside the reception area and Tom’s tower outside for the ceremony. We also supplied a microphone for the officiant and handled the recorded ceremony music, which meant this was never going to be one of those stroll-in, plug-in and start-playing afternoons.
The ceremony and reception spaces were far enough apart that our collection of cables finally got the chance to justify the amount of room it occupies. Somewhere in every musician’s gear pile is an item that seems excessive right up until the exact day it becomes essential. On this occasion, it was several hundred feet of extension cord.
Summer was operating at full strength during setup. Caterers, DJs, florists, photographers and musicians were all working in the heat, and the reception tent was especially warm before the fans came on and some of the panels were opened. Once that happened, conditions improved considerably. Until then, we were sweating through the glamorous portion of live music: carrying equipment for setup.
The ceremony went well. Music was queued on time for the entrances and exit, and the microphone was in place for the officiant. Afterward, we moved into live music for the cocktail hour. The playing felt comfortable and solid.
Tower Envy Arrives at the Wedding
The day also produced a small development in our ongoing equipment saga. We have been using our two systems together a bit more often, but Greg was surprised by how evenly Tom’s tower handled the sound outside. It performed extremely well and, unlike Greg’s older Bose tower, it has Bluetooth.
This is how gear upgrades begin. Not with a grand plan or a careful household budget, but with one musician looking across a ceremony area at the other musician’s newer tower and realizing technology has continued moving forward without him.
Greg’s Bose still did its job inside the tent. Nevertheless, the seed had been planted. Hundreds of feet of cable had carried power across the grounds, and one tiny Bluetooth feature had carried Greg directly into thoughts of an upgrade.
The wedding itself was a festive occasion, and Tom found the ceremony inspiring. He also had the chance to catch up with friends he had not seen in some time. For our part, the unusual combination of recorded ceremony cues, two sound systems and live cocktail music made the afternoon different from our usual jobs—and reinforced just how much communication and preparation weddings require.
Dinner, a Beer and an Extremely Specific Memory
After we packed up and the DJs took over, we called an audible. We were close to Geneseo, so we stopped at RaeLynn’s for dinner and a beer. Tom and Greg do not often have a beer together, but after the long setup and the summer heat, this one was especially refreshing.
Post-show meals are where the second half of the gig happens. The equipment is finally out of our hands, there is food on the table, and we can run through ideas without also checking a cable path or wondering whether a reception-tent fan is about to come on.
This particular stop also supplied one of those reminders that a musician’s past is never entirely past. A member of the waitstaff recognized Greg from a dueling-piano show roughly five or six years earlier. This was from the pre-beard era, when his hair was probably longer, which made the recognition impressive enough.
Then came the truly durable detail: she remembered that the final song from that old show had been WAP.
Of all the songs and all the performances that might follow a person through the years, sometimes history selects one on your behalf. Greg hates admitting that particular closing number, but apparently the archival record remains alive and well in Geneseo.
By the end of dinner, we had landed on the same takeaway from our first Bell & Field wedding: we would like to play more of them. The day demanded extra planning, extra equipment and enough cable to reach the next county, but it also gave us a new kind of job to build toward.
If you are planning a wedding or another gathering and think an acoustic duo might fit, you can take a look at booking Bell & Field. We’ll bring the music—and, if necessary, a truly unreasonable quantity of extension cord.