Worst/ Strangest Wedding Request

[David Ice]

Hi John

I have a good friend who is a minister and who does probably 200+ weddings a year–sometimes 6 or more on a Saturday.

[Evangeline Williams]

My cousin’s wedding was great….I sent her a list of pop/rock tunes I knew, and she then sent a list of about 5 songs for each part of the ceremony (usually at least 2 were ones I knew).

[Evangeline Williams]

Oh and last year I played a wedding where the recessional was “Hallelujah Chorus”.

[kreig-kitts]

Katie, by “Time To Say Goodbye” do you mean the Sarah Brightman song? If so, it’s also an Andrea Bocelli song and the Italian title/refrain is “I Will Go With You.” Much more wedding-appropriate.

[barbara-low]

Well, this is more unusual rather than worst, strange or bad, but I was asked by friends to play Debussy’s Sacred and Profane Dances as a prelude to their wedding. I had recently performed it so my string quartet and I were prepared.

During the reception we played Viennese waltzes. That was a lot of fun.

[Fairy Reel]

That sounds really interesting! What did you play? I’ve actually met some Druids…so just in case….

[unknown-user]

Oddest one to date was the couple that rung me and requested the “wedding thing” – when I asked them to hum the “wedding thing” they hummed the…funeral march.

I told them, no you do not want that one, its the funeral march. But they were very sure. I then dragged the harp near the phone and played them the usual processional and recessions, and they finally agreed on the Wagner.

Sure enough, on the day, I played and the Wagner and all seemed to go really well. Then at the reception, the mother of the bride came up to me and said that they had paid for the “wedding thing” and that they did not hear me play it. I shuffled through my music and played her a snippet of the Wagner, and she insisted that this was not the “wedding thing”.

I got a sinking feeling at this point and asked her to hum what she thought it was…and sure enough she hummed..the funeral march. I explained again that this was the funeral march, and if I had played this, and the guests recognised it, it would not have shed a good light on the wedding! She kept arguing with me that they had paid for the wedding thing and not got it and did not want to pay me.

[diane-michaels]

Now you’ve jogged my memory

[barbara-brundage]

I agree with Kreig Kitts. if you read the words, Time to Say Goodbye is about saying goodbye to your old life as you go off with someone to begin a new one–quite appropriate for weddings.

[unknown-user]

Excellent! Do you recall if its the Mendelsshon that Slash…umm…slashes in that one?

[diane-michaels]

We went the un-informed, boring route –

[unknown-user]

…as long as the band “goes to 11” they are fine with me.

I’ll have to get hold of November Rain, borrow a CD and have a good listen, and check the Mendelssohn connection, as it was

[unknown-user]

….bad idea! If people assume the song is about children, people may

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