October Weddings & Pictures

I've been very bad at getting things posted this past month, so this will be a long one! My most recent wedding was at Sergeant Means Park in Olympia Fields, IL. The room has GREAT acoustics, and the bride selected some very unique music for her ceremony. We started with "Moon River," and the bride's entrance was to Ben Folds' song "The Luckiest." The couple met at a Cubs game, and chose "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" as their recessional. I love it when a bride really uses the music to reflect her personality and favorite songs! So maybe I had a little too much fun with this picture and Photoshop....


On October 14th, I was up by Lake Michigan for what was supposed to be my last outdoor wedding of the season. Unfortunately, it was a rather nasty day and the wedding was moved inside the inn. You always have to have a back up plan and consider the comfort of your guests. Your harpist will also thank you! They chose familiar classical pieces for their ceremony, including Schubert's "Ave Maria," "Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring," and Pachelbel's "Canon in D." We added the traditional fanfare (the same as "Here Comes the Bride") before beginning Canon, since that helps the guests know wheen to stand up and announces the entrance of the bride. I really beleive that you could play that fanfare anywhere and everybody would get out of their seats! I may be wrong, but I think this is the first time I've played underneath a mounted deer head.


I had two weddings on October 7th. The first was a ceremony in Michigan City. I shared music duties with the wonderful church organist. It's always a pleasure when they really welcome me, as many organists can be a bit territorial when another musician is on their turf! The bride chose Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze" for the seating of the families, "Canon" for the bridesmaids, and the organist played "Jesu, Joy" for the bride's processional. During the ceremony, they requested that I play Godefroid's "Romance without Words" as a harp solo. They had a classic car from Rag Tops Auto Museum as their get-away ride. I had no idea that they hired out cars, and it made a great alternative to the standard white limo!

My second wedding was a ceremony and reception in Schererville. The couple chose traditional pieces for the ceremony, and we mixed up classical and popular selections for the cocktail hour. What I will never understand is why wedding photographers always take my picture while I'm tuning before the ceremony begins. It actually happened at both weddings on this day. So no, I do not really play standing up with a wrench in one hand! It's no wonder that there are so many figurines and paintings of harpists and harps in strange configurations. My mom gave me one where the harpist is sitting in front of the harp rather than behind it. Don't know why, but it drives me crazy!

So that's the run down for October (so far - one more ceremony on Saturday). November usually slows down as the traditional wedding season draws to a close, but this year it doesn't look that way. Good thing I like keeping busy!