The Banding Bride: A Very Brassy Wedding

What Happens When Two Brass Banders Get Married

Hello, how are you?

For the last month or so I’ve been MIA - I was a bit preoccupied with GETTING HITCHED! Who’d have thought it eh? It all feels very grown-up and I have to say it felt a little odd (nice odd though!)  being introduced as Liv Richardson before my solo with Rainford Band at our concert the other month.

Anyhoo, I’m back and I thought as my first article after my little break, it would be nice to tell you about the wedding, as (you won’t be surprised to hear) banding did feature in it…obviously!

Where It All Began

If you’ve been a follower of the blog since around October 2019 - you will have been there from the start of my relationship with my now HUSBAND, Robert, as he featured in a blog when we met (click here to read). 

If you’re strapped for time, here’s the abridged version:

In September 2019, one of my banding besties, Matt Shaw, asked me to dep for the band he was conducting for Rochdale contest. Apparently the band had just signed a new Soprano player, called Rob, who is (and I quote) ‘very nice and you’ll get on well’. 

We did - although some people didn’t think we did, because our form of flirting was being far too competitive and ending up in an argument (some things haven’t changed!). This competitiveness ended in a bet at the contest - whoever split a note first on stage owed the other a pint. I won. I would have liked to believe his excuse of ‘letting me win’, but after 6 years together, many rounds of University Challenge and afternoons on holiday playing board games, I know how competitive Robert is…he would rather come out in hives than lose. 

Our first date? The band I was playing for at the time needed a Sop player for a gig the weekend after Rochdale contest. So, a band gig in Stockport was our first date - well the actual date was at a Pizza Express near the gig’s venue before we both performed in the gig.

Robert clearly wasn’t too sure if we would work out as, rather than tell his parents he was going on a date before this ‘dep gig’, he told them he had to get there ridiculously early for a rehearsal. He wasn’t fooling anybody - his Mum, our lovely Claire, had already put two and two together and knew exactly where he was going!

Four years later, on the 15th November 2023, on a balcony overlooking the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World,  Robert ‘popped the question’. A combination of not expecting to be proposed to and indulging in a few cocktails during the evening resulted in me not looking very demure in the photos - puffy face, snotty nose, but deliriously happy!

A Very Brassy Wedding

Fast forward to the 28th June 2025 -  the stage was set for the most brassy wedding our venue had ever seen. 

My beautiful Maid of Honour is one of the closest people to me who I met through banding - my lovely Natalie Shaw- who has featured in many an adventure on this blog. I met Natalie almost 13 years ago, as a teenager in brass bands and she has been my big sister ever since. She was there throughout all the rehearsals and the contest where me and Rob met. She was also there when I got the text through asking me on a date, was at the gig that ended up being the date and was the first person I texted when I got home from the date! Needless to say, her speech featured a lot of our banding antics!

The Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan (Rob)

Our wedding band was made up of our nearest and dearest banding friends from our time in Wingates, Rainford and Eccles Band.

We had the honour of the brass band legend, Andy MacDonald, being our Principal Cornet, alongside our friends from Wingates Band - his lovely wife Sue MacDonald and Alex Timms and our friends who we met during their time with the band - Paul Andrews on Euph, Melanie McFarland on horn and Adam Taylor on Trombone.

Members of my beautiful band family at Rainford joined in with our incredible Principal Cornet and wonderful friend, Adam Case taking the flugel seat (please don’t pursue flugel full time Adam, you’ll put me out of a job!) our gorgeous Solo Horn and my partner in crime in the horn section, Danny Taylor; husband and wife duo, Darren and Amy on Sop and Cornet, former Grimethorpe Colliery Band Member and pint buddy, Kieran on bass (in his finest crushed raspberry shirt - a highlight of the wedding!) and the coolest drummer I know, Sibby on kit.

Lovely Avril, who I met during our time in Eccles Borough Band and bonded over our love for Rugby League (she is also one of the coolest people I know - I want to grow up to be her!) did a sterling job as our baritone player - love you Avril!

Leading the proceedings as our MD was another wonderful person who banding has blessed me with, who I feel privileged to call family and who was responsible for me and Rob meeting in the first place - Matt Shaw. Not only was Matt our Musical Director for the day, he arranged the piece of music I walked down the aisle to - The Square Root of Possible. I felt like a main character in a movie when the doors opened to Matt’s INCREDIBLE arrangement and to have this music arranged by someone who has become a chosen member of your family and played by some of my closest banding friends - let’s just say my eyes were sweating. WHAT A MOMENT. I love so many of Matt’s arrangements - but this is now my favourite! 

The talent of our friends didn’t stop there. 

During the signing of the register our Principal Cornet and Flugelhorn for the day - Andy MacDonald and Adam Case - performed the most glorious rendition of The Impossible Dream. This is one of my Grandma’s (our guest of honour) favourite songs and their rendition had her approval! To have two of banding’s finest soloists perform one of my Grandma’s favourite songs was one of the biggest honours. 

The amazing Adam Taylor, who’s music I’ve raved about on the blog before, wrote an awesome arrangement of ‘Fantasmic!’, which - for those who are not Disney Parks nerds, is one of the coolest pieces of music that’s featured in mine and Rob’s favourite night time show in Hollywood Studios in Florida. To hear this music in a brass band setting as we walked for the first time as Mr and Mrs was definitely a goosebumps moment. 

We’re so lucky to have some of the most talented musicians as our friends - if you’re reading this, please know we adore you and are so grateful to you for making our day so special. 

So, after the ceremony - it was time to PARTY and what song did we just HAVE to have on the playlist? The FLORAL DANCE!!! When we had our meeting with the DJ, you can imagine that this was a bit of a weird conversation, when we requested The Floral Dance on our evening reception playlist. 

How can you tell you’re at a wedding full of banders? Play The Floral Dance and the floor is filled with them all singing their respective parts.

I will forever be grateful for banding for giving me the life I have and being as much a part of me as my eye colour - but I will be most grateful for the wonderful people it has brought into my life. The most important of all being my soul mate - Robert. 

So next time you dep for a contest - be careful, you might end up walking away with a spouse!