Fairytale Celebrity Wedding Band In Venice, Italy

Klemens & Barbara

We always feel privileged and honoured to be booked to perform for destination weddings. Being trusted to provide an impeccably perfect soundtrack to a couples’ big day is not something Jam Hot take lightly, and we thoroughly adore every moment of doing everything we can to achieve that perfection for our wonderful clients. This particular stunning Venetian Celebrity Wedding was for German model and socialite Barbara Meier, and well known Austrian business giant Klemens Hallmann; with guests the like of Arnold Schwarzenegger (one of Klemens’ groomsmen) and his long term partner Heather Milligan.

Our 12 Piece Band complete with horns and electric strings flew out to Venice, Italy on 1st June last year, and landed early to a bright, sunny morning. As you can imagine, the main way to travel throughout this romantic city is by water taxi, and we had a wonderful experience being transported to the beautiful Kempinski Hotel, San Clemente Palace, where Barbara and Klemens were to host their wedding breakfast of fairytale proportions.

Upon docking at this incredible venue, we were checked off the ‘approved guest list’ by security (with so many high profile guests, security was understandably very tight!) and led through San Clementes’ impressive gardens to the stage. It’s always rather exciting seeing our first glimpse of where we will be performing, but this tailor made glass marquee was beyond anything we could have imagined. We stood in awe as we took in the most sensationally dressed space, designed by none other than Vincenzo Dascanio. The remarkable structure was decorated with thousands of hanging blooms and foliage, white candles adorning breathtaking chandeliers, elegant table settings and an expertly made champagne glass fountain situated directly in the centre of the dance floor. This last touch did make us rather nervous, sound checking whilst tip-toeing around it was something we wouldn’t wish to repeat at every show! No accidents though you’ll be relieved to hear.

We were thrilled to be working with wedding planner Sabine Konigsberger from Event Boutique GESMBH, and although the guests weren’t in situ yet, and dozens of staff and suppliers were nimbly still preparing – we could tell that this event would certainly be one to remember. We spent some time sound checking with the our wonderful tour production engineer team Artisan Productions (who flew out with us), and became familiar with our performance space ahead of our evening performance. This was a touch warm – it’s always obvious to see why being an Italy Wedding Band means performing late into the night, when it’s a little more comfortable to be outside! Once our perfect mix was achieved, and our in-ear monitors were set to our individual preferences, we retired to our greenroom for a little relaxation and some lunch. Just walking through the gardens and seeing all of the skilfully created elements gave us a wonderful feeling of anticipation for this uniquely bespoke wedding.

Although we were hidden away until our unveiling later in the evening, we were able to catch glimpses of the day once the guests had arrived. Stunning long-limbed showgirls in traditional venetian costumes were creating elegant tableau’s around the garden, and the atmosphere was one of beauty, decadence and glamour. Barbara looked simply mesmerising in her ethically made Galia Lahav dress, and Klemens was both dashing and charming as he spent time with guests the likes of Dutch TV personality Sylivie Meis and german model Franziska Knuppe.

Before long, it was time to begin preparing for our evening show. This for the girls obviously involves a somewhat lengthy process of hair and make-up – it has to be done with care as our show is very sweaty and we try to avoid looking like Einstein on a particularly windy day by the end of the night. A good 2 hours usually suffices, haha! We dressed in our gold, black and white costumes for this event, and once we were properly warmed-up and show-ready, we walked through the balmy Italian evening to the back of the marquee where we awaited our stage call.

Once on stage, we delivered our usual high-impact show, dancing with the guests, creating our signature party atmosphere and generally just having a ball! The time flies by for us as we dance and sing our way through the night, and it was a privilege to be captured by the legendary photographer Chris Singer and incredible videographers Chromata Films – I’m sure you will agree that they have skilfully created a spectacular video that is jaw-dropping to watch. We were thrilled to receive another 5 star review from the happy couple and their guests, and it’s always a treat to be invited to play as a Wedding Band in Venice. Barbara kindly gave permission to share the short clip of her big day (although we’d love to show you the full thing, the nature of the guests means we need to hold it back I’m afraid!), so you can get a sense of quite how wonderful this wedding was – certainly one that we’ll remember for a very long time, and a true pleasure to be a part of.