Christmas Comes Early at Sketchley Grange!

When the staff at Sketchley Grange in Leicestershire got in touch to book Adam (as the Sketchley Grange recommended entertainment supplier) for a Christmas party I turned straight to December in his diary. Oh no, this particular Christmas party wasn't in December... It was going to be mid-September!

The lovely girls in the conference and banqueting team there had decided to throw a Christmas-themed evening so that they could invite local businesses and clients to see just what the hotel has to offer throughout the festive season! Clever eh?!

I happily accepted and booked Adam Thomas and the Souljers in for them... Lovely.

 

When we arrived on the day we were astounded to see that they really had gone the whole hog for this: full decor; an illuminated reindeer and sleigh; Christmas trees by the dozen; a 4 course turkey dinner plus a Christmas quiz and Christmas songs playing throughout! It felt as though we had been blasted into the future... So much so that at the end of the night I fully expected to see snow outside - I had forgotten that it was only autumn!

Christmas = fun = The Souljers!

Geek Chic is a treat!

We put on the full corporate geek show for them: golf socks, glasses, braces... The works :) The show went down a storm with a full dancefloor and guests singing along and jigging about - you would never have believed it was a Thursday night! A bit of Motown, Paolo Nutini, Bobby Brown, Blues Bros... They were mad for it!!

We had a really great time performing for them and, judging by the feedack, the guests loved it as much as we did! I'm sure the night will bring them lots of bookings (as will the new wing of the hotel which looks absolutely amazing!!) Thanks for having us guys... Oh, and Merry Christmas! :) x x x

P.s. The Snow Ball...

As great as Sketchley is for Christmas Parties (and they are!), the Premier Show in Leicestershire for Christmas 2011 is a full scale, glitz and glam affair called The Snow Ball at The Marriott, Leicester. More information can be found at www.LeicesterSnowBall.co.uk or take a peek at the showreel below!

The Snow Ball, Leicester's Premier Christmas Party from Adam Thomas on Vimeo.

 Sarah and Tom enjoy the ride!

Mr and Mrs Chawner, Bradgate Suite at Sketchley Grange

Jodie and Matthew had booked Adam to perform at their wedding very early on in their planning and I had met and chatted to them at several of the

Sketchley Grange wedding fayres

after that too. Their wedding had always seemed so far into the future that, when their Big Day finally arrived, I couldn't believe that it had finally come around!

Lots of couples take at least a year (sometimes two) to plan their wedding and, when we arrived to set up for their

evening entertainment

, we suddenly realised just how much planning this lovely couple had needed to put in!

The Bradgate Suite

at

Sketchley Grange

had been fully decked out in white and hot pink with huge ostrich feather table centres, table runners, balloons, chair covers, fairy lighting... The works! To complete the 'fairytale princess' look, their cake was a sparkly Princess castle!

Their evening guests were treated to casino tables to kick the evening off, a delicious buffet, a chocolate fountain and a fully stocked candy table too! In between munching on all of this and having a flutter on the casino, guests were invited to leave video messages as well as sign the interactive guestbook... Never a dull moment!

'Fun-filled' would be the word that best describes the finishing touches that this lovely couple sprinkled over their big day... They then spoilt their guests with two live sets by

Adam Thomas

:)

A Very Different First Dance...

Their chosen first dance song was

Earth Angel (The Penguins)

: this was the first time that we'd ever had this song requested so it was a really nice change to see this used for a first dance (the

lyrics

are surprisingly apt and the tempo is perfect) :)

Following on from this, their wedding entertainment really kicked off with Adam's live performances: a little bit of

Michael Buble's Everything

to get everyone singing and swaying along!

<a href="http://adamthomas.bandcamp.com/track/everything">Everything by Adam Thomas</a>

This was then followed by a full-on

Pop, Soul and Indie

second set for dancing: Soul Man to

Valerie

, Paolo Nutini to Mr Brightside! Act two also had one or two numbers from Adam's

new soul show

thrown in for good measure (Forget You (Cee Lo Green) still proving to be the evening's favourite!)

The atmosphere was electric and the bride and groom had a good boogie too. The dance floor was full all night long with the wedding party jigging away to everything from Take That to The Human League, Hot, Hot, Hot to Dirty Dancing! They even requested a springling of reggae, which is always something we like to accomodate - we love a bit of Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Musical Youth!

(One of my personal favourites, however, have you ever seen dancing like this before!!)

A gorgeous day weather-wise was rounded off with a fantastic evening entertainment-wise. Here's to Jodie and Matthew: we'll miss you at the wedding fayres guys! Can't wait to see the photos though... Congratulations!  :) x x x -- This is just for Jodie! :) ...

Swing & Soul Wedding Entertainment at Sketchley Grange

I have to really like a bride to allow her to book Adam to perform on his own birthday... Rebecca Kinnersley was one such bride!

At the time of booking, Rebecca's fiance Sean was posted in Afghanistan and she was handling most of the wedding planning alone. She knew what she wanted and what she liked but was always so lovely and endearing... My favourite qualities in a bride!

The Big Day at Sketchley Grange

On their big day itself, they were both really easy going and Rebecca looked truly radiant. Every wedding is unique and, for me, the three things that stood out most with this wedding was the beautiful pink flowers on the tables (hopefully a picture will follow), the quirky barbecue (rather than a buffet) it looked scrummy ;) (the head chef at Sketchley Grange really knows what he's doing!) and Rebecca's stunning dress, of course!

The First Dance... Chasing Cars

When it came to their wedding entertainment, they had opted for Chasing Cars as their first dance followed by a very unusual choice: Kiss with a Fist by Florence and the Machine! Very different!!

Adam's live performances kicked off with a little bit of Michael Buble and swing but the second set was slightly adapted to include a few of the numbers that we've been performing in our brand new Soul show: Forget You (Cee Lo Green) and Hey Ya (Outkast)... Both were greatly received as always with lots of Polaroid picture shaking done by all ;)

The evening was over in a flash with both the bride and groom dancing for the entire night. The dance floor was overflowing all night with the wedding party boogie-ing to everything from The Specials to Rihanna, Ultra-Nate to Dirty Dancing... We really love couples with eclectic tastes and crowds that love 90's dance! (Adam used to love all that stuff you see!)

Adam thoroughly enjoyed his birthday too as they were such a wonderful audience and it really felt that we were surrounded by family and friends anyway... They even sang happy birthday to him at the end of the night! Ah bless!

Here's to Rebecca & Sean, we wish you all the happiness in the world, thank you for letting us be such a big part of your day :) x x x