Wedding Blog
Because I’m a musician the selection of music for our ceremony was very important to me. I mentioned in a previous post that we hired a solo guitarist, Brendan Burns, to play for our ceremony, cocktail hour and the beginning of the dinner hour. It was a great choice!
We also asked a dear friend of mine to sing a song with him. She is very talented and actually just graduated from college with a degree in classical voice and is pursuing a career in opera. She is also a fantastic jazz singer and a stunning girl — what a package! See the video above to hear and see them.
The song we picked was “There Is No Greater Love” by Isham Jones and Marty Symes. The lyrics were just so perfect for us:
There is no greater love
Than what I feel for you
No greater love, no heart so trueThere is no greater thrill
Than what you bring to me
No sweeter song
Than what you sing to meYou’re the sweetest thing
I have ever known
And to think that you are mine aloneThere is no greater love
In all the world, it’s true
No greater love
Than what I feel for you.
We also had him play “Better Together” by Jack Johnson. Two musical interludes were perfect and they both had such meaning for us. I printed the lyrics of both songs on the back of the program so our guests could better understand our choices.
Brendan Burns playing at our ceremony
Brendan arrived early to run through the song with my friend. He played the songs we’d talked about beautifully, although I wish I could have heard everything prior to my walk down the isle! I guess that’s another reason to look forward to our video from Wes Jones. Brendan’s selections for the cocktail hour and dinner were perfect. He added to the ambiance without sticking out, which is just what we wanted for this kind of occasion.
Brendan in the background — my mother-in-law looking at me proudly in the foreground
He learned a number of songs for us including “Better Together” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by the Beach Boys which was our recessional. He is based in Boston but travels, so I’d highly recommend you reach out if this is the kind of feeling you want for your wedding. He also teaches private lessons, so if you live in the Boston area and have always wanted to learn guitar — now is the time! Check him our at www.brendanburns.com.
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K, this is so funny! Jess played and sang “Better Together” to me during our reception… and our recessional was “Come and Go with Me” by the Beach Boys, sung by a quartet from our church. We are both also musicians (actually how we got to know each other, in a sense) so I feel ya on the song choice importance bit. =) Pretty much all of our wedding songs are not songs typically used.. and we loved it!!!
Hi miss Onion - did you give your guitarist a song list? If so, would you mind sharing?
mrs. plumeria,
awesome that we shared jack johnson and the beatles! so cute that your husband sang/played “better together” for you! i’m sure people loved your personal selections. what do you play??
jean — here is what i comunicated to our guitarist:
prelude — please include:
1) bach’s “cello suite #1 prelude”
2) schumman’s “traumerei”
3) any jazz tunes you like, no “new age-y music”
4) no pop music for the ceremony – let’s save that for the cocktail hour/dinner
bridal processional:
bach’s “sleeper’s awake” (wachet auf)
wedding processional:
offenbach’s “barcarolle from the tales of hoffman”
intermission/musical interludes:
1) vocal/guitar duet with my friend - “there is no greater love”
2) jack johnson’s “better together”
Include the following some time during the evening:
3) storybook love song from the princess bride
4) allison krauss’s “the lucky one”
recessional:
beach boys “wouldn’t it be nice”
beyond that we discussed a number of jazz songs I loved and left the “background” music choices up to him. he was willing to learn anything we wanted for the ceremony however, which was awesome! he liked both the songs I had him learn so much he’s adding them to his repertoire list for other brides!
I’ve played the piano for 15 years now, and I minored in music in college (piano performance, accompanying, improv, sound design). I also was in choir all during college, but I won’t sing if you can hear me by myself. =) Hehe. Jess has played guitar since he was in middle school and has a really nice voice as well — so we hit it off as friends in a great part because we enjoyed jamming together. When we have kids it’s gonna be a band! Hahaha! No seriously though.. we love music and hope our family will as well.
ps. I think I remember reading somewhere in your posts that you were/are in a vocal jazz ensemble? That is so awesome.
Mrs. Plumeria — That’s awesome that you are both so musical! Lucky kids for sure. Look out Partridge Family, here come the Plumerias!
I actually got a degree in classical voice from college and went on to record a jazz CD of love songs from the 30’s and 40’s. It’s not a vocal jazz ensemble (only enjoyed choral music — never jazz vocal groups) — I’m a lead vocalist and work with jazz combos — trios, quartets, quintets etc. I wish I was working more than I am right now but the wedding took a TON of energy.
Hehe I guess this thread has become our personal conversation Mrs. Onion 
That is so cool… you must have a wonderful voice! I sincerely admire voice majors — I think, especially at my college, where technical majors like engineering and bio were very highly esteemed, the music major tended to be regarded as somehow “easier.” After accompanying for a lot of the vocalists for practicum and seeing the headwork involved for diction classes, etc… I gotta say you guys are smart, and super talented! Did you use any of your own music for your wedding?
OH MY! I just was e-mailing with the fiance (we’re narrowing down the mondo list of protential wedding song) and those are 2 of the finalists!! Freaky.
I am so happy brides and grooms are choosing “There is no greater love” for their wedding song! My grandfather, Marty Symes, was the man who wrote that song for my Aunt Debbie when she was born. He also wrote “I have but one heart” for my Grandmother, Pauline, when they got married. You may have heard that song on “The Godfather.” I am so very pleased couples are using these very romanic songs! My fiance and I are using so many of his songs for our wedding next October! Best of luck and great choice in music!
Emily — I can’t tell you how tuched I am to know this. I am a singer and am so selective with the music I pick — this was an important choice for me. My friend who sang for us is about to release her first CD and she did a very hip arrangement of “There is no greater love” that I had her learn for our wedding.
My grandfather wrote a song for my grandmother as well — I’d be happy to share it with you if you’d like to email me. It’s called “Is It Love You’re After?”
Oh my gosh, I’d love to hear it! I’d also love to hear your friend’s version of my Grandfather’s song! I’m always looking for singers singing his music, and sharing with my mom. It was her father who wrote these amazing pieces and he unfortunatly died when she was only 4 years old, so any “piece” of him we treasure! My wedding will be filled with his music
~emily
Emily — email me at onion@weddingbee.com and I’ll send you all details. I know what you mean — my mother’s father died when she was 21 and her mother passed when I was a senior in college. Any piece of either of them is very special — so you can imagine my mother’s pride when I recorded her father’s song written for her mother.
Did you watch the video in this post? It’s her singing “There is no greater love” as a balad with our guitarist during our wedding ceremony.
In the meantime, you can hear my grandfather’s song here: http://tinyurl.com/5jq9wy and my friend’s version of your granfather’s song here: http://tinyurl.com/6bawt4.
All my best,
Mrs. Onion
[...] We started making the slideshow in Microsoft Photo Story, but with all the time it took to scan the photos, organize them, etc., we found ourselves at my parents’ house the weekend before the wedding and it still wasn’t finished! My mother has an iMac at work, so we decide to use iPhoto to create the slideshow. The music is a Bill Evans piano version of the song my friend sang at the ceremony - “There is no greater love.” [...]
[...] a video and see the lyrics in my post “There is No Greater Love.” (Note: Nicole will have her jazz festival debut this summer at the Litchfield Jazz Festival [...]
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Miss Onion, NYC/Burlington, VT
Age and Occupation: 27, PR & Marketing and Jazz Singer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Data Analyst
Engagement Date: April 2, 2006
Wedding Date: September 2007
Blogging Since: July 11, 2007
Venue: Restaurant in Burlington
About Me: I didn't think I'd be "that girl," but I am having so much fun planning our wedding (mostly by myself). I'm a PR and Marketing Director for a major jazz festival and camp by day, and by night, a romantic jazz singer and bride-to-be! I hope all my research can help other brides in their planning.
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