Soundtrack To I Do: Real Wedding: Sara & Brandon

Today I have a very fun wedding to share. Sara found my blog through her friend Holly, whose stunning wedding was featured on the Soundtrack a couple of weeks ago. Sara and her husband Brandon are both musicians, so they have lots of awesome musical details to their wedding. Enjoy!

Brandon and I were married on August 17, 2008 at St Dominic Chapel on the Providence College campus. Our reception was held at Kirkbrae Country Club in Lincoln, RI. We met at PC as sophomores and sang together in several choral groups. We started dating shortly after graduation in 2004 and did the "long-distance relationship" for a few years while he was living in RI and I was in MA. We got engaged on his birthday in December 2006 (smart guy - he'll never forget our engagement date!) in the Boston Public Gardens on a little bridge overlooking the frozen lake. It was perfect and I was completely surprised!

We started planning our wedding and we both knew that music would play an integral part. Having the wedding ceremony at the chapel at PC was also a must for us - for sentimental reasons of course, but also because it is a beautiful space.

Music has always been a central part of our lives and not just from our college days singing together - Brandon sang in high school and plays guitar; I performed throughout high school and I am currently an elementary music teacher. Not only did we take great care to pick the music for our special day, we wanted it to be reflected in other aspects of our planning, too. We thought it would be fun to "break tradition" and name our tables after our favorite songs! All of those songs were featured at some point during the night: the first dance, the parent dances, during dinner, etc.

We wanted our wedding to be not only entertaining for our guests, but something that we'd always remember as being fun for us, too! I had recently joined a band a few months before we got married and I invited them to be our entertainment during cocktail hour. Of course they wouldn't let me get away without joining them for a few songs! One of my favorite wedding pictures is of me jamming with the band in my wedding dress!

Our first dance was "The Book of Love" by Peter Gabriel. We both fell in love with this song after seeing the movie "Shall We Dance?" Some of the lyrics include "But I, I love it when you sing to me...And you, you can sing me anything" as well as "And I, I love it when you give me things...and you, you ought to give me wedding rings." It just seemed so appropriate for two musicians getting married!

Later in the evening, Brandon and I (with the help our of wonderful DJ!) sang a song together, another favorite of ours, "Everything" by Michael Buble. I have to say, even though we have both performed many times in front of large crowds, for me, this one of the most nerve-wracking performances of my life! But also an incredible one that I will never forget!

Our final "musical tribute"so to speak, happened at the end of the night. Our DJ really went all out for this one! To our guests, it appeared as though Brandon and I were going to have one final, special dance together. The DJ announced the song, "When You Say You Love Me"by Josh Groban (which is "our" song) and started to play the recording, but a few seconds in, it started to skip. Brandon and I stood there with tense looks on our faces as the DJ apologized and tried the song one more time. Again, the recording started to skip and we were getting agitated - one of my bridesmaids even yelled out "Can't you just start it in the middle of the song??" Brandon and I did our best to hide our laughter and I calmly asked the DJ to just play a different song. The next thing our guests heard was the familiar rockin' intro to the Jackson 5's hit song "ABC" and Brandon and I danced around as our guests looked on, totally surprised! I've always loved this song and because we're both teachers, I thought it was somewhat fitting! It was the perfect ending to our special day.