Weddingbee Blog

On Sunday afternoon we met with our harpist at her home across town. What was originally going to be a brief chat to determine what-pieces-when turned into a two hour talk about music and weddings in general. I’m *so* excited to be working with this woman; her philosophies and practices really align with ours and what we want for the wedding.

In addition to talking about the trials and tribulations of being stuck in the back of an orchestra (I’m a bassist, so I understood her plight!) and the merits of uber-traditional versus unusual pieces, we did manage to nail down all the music for the ceremony. Here’s what we’ve got:

Prelude (30 minutes as guests are seated):
Her repertoire includes harp renditions of many popular songs–everything from “Stairway to Heaven” to “Can’t Buy me Love”. It’ll be pieces like these that we have during the prelude.

Processional part 1 (Mr. Blueberry + Officiant, parents, grandparents, etc):
Pachelbel’s Canon in D
Believe it or not, I *love* how the Canon sounds on harp! Before our meeting, I was sick to death of the piece and actually told Mr. Blueberry “We will *never* have this in our wedding.” But as soon as the harpist played the first note, I was already tearing up.

Processional part 2 (MOH + BM, flower girls):
“Passepied” by Marcel Grandjany
This isn’t one of those super recognizable pieces, but I really like how it sounds following the Canon in D. It keeps up that ‘marching’ tone and is filled with sweet and light notes–what could be better for four flower girls?

Bride’s processional:
“Bridal March from Lohengren” by Wagner
Yeah, “Here comes the bride.” Another one that I’d said I would *never* have in my wedding. But I just hadn’t heard it on the harp before. This one made me tear up, too–I’m going to be such a mess heading down the aisle!

Unity candle:
“Send Her My Love” (originally performed by Journey)
Mr. Blueberry and I have a thing about Journey–right after we started dating, we went to a Journey concert and had a ton of fun. When I gave him a pocketwatch the following Valentine’s Day, I had it engraved with “Forever yours, faithfully” (another Journey lyric). So it’s only fitting that we would incorporate it into our ceremony somehow!

Recessional:
“What a Wonderful World.” This was suggested by our harpist; she said she thought we might like it. And she was right! It’s the perfect way to end our ceremony

Postlude:
More contemporary pieces from the prelude.