Live Music at Hotel Cipriani, Belmond, Venice
Updated: Sep 7
Marina Simioni Music had the pleasure of performing at a wedding hosted at Hotel Cipriani, Belmond, in the heart of Venice, a two-day celebration for guests who had travelled from Hong Kong and France.
An Aperitivo on the Canal
The music began with our string quartet during the aperitivo, playing at the water's edge as the light came off the lagoon. We kept the repertoire contemporary rather than classical, arrangements of modern pop, scored for four strings, which suited a young international crowd far better than anything more formal, and sat beautifully against a backdrop that needs no help from anybody.
The Evening: From the Gipsy Kings to Italian Disco
For the evening we brought a six-piece band, and the set was one of the most enjoyable we have built. It ran from the Catalan rumba of the Gipsy Kings through Italian disco, Renato Carosone, Mina and on into club classics as the night went on.
With guests from three continents in one room, the music had to carry people who shared no common language and no common reference point. The Italian songs did the work nobody expected: melodies a Venetian, a Parisian and a guest from Hong Kong could all move to, because the tune does the explaining.
Poolside, the Day After
The celebration continued the following day with a relaxed poolside lunch and a DJ, quieter, slower, and exactly what was needed after the night before. Two-day weddings are common at properties like this, and the second day asks for something completely different from the first.
Planning Music for a Venice Wedding
Venice rewards planning, because everything arrives by water. That shapes what is practical — the size of the line-up, how much equipment can travel, how long a load-in takes and those decisions are far easier made early with your venue than improvised on the day.
It also shapes the shape of the day. Guests move between locations by boat rather than by road, which takes longer and creates natural gaps: a ceremony in one place, an aperitivo in another, dinner somewhere else again. Music that moves with them, rather than waiting in one room, is usually the better plan.
If you are marrying in Venice and would like to talk through what works where, we would be glad to hear from you.
