The Sound of Marriage

From the beginning of wedding planning, music was important to Pure Heart and I. We wanted the music in the ceremony to represent us. Instead of typical procession and recession songs, we chose tunes that meant stuff to us.

She walked into Sara Groves' "Fly." For weeks leading up to the wedding, we got asked the "Are you going to cry?" question. I said that if I got past watching Pure Heart walk down the aisle, I'd be fine. But I didn't. And I wasn't. At Friday's wedding rehearsal, I knew I was doomed. A friend of ours sung "Fly" for the wedding. The rehearsal was my first chance to hear her sing it. Hearing those lyrics as Pure Heart walked toward me with her dad just rocked me. I started tearing up then--at the stinking rehearsal. So I knew I was doomed at the ceremony.

What surprised me was that during the ceremony, I actually began the tearing up before Pure Heart even came in. Seeing my Super Nephew (one of two ring bearers) being pulled down the aisle in a wagon touched me. And then "Fly" started, I saw Pure Heart looking amazing in her dress, I thought about how happy we are--and I began to blubber. Big time. The pastor, a family friend, even put his hand on my shoulder to console me. It didn't help much. I considered yanking my little decorative hankie out of my chest pocket and using it to blow my nose, but I didn't. That would have been funny. Instead, I did this lip-biting thing that I am sure looks great in pictures.

We recessed to "Ode to Joy," a song that I suppose a lot of people use. But we both love it. I wanted it because: 1) it sounds cool and 2) it's got a manly edge because it's in Die Hard. Therefore, I could pretend like I was running form the ceremony before it blew up. Yippee-Kai-Yay!

All of the customized music worked only because we had a close friend, Luis, handling the music for us. It was such a gift. He's so good. He even went above and beyond with a very special arrangement. I wanted to enter the ceremony with my groomsmen to the raucous and bombastic old White Sox anthem, "Go Go Go, White Sox." But the song, originally done in 1959 by some guy called "Captain Stubby," just doesn't fit such a dignified event. We instead wanted it to be arranged so that sounded pretty, but if you knew the tune, you'd get it. (In fact, in the program we didn't call it by name but called it "With You All the Way," a line from the song.) And so, Luis the genius sprinkled fairy dust on it and made it into this beautiful keys and cello symphony. It was actually beautiful.

At the rehearsal, Luis was excited for me to hear his version. He called me over and did a special recital just for me. And I about fainted after hearing it. It was perfect. He was so jazzed about it that instead of just playing part of it as we walked in, he wanted to play through the whole thing. I agreed. But then, it all got even sweeter. In the rehearsal, we discovered that the song we chose for the bride's maids to walk in to was actually too short. So, it got moved to when the ring bearers and flower girls entered. And "Go Go Go White Sox" was extended to play while both the guys and the girls all entered the ceremony. It was phenomenal.

The best part of the song being played was looking into the audience and seeing people cocking their heads, trying to figure it out, and then laughing when it came to them.

Marriage Update:
I was afraid it would happen. And on only my second day back to work, I forgot to wear my ring. D'oh. You really can't teach an old dog new tricks.