Reminder: The names have been changed to protect the guilty!
On 12/30/23 Irene and Caleb exchanged vows and rings in a beautiful ceremony in the Crystal Gazebo at Opryland Hotel. Besides the wonderful music choices, which I will get to later, included on the program were beautiful Cherokee prayers and readings. They also included a candle lighting in honor of those who had passed on.
Now to the music…Caleb requested more instrumentalists for the extra volume (the Crystal Cathedral is somewhat noisy) and for the lushness of sound. Silver Strings became a septet with the addition of 2 extra violins and string bass. For the prelude the couple asked for all classics including Vivaldi’s “Spring”, Elgar’s “Salut d’Amour”, Faure’s “Pavane”, Delibes’ “Flower Duet”, Rachmaninov’s “Rhapsody on Paganini” and Bach’s “Air” from the Suite in D. For the processionals the septet brought the wedding party in to Prokofiev’s “Dance of the Knights” from the ballet “Romeo and Juliet”. Irene then entered to Tchaikovsky’s “In a Pine Forest” which is the first pas de deux in the “Nutcracker”. For the Remembrance Candle Lighting we played the slow movement from Chopin’s “Fantasie Impromptu”. Finally in front of friends and family and many curious onlooking tourists getting as close as they dared, Irene and Chuck were pronounced husband and wife after which we launched into the energetic opening to “Jupiter” from Gustav Holst’s “The Planets”. It was thrilling to have such a group to play such fabulous classics.
But we weren’t done yet. After the ceremony the septet decamped to a meeting room on the other side of the hotel to play for cocktails in the hall just outside the meeting room to kick off the celebration. We kept the classical repertoire coming but with some pop tunes salted in. We started off with Vivaldi’s “Autumn” and Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” followed by “Here Comes the Sun”, Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro”, among others and finally shooing the guests into the meeting room for dinner to “Phantom of the Opera”.
The Dinner repertoire was toned down a little bit with mostly classics by Debussy, Puccini and Beethoven including “Clair de Lune”, “Girl with the Flaxen Hair”, “O Mio Babbino Car”, “Nessun Dorma” and the slow movement from the “Pathetique Sonata” with “Mrs. Darcy”, “Ladies in Lavender” and “Beauty and the Beast” sprinkled in. It was time for cake cutting and speeches while the septet took their break.
After the break it was time for dancing. Irene and Chuck started it off with the “Grand Pas de Deux” from the “Nutcracker”. The musicians had a private joke of wondering if the bride was going to change into a tutu and the groom into tights to dance but that didn’t happen. Guests were invited to join them in the dancing which several couples did. After the first dance we launched into a variety of dance selections including “String of Pearls”, “Meryton Townhall”, “Jazz Waltz” (by Prokofiev), “Pretty Woman” and “Masquerade Waltz” (by Khatchaturian). At this time we thought it would be fun to give the guests a quickie lesson in how to tango so a friend of mine, who crashed the party with permission, joined me to show them a couple of basic steps. For this we performed “Cabeza” which is the music for the tango that Al Pacino danced with a young woman in the movie “Scent of a Woman”. From then on we mostly kept the tempo upbeat with tunes such as “Come Fly With Me”, “Stayin’ Alive”, “Cantina Band” (from Star Wars), “Take the A Train” with a few slow tunes for cheek to cheek dancing such as “The First Time” and “A Time for Us”.
At last it was time to send the newlyweds off to their honeymoon, but not before one last waltz for them. We decided on the “Blue Danube”. What a thrill, what a night. Congratulations and many wishes for a long and happy life together!!
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