Weddings(after the 19th century) are expected to follow particular musical traditions(Bach, Pachelbel, Mendelssohn, la, la, la) but I didn't want traditional music, even as a serious music student. Sometimes I just have to be different, mainly just for the sake of being different.
Also, my wedding day needed to say something about me personally(all brides think this, of course) and in some ways maybe my musical wedding statement was to indicate that I'd found someone who really accepts me for ME, and all the oddball weirdness that comes with me.
(Why else would a man allow some of these choices? You'll understand why soon.)
I chose some of these "tunes" LONG before I finally tied the knot at the ripe old age of 27. And to be able to include them in our ceremony, which in itself was VERY traditional, was the purple rosebud icing on the proverbial chocolate (with white icing) wedding cake.
People I'm sure found it odd that I chose music from the films I've loved all my life, and that said films are mostly sci-fi/fantasy in nature. This wasn't any big shock to anyone who knew me, and for those who didn't know the films probably didn't notice anything unusual except that the music was really pretty good.
One thing I DIDN'T want (and my groom was in agreement) was some singer warbling a love song that really isn't a love song. "I Will Always Love You" is NOT a happy love song. Neither is "Every Breath You Take." I didn't want "Color My World" or "The Wedding Song(There is Love)." Both overplayed and not really me. Or Don for that matter. He was also not allowed to sing "Mind Your Own Business," which he actually DID sing at his "best friend's wedding." You can imagine how that particular union fared.
My particular union began as such:
The first appearance of Star Wars Music. From Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back. This is still, for me, since age 11, the ultimate love story. It started in a rather interesting manner, in a trash compactor, and ended quite happily, as REAL love stories should. None of this silly "you-accidentally-poison-me-and-I'll-stab-myself nonsense." Romeo & Juliet? Bite me. Captain Solo and Leia Organa had it going on. They saved the galaxy and she ended up not marrying her brother. Thank the Force for that.
Loved this song for years. It came out in 1980, the same year as The Empire Strikes Back. It has a beautiful haunting melody and the lyrical content is perfect. It seemed so much more REAL than the slick sappiness of "Endless Love" and the schmaltzy cheesiness of Styx' "Babe." I watched this video for the first time this last Friday, and it still moved me. Thank God I had a box of Kleenex on my desk.
These previous tunes, for the actual ceremony, were played on piano, by my 7th grade teacher/high school librarian Kay Mannon, and she did an awesome job, as always!
This is one of the minor cult classics that Matthew Broderick starred in AFTER WarGames but BEFORE Ferris Buelller's Day Off. I remember seeing it in the Silver Screen Theater in Mena, accompanied by my entourage at the time, including Rob Sanders, Wes Sunderman, Janna Liles, and Christine Cooper. (At least I'm pretty sure it was you guys, if not, well-you were there in spirit!) I love the movie-it makes Rutger Hauer so much more tolerable than he was in Blade Runner. I'd always wanted the soundtrack, so when I came across a rare copy of one at a mini-sci-fi convention in Dallas, I snatched it right up, despite the $35.00 price tag. I NEVER pay that much for CDs, ever, especially then when I was "between jobs."
I thought it would make awesome entrance music. Everyone would come in during the faster part, and then when it slows down(at 5:40), I'd come down the aisle. Well, I didn't get that (see below), but that was okay. It actually provided the perfect amount of time for Tiffany to light all the 40 some-odd candles on the candelabras. Once the last candle was lit, the tape faded out.
For the seating of grandmothers and mothers, I choose the main theme for yet another cult classic from 1980, Somewhere in Time. This film has a fan club called INSITE, International Network of Somewhere in Time Enthusiasts. (Wow. And we thought SETI was bad.) However, it's a great love story. Composer John Barry, who just recently passed away this last January, based the score on Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme By Paganini." If you've never seen it, you should. This was right after Christopher Reeve had done his first gig as Superman, and featured a Pre-"Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" Jane Seymour, who doesn't appear to have aged as I watch her Kay Jewelers commercials. I used to sit and play this on the piano a lot myself, when the sheet music turned up at the house one day. I think my mom had picked up a copy somewhere.
Even though my groom is an avid sci-fi fan too, he is still very traditional at heart and nixed the Ladyhawke entrance plan. He insisted on the traditional wedding march, and I gladly conceded. Somewhat. It's okay though, because I am a Wagner fan, and almost everything John Williams does is borrowed from Wagner anyway!
I know this is the brother/sister theme from Episode IV, Return of the Jedi, but this is some of the best music of the entire saga. This played for the lighting of the unity candle, and the reading of the poem below:
Beauty and the Beast was a cool show and I tried never to miss an episode. They cashed in on the whole "Jon Bon Jovi in a tux" look for Vincent, the Beast, and it was probably the only time Ron Perlman was ever thought of as a sex symbol. I love the poem-listen and you'll understand why.
This comes from a little known album that combined music from the show with poetry reading by the sensitive and misunderstood 'manimal' who lived in the New York sewer system. Who knew Hellboy could be so romantic?
I was the one who read the poem, right after we lit the candle. I think it's still in a box in the laundry room. Unfortunately, the glass holder it was in that day, a wedding gift, broke during our last move.
Incidentally, music from both the TV show and the Disney animated version of Beauty and the Beast were played as prelude music. I think I also included Stevie Nicks' song of the same title. I could be wrong-I can't find the music book I made up for that day, just the list of instructions:
I ALWAYS wanted to march back up the aisle to this. It uses the "Force" theme, as well as its own "Throne Room" theme. Our heroes receive their medals for destroying the Death Star and I get to leave the church with my own Han Solo. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me. It may have seemed unusual to some, but it was cool to hear it come up on the speakers at the end of what Reverend Crooks called "The Dog & Pony Show." (Jokingly, of course-this was NOT a complicated wedding by any means.)
All I did that day was get my hair done, was dropped off at the church, and sat in a Sunday School room just off the sanctuary all by myself for the better part of the morning. If there was a real dog & pony show, I must have missed it. It couldn't have been too much of one-we had to fly through the reception so we could run off to catch our plane to San Francisco.
We also didn't have a Star Wars-Themed wedding where we dressed up as characters and recited Jedi-enhanced vows. Even for me, that's a bit much. We did though, have an interesting set-up for the groom's cake:
When it came time to cut it, Don pulled a toy light saber out of his pocket. He'd carried it through the entire ceremony and I didn't even know.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed my contribution to Day 4 of the Music Challenge. That was a great day and I still love my groom, almost 14 years later. The Force has definitely been with us! :)
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