As of this issue’s print date, I will have already enjoyed my wedding on Aug. 22 with my lovely wife Candice, our family, and closest friends. As musicians, one aspect of the wedding we were especially controlling of was the music; who would play what, and when.
Was this just my wife and me being our respective musical versions of a bridezilla and a groomenstein? Hell no! We just didn’t want to waste time with music we didn’t love.
A recent Pandora playlist I called on illustrates this fact. The playlist Pandora reserves specifically for weddings streamed several slow, heartfelt songs in procession. The artists included Sam Smith, Michael Bublé, Parachute, and Anthem Lights.
This might not sound like a problem, but it is. It’s snores-ville is what it is.
If I sound like a snob, it’s probably because I am, but one thing I have noticed across a number of weddings I have been to in the last several years is the same tired list of overplayed contemporary love songs. Yes, Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” falls onto that list, and so does anything by Bruno Mars.
Candice and I have eclectic taste, we make no apologies, and our ears are tuned to the past. Candice sings opera, but even then, she isn’t about to inundate our nuptials with a piercing Puccini aria. That being said, we also didn’t want to hear Pachelbel’s Canon in D another freaking time.
That’s why we hired our friend, guitarist Nathan Towne, to provide the majority of the evening’s live music. Nathan can get down on any style of music, from Brazilian jazz to a Bach prelude to The Beatles. He preceded our ceremony with plenty of beautiful classical style guitar on his fantastic nylon string.
The Beatles, of course, made up most of our ceremonial music. Bridal party coming in? The Beatles. Bride walking down the isle? The Beatles. Groom and wife walk down the isle together? The Beatles. That’s how it works when we’re in charge.
Towne wasn’t the only musician who performed live for the ceremony portion though. The initial introduction included a performance by my own father, Fred Payne, who’s a champion highland bagpiper. My dad marched slowly down the isle, piping away at an ancient pipe tune to begin the ceremony, and joined again later during a traditional Celtic handfasting ceremony.
Of course music is important to the ceremony, but the reception, dinner, and subsequent dance party tunes are of paramount importance as well. We kept the stage open to a number of friends and family who are also musicians to perform one or more songs. The group jam was a special highlight, as I enjoy spontaneous music making in many forms, let alone with my closest friends and family.
But once the dance party got into full swing—thanks to a great speaker system and a friend with a well-stocked iPod—we were able to dance the night away to classic rock hits from our favorite groups of the 1960s like The Doors, Cream, Bob Dylan, Queen, and The Beatles.
Another favorite era for us is the jazz boom of the 1940s into the 1950s. Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong’s collaborations are especially heartfelt and nostalgic for us as a couple, and the two wound harmonies together as my bride and I weaved across the dance floor.
As the night went on and the crowd got rowdier, more dance-heavy music took over the show. Though it was the dance style hardest for me to fake, my wife’s love for Bachata music took the dance floor over as well, when artists like Romeo Santos and Prince Royce blasted across the outdoor party.
With very little prior planning, but a strict outline of the music we required and wanted, my bride and I were able to enjoy a diverse arrangement of music that has meant so much to us and our relationship on our special day, sharing it with the people who mean the most to us.
Did I mention The Beatles?
Contact Arts Editor Joe Payne at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 3, 2015.