Unexpected Ways to Add Music to Your Wedding

1. Think Beyond Just Your Wedding Day. Get your guests excited to attend your wedding by having music for your pre-wedding festivities. Background music is perfect for engagement parties, showers, rehearsal dinners, and luncheons.

2. Music for Guest Arrival - Not just at the ceremony. Have music playing outside of your venue, so guests hear it the moment they get out of their cars. If you are providing transportation, have a strolling violinist or guitarist in the vehicle to take requests. You can also have music at the guests' hotel(s) during check-in time or for breakfast the day of and after your wedding.

3. Ceremony Elements. Extend the music for your unity ceremony by going as a couple to greet each set of parents. This is a great way to hear more of the piece you have chosen for your unity candle or sand (which usually takes about ten seconds). You can also incorporate vocal or instrumental solos to give you some time during the ceremony to just relax and enjoy. Some officiants allow you to play soft music under a reading or the vows. "Moving music" is an effective way to keep the ceremony cohesive as readers walk to and from their seats, or as the bride & groom move up to take their vows.

4. Formal Pictures. While your families and bridal party are having pictures taken, it is customary to have music playing while guests are enjoying the cocktail hour. Why leave yourself out of the fun! Have music where you are doing pictures, too. It's also a great stress reducer when you are trying to herd people and work on a tight schedule.

5. Unexpected Places. Gives a new meaning to "elevator music"! You can have musicians set up in bathroom entrances, by the coat check, or in the elevator. Guests will return to their dinner tables, and tell everyone that they need to go check out the harpist in the bathroom!

6. Kids' Room. You can make your wedding reception enjoyable for children, too, by having a separate kids' area. They can make simple instruments (egg shakers, tambourines, etc.), or you could have an early childhood music teacher come in to teach a music and movement class.

7. Thank You Notes & Favors. Send your guests home with a musical tribute to your day. You can offer CD's of your wedding musicians playing the songs you selected either as favors or enclosed with your thank you notes.

If you are looking for a harpist for your upcoming wedding, we'd love to work with you!  Please visit our website (http://www.theclassicharpist.com/) and contact us for more information.

Wedding Music in Bremen, Indiana

My last wedding in June was at Agape Fellowship Church (also known as The Gathering Place) in Bremen, Indiana.  It's a beautiful and simple chapel in a small town just a few minutes south of South Bend.  It was a little warm (no air conditioning), but everything turned out nicely!

The colors were orange and fuchsia (they coordinated nicely with the furnishings in place in the church), and the bride chose the traditional wedding processionals (Canon in D, Bridal Chorus, and the Wedding March).  Where she really let her personality and musical tastes come through was the prelude and postlude, which included:

• Air from The Water Music by Handel
• Unchained Melody
• Love Story by Taylor Swift
• Love Me Tender
• Only Time by Enya
• Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by Bach
• I'm Yours by Jason Mraz
• What a Wonderful World
• Can You Feel the Love Tonight from The Lion King

Munster, Indiana Wedding Music

We've had beautiful weather for our outdoor wedding ceremonies this year!  A little hotter than last year, but not a single one has had to move inside.  On June 25th, I played for a ceremony on the terrace at Centennial Park in Munster, Indiana.  I was set up behind and a level higher than the guests, so the sound from the harp could travel toward them, and I could see the wedding party and bride make their entrances.  It made it much easier to time the music appropriately!

For the bridal party processional, I played "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic, followed by Wagner's traditional "Bridal Chorus" for the bride's entrance.  During the sand ceremony, I played Schubert's "Ave Maria", and sent the guests off to the party with an upbeat "All My Loving" by the Beatles.

Just before the recessional, the couple and their bridal party released butterflies.  Beautiful!

Weddings in Mishawaka

It's nice when my schedule works out to have two weddings directly across the street from one another on the same day!  The first ceremony was at Albright United Methodist Church in Mishawaka.  This is my beautiful Webster Laurel Leaf harp set up in the sanctuary:

The only member of the bridal party was the flower girl, and she entered to Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze", with the bride processing to the traditional "Bridal Chorus" - also known as "Here Comes the Bride" by Wagner.  The recessional was the Czech-Bohemian folk song "I See You My Beloved".

After that wedding concluded, I hurried the harp over the river to Beutter Park.  For prelude and postlude, the bride requested popular and upbeat songs, including:

• Somewhere Over the Rainbow from "The Wizard of Oz"
• What a Wonderful World
• Love Story by Taylor Swift
• All I Ask of You from "Phantom of the Opera"

She chose traditional music for the processionals (Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring for the families, Canon in D for the bridal party, and Bridal Chorus for the bride) and recessional (Wedding March by Mendelssohn).  For the unity candle, they went for a popular contemporary song (I'm Yours by Jason Mraz).  It was a beautiful afternoon for an outdoor wedding!

Castle in the Country & Mill Race Village Weddings

I can think of no better way to spend a Thursday evening than at a wedding!  It's even better if the ceremony is at the Castle in the Country Bed & Breakfast in Allegan, Michigan.  It's a peaceful setting, far away from crowds and busy roads.  Ceremonies are held on a deck overlooking a lake.  The sounds of birds and bullfrogs goes well with the harp!

This may have taken the top spot as my favorite wedding venue, because of the welcoming committee who "helped" me set up the harp.

That's Dickens' "David Copperfield" sitting on my bench.  I've got to get some lighter reading material for when I get to the venue too early!

The next day, I was off to Northville, MI, for a wedding at the Mill Race Village.  They had me set up the harp on the porch of a Victorian home, and the guests were seated on the lawn.  Instead of flowers, the bridesmaids carried floral-print purses that matched their dresses.  Beautiful and practical! 

They chose traditional music for the processionals (Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring for the bridal party; Canon in D for the bride), and then went with contemporary for the recessional (Hymne by Vangelis). 

Blue Dress Barn & Heston Hills Wedding Music

The Blue Dress Barn in Millburg, Michigan is a beautiful venue!  You can have your ceremony outdoors, and then move inside the barn for the reception.  I played for a wedding ceremony in the garden on June 12th, and the rain held off - but barely!  The harp cover stayed within reach, just in case we needed to run for shelter.

The bride chose traditional music for the processionals and recessional, with a popular song for the unity sand ceremony.

• Seating of Families:  Canon in D by Pachelbel
• Bridal Party Processional:  Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by Bach
• Bride's Processional:  Bridal Chorus by Wagner
• Unity Sand Ceremony:  Fields of Gold by Sting
• Recessional:  Wedding March by Mendelssohn 

After packing up, I drove to Heston Hills Banquet Center outside of LaPorte, Indiana.  The mother of the groom had hired me to provide background music for the cocktail hour.  This is a great task to delegate to family and friends!  Let them do research for your vendors, and then you can make your selections.

Blue Heron at Blackthorn Wedding Ceremony

My first June wedding was at the Blue Heron at Blackthorn in South Bend, Indiana.  Unfortunately, there are no pictures because the wind was so strong I couldn't let go of the harp to take any!  The colors were dark chocolate and red, and the ceremony was performed by Kerri Hoffman.  Music selections included:

• Bridal party processional:  Only Time by Enya
• Bride's processional:  Canon in D by Pachelbel
• Recessional:  Fields of Gold by Sting

It was a perfect combination of traditional music and contemporary songs!   There is no rule that you have to be consistent with your music genres throughout your ceremony.  It's fine to mix popular and classical songs, as long as your musicians are comfortable with the pieces you have selected.  Visit my Repertoire List to see some of the possibilities!