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One of the best parts of my job is making my clients' vision into a reality. Every detail of the music is carefully selected for a reason. For A & M's wedding, they were excited about the possibility of a Medieval theme, and like the music history nerd that I am, I launched into full research mode first.
The Medieval period lasted from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, spanning roughly a thousand years. This gave us the opportunity to pull from composers all across that span, resurrecting some musical works for what very well could have been the first time they've been heard at a wedding in hundreds of years.
"We resurrected pieces for their wedding that may not have been heard for hundreds of years"
I arranged 6 selections for their Prelude spanning the centuries, including "Be Thou my Vision" from the 8th Century and "Je Suis Aussi" from the 14th, and created tracks that would have been true to the time period in their instrumentation, utilizing a reed (oboe), and a plucked string (harp) to accompany my violin melody line.
During the Middle Ages, weddings would begin with a celebratory parade to the church. This procession would be led by minstrels on a variety of instruments, and include the wedding couple with their families and wedding party. It must have been a joyous and richly layered sound to hear, and I knew that A & M just had to have a similar Processional for their wedding. I sourced a Medieval Fantasy track and transcribed the melody to play along with it. Then, taking inspiration from the complex polyphony that was present in the authentic medieval music in the Prelude, I layered the violin line to play complimentary melodies along with the fantasy track. It turned out so incredible that I recreated 2 other tracks in this same manner for a jubilant Postlude!
po·lyph·o·ny (pəˈlifənē) noun MUSIC - the style of simultaneously combining a number of parts, each forming an individual melody and harmonizing with each other.
As for a fitting Recessional to match the world we're building? What better than the iconic Wedding March by Mendelssohn to underscore Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream?
A & M had a special song, "Book of Love", that they wanted to highlight within their ceremony. With incredible The Princess Bride vibes, it was a perfect Grand Entrance selection. I sourced a guitar track for the accompaniment and wrote out the violin melody for this special request. This special song's use as the Grand Entrance was kept a secret until it was played at their wedding, and it was shared with me how special of a moment it was for them:
"I never told M about The Book of Love and he told me whenever he heard that he started to [lose] it. You are literally a magical goddess and [we] couldn’t be more happy. Thank you so so much for making our wedding day into a fairytale." -A
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