Award-winning musician Matt Ball knows a thing or two about the romance of the winter season. It was back in 2005 when Matt was playing at a Christmas party that he met his now wife Kate. The chances of them meeting had been slim - Kate wasn’t even really supposed to be there as it was her friend’s mother’s work’s party and Matt had accepted the gig in South Wales instead of having a break from a Rat pack touring show.
That first night Matt’s eyes met Kate’s across the room. He eventually enticed her onto the stage to play with the band - handing her a tambourine, and by the time the set was over, a friendship had formed through a shared sense of humour, and they talked and talked through the night.
The next day Matt was on the move and flew to Germany for another gig but night three found him back in South Wales, back on the tour, performing a date at St David’s Hall, Cardiff. As fate would have it, a glitch with tour transport bookings left Matt stranded in Wales while the rest of the tour moved on to the North of England. “I was stuck in Cardiff and I needed a lunch date,” he says, “so I called Kate”.
A quickly-struck friendship rapidly deepened, despite Matt being based in Leeds and Kate in the Welsh Valleys. They knew a good thing when they found it and allowed their relationship to blossom and in September 2006 Kate made the leap and moved to Leeds initially living in her own flat, but quickly, having realised it was the right move, setting up home with Matt.
With winter magic having brought them together, Kate and Matt chose to become Mr and Mrs Ball on the 3rd of January 2009. The wedding build-up was accompanied by the extra pressure of Matt being asked to form a 1920s jazz band to feature in the ballroom scene in the remake of the classic film, Brideshead Revisited. The band was formed, featured in the movie, and continues to gig successfully across the UK and beyond. The Brideshead Ballroom Stompers specialise in the ‘Jazz Age’ music of the 1920s and the ‘Swing Music’ of the 1930′s. Matt and the band members also appeared on the small screen in ITV’s Joe Maddison’s War. Their gigs are quirky, and the theme never fails to get everyone moving.
Kate and Matt married at South Parade Baptist Church, Headingley, Leeds, and held their reception in the stunning yet cosy Holdsworth House Hotel, near Halifax. With Kate employed by a large confectionary company, their theme was chocolate, with fur and berries adding to the festive joy. The happy couple stunned guests with their first dance, a foxtrot, to Frank Sinatra’s swing version of “You are the Sunshine of My Life” and of course Matt could not resist joining the band for a few songs - much to everyone’s delight.
Nearly four years on and the couple have welcomed a son, Alfie, and daughter, Grace, to the family. Weddings and romance remain a huge part of their lives with Matt, who has performed at more than 1,000 weddings, continuing to provide top-class music for newlyweds at many of the UK’s most popular and prestigious venues through his company, Gourmet Music, where he has handpicked the best musicians he works with to be a part of the experience. “I am really enthusiastic about music and my trombone playing and love the different styles of jazz, swing, pop and Motown that I get to play in the entertainment business, but I have to say that even though I have played on an award winning Elbow album and appeared on TV, nothing is closer to my heart than that last minute gig in Wales on a winter night because that’s when the music brought me together with Kate”
