catapult magazine

If you had to do it all over again what music would you play at your wedding?

Assume that Aunt Gertrude will not be offended despite the fact that she paid for the whole thing.

Your question reminded me of a middle-aged woman with whom I once worked who walked down the aisle to “Leather and Lace.” Was that by Fleetwood Mac or just Stevie Nicks? I can’t remember.

Her unusual choice in wedding music wasn’t a sign of anything more unusual. She typed obituaries for a living, wore “mom” jeans and tried to get us to quit smoking. Apparently, she left her bad-ass self at the altar.

Well, since our wedding occurred less than five years ago, I don’t think there’s anything major I would change about the music. Of course, we used mostly older hymns, so we won’t be embarassed about anything quite so timebound as “Leather and Lace.” However, I do wish that we had shared communion at our wedding.

I only got married this summer, so at this point, there isn’t much I’d do differently—I was really happy with the music we chose. Here’s what we used during the service:

Prelude:
Introduction – Nick Drake (instrumental)
I Want You to Be My Love – Over the Rhine
The Shining – Badly Drawn Boy
String Quartet in F Major – Ysaye Quartet (from Royal Tenebaums sountrack)
Here We Go – Jon Brion
Book of Love – Magnetic Fields
Sparkplug Minuet – Royal Tenenbaums soundtrack
Come Thou Fount – Sufjan Stevens
Naked As We Came – Iron & Wine (this is “our” song; yes, we are morbid)

Processional:
Sliding Down – Bela Fleck, Yo Yo Ma, and others

During ceremony:
A song written by a friend

Recessional:
I’d Still Choose You – Al Green

I can’t remember if we chose any postlude music—it was probably Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone, if we did. Obviously, we didn’t make much of a distinction between sacred and “secular” music, but that’s us.

We also gave all our guests a CD of songs that had been important in our courtship. That sort of favor is hit-or-miss, but we tried to include something for everything, and even my grandmother has mentioned how much she likes it! :) Here’s the tracklist (some repeats from ceremony):

1. ?Waltz,? Hem
2. ?Naked as We Came,? Iron and Wine
3. ?Here We Go,? Jon Brion
4. ?Book of Love,? Magnetic Fields
5. ?Two of Us,? Aimee Mann & Michael Penn
6. ?I?d Still Choose You,? Al Green
7. ?After All,? Dar Williams
8. ?Shoot the Moon,? Norah Jones
9. ?When It Don?t Come Easy,? Patty Griffin
10. ?Come Thou Fount,? Sufjan Stevens
11. ?We are Gonna Be Friends,? The White Stripes
12. ?Farther Up the Road,? Bill Mallonee
13. ?One Moment More,? Mindy Smith
14. ?October,? Rosie Thomas
15. ?Such Great Heights,? Iron and Wine
16. ?From the Morning,? Nick Drake
17. ?Tomorrow is Such a Long Time,? Bob Dylan
18. ?I Dream a Highway,? Gillian Welch

Don’t even get me started on our reception playlist… :)

-kbj