If you’re looking to have a destination wedding that “art more lovely and temperate” than any other, do I have a suggestion for you…
Recently opened to the public, brides and grooms can now profess their nuptial love atop the iconic balcony made famous by William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. (Yep, you heard me right.) Part of the Capulet Mansion in Verona - or Juliet’s house – this incredibly famous veranda has unlocked its windows to the general public and gladly welcomes their love and marriage (and money.)
And while I’m still leery on Romeo & Juliet being the greatest love story of all time… <She’s a 13 year old girl. He’s a Renaissance player, and they both end up dead>… there is no denying that Shakespeare was a master at personifying love. Simply by picking up a feather tipped pen and jotting down a few thees and thous, this 16th Century sonnet seducer melted the hearts of women everywhere… then and now.
So, if you’re looking to have a Shakespearean styled wedding, simply strap on your fanciest tights, channel your inner poet and book a destination wedding that even the Montagues and Capulets would break bread to see :)
June 3, 2009
So, let’s dish about wedding songs. If you’re even slightly into music, narrowing down a list of your favorite tunes is a feat in itself… let alone picking the one melody that perfectly describes the love you and your man share. I mean seriously, is it too much to ask to find a song that’s memorable, timeless, artistic, original and perfect in every sense of the word?? I mean geesh, I think not :)
My first thought: Do we even have a song? Hmmm. Let me start by saying that my Mister is really (and I mean re-he-HEALLY) into music; so, since the beginning of our courtship, I have received a number of “mixed tapes” that have intermittently been exchanged in and out of my car stereo… thus, creating an original soundtrack to my daily life. I love love love each and every one because they take me back to a specific moment in time. Just like distinct smells have the ability to house memories, a great song has the power to evoke certain snapshots in my life… something I truly treasure!
I started going through each disk – track by track – listening and waiting… I suppose for that “aahhh haaa” moment most people expect when they’re waiting for anything, but it didn’t come. Getting flustered, I went to a girl’s most trusted assistant, and I Google-ed any form of First Wedding Dance Songs that I could think of. The results returned a staggering 28,800,000 Web sites.
…Wow…
Looks like I’m not the only person wondering about it, nor am I the first to write about it. And perhaps - because the results were so vast – something about them felt a little off. They almost seemed too great in numbers… too impersonal for us. And the one piece of advice sooo many of my friends had given was, “Pick a song that means something to you.” Alas, I went back to the mixed tapes.
That’s when I came across the very first CD Tanner ever made me… very originally titled, “Songs for You – 3.18.06.” Right when I popped it in, I immediately travelled back in time. I instantaneously had flutter-bies – the very specific, super fluttery butterflies a girl only gets at the start of something special, and all of a sudden I had 18 “memorable, timeless, artistic, original and perfect in every sense of the word” songs that 28,800,000 search results couldn’t find. It was awesome.
I ended up choosing Holiday in Spain by the Counting Crows, and it’s funny because it really doesn’t have anything to do with true love or epic romance… but it does have EVERYTHING to do with our love and our romance. It reminds me of holding his hand in the car during the hundreds of trips to and from Chicago to visit his family. It reminds me of dancing in the kitchen at his old house after we’d packed up all the boxes and only the CD player was left out. But most importantly, it reminds me of us.
Now, I’m not naive enough to believe this is how it happens for everyone. In fact, I’m still in shock that this is how it happened for me. So, if you’re a bride-to-be struggling to find your perfect song, here are a few sites that I found helpful: 50 Songs for the More Traditional Bride, 30 Songs for the Less Traditional Bride and Some Wedding Songs that fall in the middle. And just in case you’re in need of a guilty plasure, here’s a link to Famous Celebrity Wedding Songs. Enjoy and happy planning!
June 1, 2009
