Our bride-to-be blogger Claire Adams is getting married in four months and she's at the 'choosing wedding music' stage. Is it possible to find a playlist that her future husband, guests and parents all approve of?
Something that I noticed almost immediately after walking into Hampton Court House (aside from the two open fires which are pretty ideal for our winter wedding) was the rather grand piano in the corner of the room.
Dee, the events manager, said that lots of couples like to make use of it before, during and after their ceremony and Guy Pearson, the residential pianist, was the man to get in touch with.
In terms of organising the entertainment for our wedding Lee and I have always agreed on booking a really good DJ to play, as this is pretty much going to be the main source of evening entertainment for all of our guests. I spoke to a few different options (of various ages and 'calibres') but didn't feel like I had found the right one until I stumbled across Eight Ray Music, an agency who have a wide variety of DJ's on their books. We were given the details of Luke Delaney, who is luckily both experienced and flexible - which is massively essential for us.
Aside from our own request list we have asked all of our 200 guests to note down their two favourite songs on the invite RSVP so that we can ensure that everyone is happy on the night - well at least for those six minutes that their Michael Buble/Celine Dion songs are played. We also hope that it means that our mothers won't chew the DJ's ear off all night asking when he is going to play 'New York, New York'.
Having the DJ booked was a relief but it didn't solve the musical entertainment for the rest of the day so meeting with Guy sounded like a great idea. I met him at the venue with my parents and I liked Guy the minute I met him. He looked like a 'real life' musician, which might be slightly naive thing for me to say, but it made me feel immediately at ease. We sat in the ceremony room and had a chat about mine and Lee's thoughts for the day, when we would like the piano to be played, what sort of music we would like to hear and at what times.
With an absent fiance it was down to my parents and I to suggest various artists/songs to Guy and he quickly slipped onto the piano stool to play whatever song requests we shouted out to him. He practically knew every song off by heart although I did have to occasionally remind my parents that this was for my wedding. It was unlikely that he would be playing ALL of their personal favourites on the actual day (especially as Lee really doesn't like The Beatles).
After the upbeat choices the tinkling of the keys slowed a little as the subject turned to the 'the aisle song'. It was at this point that I think we all felt a little shiver of excitement and nerves (definitely for me anyway!) and it suddenly all felt very real. I am getting married in December and this is where, in four months, I will be walking down the aisle with my dad. And actually...should we also get a band?
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