ceremony assistance...part two.

First of all, thank you so much for all of your suggestions in part one of this series! I listened to all of them, and there were a ton of options for beautiful processional songs. The results of the poll ended up with a tie between Prelude in C and Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. So of course, the only logical choice for me was to not pick either of them... okay maybe it wasn't logical, but that is what happened.

My bridesmaid Anna plays the piano, and since we're having only a pianist for the ceremony, I figured I should get some options from her. She came up with a ton of choices, and I found two songs that I absolutely love!

Remember how I said I didn't want Canon in D as one of the processional pieces? Well...I changed my mind the second I heard this arrangement:

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Yep, you can call me a hypocrit. The grandparents, parents, and the wedding party will be walking down to this arrangement of Canon in D.

I actually contemplated whether or not I should only play Canon in D and just time my entrance to one of the parts in which the music builds up in the song. After getting lots of opinions from family members, I've decided to add second song for the bridal entrance. That song will be Hymne by Vangelis.

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Finally, the processional songs are selected! It was more difficult than it probably should have been to check that one off the list.

Next item on the agenda-- the song that our sisters will sing.

As I mentioned in my last music post, two of our sisters are talented singers. We really want them to sing a song during the ceremony. This will probably be used as the offertory song, while some other family members are bringing up the gifts. Ideally it would be something that is more on the traditional side; I think throwing a contemporary song into the Catholic ceremony while we're using classical music for all of the other songs might sound a little out of place. The only song that has come to my mind so far is Ave Maria.

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While I think this song is beautiful, I'd like to hear a few more options before we select a song.

So hive, this is where you come in! Do you have any suggestions for traditional-ish songs that our sisters could sing? I'm looking forward to your recommendations... I need all the help I can get!

ceremony assistance...part one.

With the majority of the wedding plans so far, I've had a clear vision as to what we're going for. The ceremony music is one of the things that is a little fuzzy, to say the least. So who better to help me combat my indecisiveness than you, hive?

Let's start at the bridal processional, shall we? A lot of lovely brides-to-be have a specific song that they've been dreaming of walking down the aisle to since they were little girls. There is no such song in my mind. I have no clue what song I want to walk down the aisle to. I do, however, know a few songs I do not want to enter the church to, including Canon in D and the Wedding March (you know...dum dum da dum...that one). Nothing wrong with those songs, I've just been to a ton of weddings in my day and I'm looking for something a little outside the norm. I am getting married in the Catholic church though, so whatever songs I choose cannot be too far ourside of the norm. Also, we are having a pianist play at the ceremony, so I need songs that don't need other instruments to sound right. So what are the options?

The only two songs I've found that I like enough to use for the bridal processional are:

Prelude in C (Major)

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and Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

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I really really really like Prelude in C for some reason, but I worry that it will be sort of anticlimatic if I use Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring before it for the wedding party processional . It just doesn't seem to have enough "oomph" if you know what I mean. But I really really like it.

I feel like Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring is the safe one of the two choices for the bridal processional. It's pretty and I really do like it, but it feels a little more "norm" to me.

The other issue I am questioning is whether to have an instrumental song like the two above, or to have one or two of our sisters sing a song for the processional instead. My cousin's wife walked down the aisle to her friend singing Ave Maria, and it was absolutely beautiful! If we went this route, I am clueless as to which song to have them sing to!

So I ask you, knowledgeable brides (and grooms)-to-be, which song do you think I should walk down the aisle to?

a. Prelude in C (Major)

b. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring

c. Instrumental song, but those are both horrible choices! I will share a much better song for with you in the comments!

d. Have sisters sing, I will recommend a song in the comments!

clay and cake.

I finally got around to making the flowers that will go on our cakes!  I was originally going to make them out of gum paste, but worried that if it was warm on our wedding day, they would get all soft and wilty.  Inspired by the Weddingbee PRO interview with the talented Diane of DK Designs, I decided I would give clay a try. During our crafting session, BM Dana and I tried first to make a dahlia, but with all the little petals, it just wasn't working for us (I should've taken a picture, it was bad!).  I was just about to give up and use real flowers (or possibly consult a professional) when I was messing around and came up with one of these.  I liked it enough to make a couple more!  One small flower will be on each of the smaller cakes and the biggest flower will go on the center cake.

We've also chosen our cake-cutting song!  It's the cute and quirky "All I Want Is You" from the Juno soundtrack.

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Now all that's left in the cake department is figuring out what we'll cut it with!  Oh yeah, and picking our flavors.  

Have you chosen your cake-cutting song yet?  Which song did you pick?

lucky.

I'm in love with this song by Jason Mraz ft. Colbie Caillat. Reading this post from The Wedding Cabaret reminded me to post about it.


Here are the lyrics.

Do you hear me,
I'm talking to you
Across the water across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky oh my, baby I'm trying
Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Oooohhhhoohhhhohhooohhooohhooohoooh

They don't know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I'll wait for you I promise you, I will

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I'm lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

And so I'm sailing through the sea
To an island where we'll meet
You'll hear the music, feel the air
I'll put a flower in your hair
Though the breezes through trees
Move so pretty you're all I see
As the world keeps spinning round
You hold me right here right now

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
I'm lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday
Ooohh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
Ooooh ooooh oooh oooh ooh ooh ooh ooh

This song is absolutely perfect for our wedding. I would choose it as our first dance song, except there is one problem. My cousin just used it as his first dance song, and their wedding was only like 2 weeks ago. Not a big deal to most people, but we will be having a ton of the same guests. And I feel weird having the same first dance song as my cousin. I guess we'll use it in our slideshow instead. That is, if we have a slideshow. Any other ideas for a first dance song?

wedding playlist.

The wedding playlist is definitely a part of the wedding that Adam and I have been neglecting. Lucky for us, we have a family friend who has volunteered to be in charge of the playlist. Of course we'll have a DJ that can pick songs on his own, but I'd like to give him a list of songs that need to be played at the wedding.

This is going to be one of them. And the best part, I heard it on one of my favorite shows, Dirty Sexy Money!



The song is called "Somebody Loved" by The Weepies.

Video found here.

cocktail hour entertainment.

I'm planning to have a family friend play the piano during the cocktail hour at our wedding. I love the sound of the piano, and I think it will be something a little different, a little unexpected. Plus it allows people to socialize without having to talk over the music. I would love to be able to rent a baby grand, it would look so classy!

Unfortunately though, I don't think the budget will allow it. Although I have no idea how much it costs to rent one for a few hours. Instead, we will probably go with something a little more reasonable like this Clavinova.

Do you have any other ideas for the cocktail hour? Anna, you are welcome to play a song or two during the wedding :)