New Hope Wedding

I met the couple six months before their wedding. At our first meeting we discussed their musical likes and dislikes.  We talked about the wedding itself: how many people, who will be in the room, what they envision happening on that day.  After thinking about the guests and the flow of the wedding, we turned our attention to music. When they shared their love for Society by Eddie Vedder, I knew it was going to be a special wedding.

During the months that led up to the wedding we built out the playlist by exchanging music by sending links to YouTube videos, sharing Spotify playlists, and exchanging USB drives.

Two weeks before the wedding, I met with the couple at Marsha Brown Restaurant in New Hope, PA, to go over logistics. Caleb Lentchner, the general manager and chef was warm and friendly during our visit and was a pleasure to work with from the planning stage straight through the end of the wedding.

The dance floor was packed the whole time, even during the slower songs the couple selected for the dinner hour.  All the guests were pleased with the music and complemented me on the selections.  I refused to take credit, and told them that the music was actually prepared by their hosts: the bride and groom.

Here are a few highlights from the music at the wedding:

Ceremony:

Erik Satie – Gymnopédie Set the tone for the wedding procession.
Claude Debussy – Clair De Lune The bride walked in to this one.
Yann Tiersen – La Valse d’Amélie Immediately after the ceremony, to transition to the cocktail hour.

Cocktail Hour:
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Man On Fire
Jill Scott – Golden
Feist – One Evening
Lamb – Angelica (And ambient track that sounds like Clair De Lune.)
John Legend – Save Room

Dancing:
Neil Young – Harvest Moon (Unplugged version) This was the couple’s first dance. They lingered lovingly on the floor with a moment of intimacy; everyone could see them, but their conversation was strictly between the two of them.
Stevie Wonder – Do I Do
Jackson 5 – The Love You Save
Michael Jackson – Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
Paul Simon – Late In The Evening
Van Morrison – Moondance. This was the parents wedding song.

Dinner:
Perry Como – And I Love You So
Jackson 5 – I’ll Be There. This was the daddy-daughter dance.
The Beatles – If I Fell
Peter Frampton – Baby I Love Your Way (Live)
The Beatles – In My Life. This was the mother-son dance.
Elvis Presley – Can’t Help Falling In Love
Beyoncé – Get Me Bodied
Usher – OMG
Curtis Mayfield – Move On Up

Dessert:
The dessert set started with the song Earth Angel. Not the original by The Penguins, or the chart topper by The Crew-Cuts, but the version from Back To The Future by Marvin Berry and the Starlighters. I introduced the song with “This is for all you lovers out there.”
Stevie Wonder – You Are The Sunshine of My Life
Frank Sinatra – New York, New York