What do harpists chose for their own weddings?

[Sarah Mullen]

I know from these reading these posts that many of you harpists out there are married, so I need your help with a dilemma I’m in at the moment.

[Briggsie B. Peawiggle]

I was an organist/flutist when I married my organist husband. We were married in a church we liked but which had a wheezing wonder for an organ. We had just re-regulated an organ together. He taught me how to do that stuff….it was fun…..our romance was kind of built around that a lot. Instead of going on hot dates, I would hang upside down from mitred pipes and tap on tuning sleeves or pull pipes and tap around their lead openings with an awl….

We had a professional recording engineer come into the church where we were doing the work. It was for the most part, done. My husband played the prelude and postlude (“The Emperor’s Fanfare” by Soler and Nun Danket by Bach) and I played some nice flute/organ pieces with him. A very dear friend who is also an organist ran the sound system for us as we walked down the aisle, and we had about 1/2 hour of music beforehand, which we warned everyone of in the invitations. We had a small wedding. I hand wrote the invitations.

Briggs

[louise-vickerman]

My husband is a trumpet player so we avoided both harps and trumpets! For the ceremony we just had organ (although he did play Trumpet Voluntary) and I have some favorite organ pieces which he was able to include (Widor’s Toccata was one).

For the entertainment during cocktails we had a local professional drama group enact the last scene (“Pyramus & Thisbe”) from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, since we were married on Midsummer’s Day, it was the perfect choice and everyone loved it!

[c-k]

I did hire a harpist, but I didn’t want her to play the processional–like you said, too much like work. She did the prelude and the reception, both

[melissa-tardiff-dvorak]

I did not want a harp at my wedding as well.

[unknown-user]

I choose not to get married at all

[diane-michaels]

We had a string quartet.

[katie-lynch-koglin]

Good question.

[katie-lynch-koglin]

Woops – Our first dance was “Love and Marriage”

[Janna B.]

Why not try a themed wedding?

[Julie Koenig]

It sounds over the top, but I had pipe organ, string quartet and a choir of 35. My mom is an organist and choir director and the choir members are all friends; it ended up being incredible.

The prelude included the Gounod Sanctus and Lloyd Webber Pie Jesu

Mothers – Schubert – Ave Maria

Processional – Mouret – Rondeau

Opening Hymn – Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

Preparation of Gifts – Hopson – The Gift of Love

Communion – Tchaikovsky – Andante cantabile and Mozart – Ave Verum Corpus

Recessional – Vivaldi – Gloria

Postlude – Mozart – Rondo from Eine Kleine

At the reception we had, of all things, a polka band at my Hungarian dad’s insistence. The reception lasted seven hours until they kicked us all out of the place! My husband and I danced to Our Love is Here to Stay by the Gershwins and my dad and I danced to Mr. Wonderful.

When my sister was married a couple years ago, she asked my mom and I to choose everything. She had the same organist with two singers and I was ‘coerced’ into being matron of honor/harpist.

The Mozart Laudate Dominum and Rhett Barnwell’s Ave Maria were in the prelude

Mothers – Lloyd Webber – Pie Jesu

Processional – Campra – Rigaudon

Harp solo – Sakura, Sakura (my brother-in-law is Japanese)

Vocal solo – Beethoven – Ich liebe dich

Recessional – Marcello – Psalm XIX

She had a dj for the reception and danced to Just the Two of Us by Bill Withers with her husband and then Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller with our dad. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house!

Julie in Atlanta

[sherry-lenox]

I’ll tell you what I think- I think these programs were gorgeous. I used the Campra in my wedding, and at the time, I was directing the choir, so mine was a men’s choir of about 20.

As long as you can pull off the quality that you included in your programs, my feeling is the more the merrier! Beautiful, JUST beautiful!

[unknown-user]

I played for a harpist’s wedding, and I believe I played the first movement of the Handel Concerto, then the first four of Salzedo’s Preludes Intimes, or first three, then played the fifth one as a recessional. She was happy with it.

[Author]

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