Here’s the music we used during the ceremony. Definitely some non-traditional choices, but each song was such a perfect fit for the function it was placed in during the ceremony that it really didn’t seem to be noticeably “different”; it was more like each aspect of the ceremony became noticeably more interesting. At least that’s what I felt, but I was the bride…lol.
Processional:
The wedding party with finale of dad & bride all entered on the same song, “Don’t Be Shy” by Cat Stevens. My husband remixed it a bit by looping together the instrumental introduction to add an extra minute of just piano melody to the song, and it was perfectly timed for my dad and I to walk in on the lyrics that open the second verse: “Love is better than a song,/ Love is where all of us belong”.  We included the full lyrics in the program so that our family and friends could see yet another reason why we picked this song to start the event off with. As if the euphoric, playful melody of piano that opens the song wasn’t incredible enough to walk down any aisle to, the simple presentation of the true love lyrics over light guitar strums made that moment during the ceremony seem like it was in slow-motion from another time. Again, that could have just been me.
Songs Performed Live During The Ceremony:
I’ll have to get the video of those performances up on the website when  I get the video back, but for now you’ll have to believe me when I say “WOW”. Friends from my undergraduate musical theatre days were generous enough to perform two live selections during the short ceremony, and let me tell you, these moments were breathtaking. In both performances, I could literally see the confidence building, the breath taking foot, the crescendo rising, the joy filling up as the songs drove quickly forward into their pinnacle moments. The first song performed was “I’ll Cover You” from RENT, one of our favorite songs, one of my dad’s favorite songs, and a beautiful ode to love. My friends Regina and Peter did the harmonies like in the movie soundtrack, so that’s the video I’m including below. They also kept it upbeat and joyful, like the song seems to be written, but turned the tempo down a bit to make the impact of the words more succinct. My incredibly talented friends totally hit their stride at the song’s crescendo (1:36) a.k.a. the bridge of the song, and then peaked again at 2:07 (the dual “yeah yeah yeahs”). It was awesome. I was in awe. I was also mouthing along the words to my husband-to-be as we stood side-by-side and watched the performance, no biggie.
Song #2 is from a musical I’ve never seen, Children Of Eden. I know you’re probably thinking “two musical songs, this seems a little too theatrical for my tastes”, but since both songs were performed at new tempos, with non-Broadway sounding vocals and with only a piano as accompaniment, they didn’t come off musical-theatre-y at all, which was certainly our intent. Okay, so the second song is called “In Whatever Time We Have” and it is a zinger! Right into the heartstrings. The video I included below has an intro we didn’t include that relates to the plot of the musical. It also has ridiculously Broadway sounding pronunciation and vocalizations and synthesizer. Gross. But when I get the video up from the ceremony, you’ll see that we toned that down a lot. 2:00 has a nice crescendo that might get a tear or two rolling, but the song really hits your face at 2:44 in a way that you really can’t deny if you are a thinking, feeling human being who has ever felt love. So, all your robots out there, ignore this blog!
Recessional:
Oh did we dance down that aisle! We chose to recess outside to the soulful vocals of Jackie Wilson in his classic “Higher & Higher”. This song is joy personified, and brought into the ceremony that gospel element that I really wanted. Music was the only thing I ever liked about going to church when I was a kiddo, I used to say I was from the Church of Music. And this song is a fine example of how I felt: this is music hitting joy at its core, spreading love, showing rejoice and exuberance, and it was the most fitting song of any I’ve ever heard in my life to choose to walk together for the first time as husband and wife together. All our friends and family followed behind as we walked outside into the sunlight, and it was good. That’s gospel, right there.