Our Wedding Music

On December 8, 2012, Boyfriend Fiance became Hubster.  It really was the wedding of my dreams--don't know that I can say "our" dreams since Hubster hasn't been dreaming of his wedding like I have.  For me, though, everything was perfect.

One of my favorite components of the wedding was the music.  It should come as no surprise that, for ceremony and reception, Hubster and I had our hands in every bit of the music.  We made the final decision for every major song and hymn and most of the dance music at the reception.  We believe that music frames an event so we put so much thought into each of our choices and quite honestly, I wouldn't change a single thing (except for maybe adding "Brown-Eyed Girl" to the "Do Not Play" list for the DJ).  I do have to give a special thanks to my Dad and the music director and organist at his church, without whom the ceremony would not have been as awesome as it was.  While Hubster and I made final choices, that's not say our first ideas were the greatest.  And we definitely wouldn't have known the epicness of our recessional without them, nor would we have gotten the musicians we did.

So that I may remember, and have easy future access to, our wedding songs, I've compiled a list of what I know we picked and played.  Obviously I don't remember every song played at the reception but there are a few I remember being big hits for everyone and big hits for a few that I was surprised DJ agreed to play.  Here are the major songs:

Pre-Ceremony
We had a wonderful harpist, Mary Jane D'Arville, who played our prelude music.

Clair de Lune by Debussy

O Holy Night, with soloist from the church choir.

Ceremony
We had some incredible musicians for our ceremony.  In addition to the extremely talented organist at my church, we had an amazing trumpeter, Brian Strawley, Assistant Principal Trumpet with the Richmond Symphony, and a second organist for the recessional, the incredible Michael Simpson.  We also had members of our church's choir who sang the descant of the hymn we sang during the ceremony.

Prior to Pastor and Groom's Entrance:  Gottfried Reiche's Fanfare

Bridal Party Entrance:  Trumpet Voluntary by Jeremiah Clarke

Bride's Entrance:  Te Deum Prelude by Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Hymn:  Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah by William Williams
--Used an arrangement by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and had church choir members in the balcony for the descant on the third verse.  Loved it.  Giggled like a little girl when my Balcony Angels kicked in.

Recessional:  Toccata from 5th Organ Symphony by Charles-Marie Widor
--My Dad actually suggested this awesome piece.  It was just wow.

Reception
Parents' Entrance: Top Gun Anthem

Bridal Party Entrance: Goodbye Horses by Q. Lazzarus
--Uh yes, our bridal party--including flower girl and ring bearers--DID enter our reception to the song to which Buffalo Bill tucks it and dances

Bride & Groom Entrance: I Believe In A Thing Called Love by The Darkness
--We walked out to the second chorus, ensuring that we got the "Guitar!"

Bride & Groom's First Dance:  I Am Your Man performed by Ryan Shaw

Father & Daughter Dance:  April in Paris by Count Basie's Orchestra
--There are two reasons why I picked this song for my Dad and me.  When I was little, my dad and I actually danced to this song in the living room with me standing atop his feet...and he hates to dance.  It's also featured in Blazing Saddles, one of our all-time favorite movies.

Last Song:  Remember You're a Womble by The Wombles

Some Reception Favorites That I Remember
Tanuk Tanuk Tun by Daler Mehndi
--Of course.

I'll Be by Edwin McCain

I'll Make Love To You by Boyz II Men

Poison by Bell Biv Devoe

White Horse by Laid Back

Here Without You by Three Doors Down
--One of Hubster's and my songs while we dated long-distance

Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers

This Is How We Do It by Montell Jordan

Tubthumping by Chumbawumba

Regulate by Warren G featuring Nate Dogg

Shots by LMFAO featuring Lil Jon

Apache by Sugarhill Gang

Photograph by Def Leppard
--For the Groom & Best Man

Talk that Talk by Rihanna

Blow by Ke$ha
--Hubster loves him some Ke$ha

Get Low by Lil Jon & The Eastside Boyz
--Appropriate? The question remains.  The DJ played the radio edit as requested by Hubster and me, but did WE sing said version?  Perhaps not.  Regardless, we had a great deal of people pointing to windows and walls...

Wobble by VIC
--The only group dance we allowed.

Footloose by Kenny Loggins
--Contrary to popular belief, this was not a Mother/Son dance.  Hence, why I was out there too.

Stayin Alive by Bee Gees
--Ensuring J-Friend dances for decades now

Boogie Shoes by KC and The Sunshine Band
--We did not request this song, but it's a favorite because my 4-year-old nephew specifically requested to dance with me during this song :-)

The DJ did not play any Katy Perry, much to Hubster's chagrin...nor did he play Motownphilly, much to mine, but we were thrilled otherwise.  I hope that by putting some of these on here, I'll be able to have clearer memories since the request list I have contains songs he didn't play.  There are songs I know he played, songs I know he did not play (aforementioned, along with I Would Do Anything For Love, Ruff Ryders Anthem, I Just Want To Celebrate and Tonight (I'm Loving You), You Dropped a Bomb on Me, Bohemian Rhapsody), and songs I cannot remember if he played or not, which, I gotta say, is the most frustrating.  Do I really remember if we were "Woo!"ing during Ms. Jackson or am I making that up?  Did I dance to Gonna Make You Sweat or am I thinking about how it would have been cool to dance to Gonna Make You Sweat?  Did we hear Nelly?  Did we Shoop?  I may never know...

If I may make one wedding suggestion:  Don't worry about most of the details.  If your food is good and your music is good, your wedding will be fun.  Period.

I Once Lost A Tooth. While Laughing.

I would like to preface this story with a note that my teeth have never been great. I got a lot of cavities as a child. In part due to generally weak teeth and in part due to the fact that I ate sweets and really liked getting cavities filled because nitrous was awesome. Regardless of how often I brushed, however, my teeth were just weak. When I was wee, one of my baby teeth had to be pulled because it rotted. A “dead tooth” I think it was called. I had to have a procedure kind of like a root canal for baby teeth.


I think I just realized how gross that is. Back then it was in-depth oral surgery so I had a blast but now I realize…huh, rotten teeth are gross. I brush my damn teeth, I promise. I did then and I do now. Now I just have fewer of them to do…

In the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college one of my teeth fell apart. I can’t remember if I had chipped it or cracked it or what but it, yeah, fell apart. I was upstairs in the breakroom at work, eating frozen yogurt not usually known for its tooth-shattering abilities when my tooth crumbled in my mouth and I bit a fragment of my own tooth, which is quite jarring to do by the way. Your teeth meet all the time, but you don’t typically get tooth caught between teeth. It’s uncomfortable. I soon went to the dentist and he put some sort of temporary crown on it to bide time before my inevitable root canal that awaited me. Hooray! Sometime during sophomore year that crown fell apart and there was little left of my #2 upper right molar and it was time I finally met my root canal, who had been waiting for me impatiently.

Fast forward eight years. Now-Husband and I went with some friends to their parents’ lake property to spend the day on the water and the evening by the fire and/or beer pong table. That day I made the decision that because I could wakeboard 8 years prior, I could totally master the activity again or at least be able to stand up. Turns out, I could do neither. I, could, however, let go of the rope really fast and not get dragged behind the boat, which is an incredibly usefull skill to have for someone learning water sports. I learned the importance of this after watching The Great Outdoors a few hundred times. Anyway, I had tried a few times and really only succeeded at moving quickly from a sitting position to a supine position on the water in a jerky arch-like motion. I decided to give it one last go and it was on this last attempt at being an awesome wakeboarder that I was able to get up out of the water and stand up on the board. It was exciting. For split seconds the wind was in my hair and I was being pulled awkwardly behind the boat. Since you begin wakeboarding with the board turned sideways, I attempted to let the board turn to face the correct direction, but I could not possibly have executed that move any worse and I fell. Hard. I smacked the water with my face before any other part of my body hit. I’m not exactly sure how my eyes stayed on. When I was finally able to right myself, I called the day done and managed to get back to the boat using whatever the submerged marine version of limping would be. Once on the boat, I realized that my head had smacked the water so hard, I lost all 6 of my earrings and my elastic headband. I get back to shore and realize I will never be a cool wakeboarder. Funny stories are told and it appears the wakeboarding incident is forgotten.

Later on in the evening, we’re sitting around the fire and I’m doing nothing laughing. Not eating dinner. Not chewing gum. Not even having silky-smooth yet somehow treacherously tooth-shattering frozen yogurt. Not even talking. Yet there I was, listening to whoever was speaking when I felt something hit my tongue. I reached in and pulled out my molar.  I looked at Now-Husband and said astoundedly (it’s a word), “My tooth just fell out.” At first his face showed mild humor and confusion because surely those weren’t the actual words that had come out of my mouth.  Alas, he realized I had indeed actually spoken the words “My tooth just fell out” and his face quickly turned to reflect an obvious feeling of horror as I showed him the tooth that seconds before was in my head. It wasn’t broken. It wasn’t a piece of tooth. It was a tooth. I had a tooth in my hand and a hole in my head. He soon found himself in the extremely uncomfortable position of wanting to laugh at me but also being totally humiliated that this overweight but okay chick he had brought with him was actually a back-woods bumpkin who can’t even keep her teeth in her head.  It was as though in his view I was suddenly sporting flip-flops that were too thin to contain my breadloaf-like feet while donning a camoflage hat that held my frizzy hair in a ponytail to keep it out of my face while I spit into a bottle and talked about my cabin in the holler that didn't have a working well but was overrun by numerous goats and chickens.

A few months later, horrified Now-Husband got to be the one to drive me to my surgery to get the hole cleaned out and the remnants of the root canal removed before setting an appointment for an implant. He thoroughly enjoyed getting to see me completely out of it on whatever they gave me to put me to sleep. He had quite a laugh calling my mother to tell her everything was okay while I bobbed about in the passenger seat absolutely certain that I was making total sense but not knowing why he found my completely rational statements to be hilarious. Apparently what I said and what he heard were different but whatever. He had a lot of fun with it until later on when I was sober and could tell him the harsh reality: there would be no implant. The oral surgeon said he didn’t often put dental implants there for tooth #2 because there’s really no need and it’s a waste of money. He would if it was tooth #3 or more but since you can’t really see tooth #2 anyway, I was getting no implant. Realization set in and the look of horror and confusion returned. Now-Husband does, in fact, have a Now-Wife who is a back-woods bumpkin who can’t keep her teeth in her head. I’m actually missing a tooth because it fell out of my head while I was engaging in the strenuous activity of laughter. It didn’t fall out when I face-planted on the water and lost everything that wasn't anatomically connected to my head. No, no. It was the act of sitting around a fire and doing absolutely nothing that ensured my full set of teeth's demise.
And no, that tooth is not the same tooth as the baby tooth that rotted and “died.” That permanent replacement is holding strong, for now anyway.

I would really like to have those goats.