Eight

Ok, I thought I'd continue the tile theme of numbers...

One of the things I am most thankful for in my life is my husband. This December we will celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary!!

In celebration of this happy event, I am changing my music to music from our wedding day.

Here's a little explanation.

1. Ave Maria - This was played at the church (Andrea Bocelli) while my mother and John's mother went up to light the unity candles. When it was our turn to take the two candles our mother's lit and light our own, we did not blow out their candles as is commonly done. We wanted to symbolize that we were not leaving our families to start our own, but that it was a continuing journey and that even though there are times (hee hee) that you may like to forget where you're from, we love them and they will always be part of us.

2. Silent Night - The gentleman who sang for us at our wedding (our friend Glenn) lead the guests in singing this song as John and I lit the unity candle. This is one of our favorite Christmas songs and we wanted to incorporate the season into our wedding. It was a lovely moment. As we do not have a recording of our guests singing this, I have put on the Bing Crosby rendition.

3. The Wedding Song - With words coming right from scripture, it is beautiful and simple. Glen did a wonderful job performing this for us!

4. Joy To The World - This song obviously tells of the joy of Christs' coming to earth. Again, we wanted to celebrate our marriage of course, but also share our faith with all those attending. Playlist didn't have the artist we had used, but this one works.

5. It Had To Be You - Our first dance. We had taken dance classes and did a combination of foxtrot and swing (we did swing during the big band piece in the middle). So fun!!! John was so cute, on the video you can see him counting. But you can also see that I'm leading. Boy, what does that say about this good Christian 'submissive' wife?! Great fun and the song so fits us!! And how can you go wrong with the great Harry Connick Jr?!!!

6. That's Amore - Can you have a wedding without this song? Our DJ did the old, 'Everyone pull out a dollar' routine to determine the winner of the centerpiece (a beautiful cream colored pitcher with gold trim filled with lovely silk poinsettias). But there was a twist (not a common one back 8 years ago)! The person left holding the dollar when the music stopped had to stand up and dance around the table. This happened twice, with someone from our church table doing a strip tease!! Hysterical!!!!!!!!!!! This was one of the songs played for the dance fest! Dean Martin part 1.

7. Memories Are Made Of This - We absolutely adored this song for our cake cutting! Our cake was beautiful: three octagon shaped tiers, different flavored cakes each level with white butter cream frosting and small red flowers. I know I ate the cake, there are pictures, but neither John nor I can remember ever tasting the cake. Dean Martin part 2

8. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer - In lieu of the traditional glass clinking (so not enjoyable after about the second time!!!!), if guests wanted us to kiss (I think weddings are the only place we all encourage a public display of affection of this nature - at any other time it's like 'get a room'!) they had to stand up as a table and sing a song. Our table linens were white with red napkins. One of my family tables stood with napkin held up to their faces and sang Rudolph. Big gold stars for creativity!! I don't have their enthusiastic take on it, but here's Gene Autry.

9. Through The Years (short version) - My dad chose the song that he and I would dance to. No shock, my dad being a country music fan as am I, he chose the Kenny Rogers classic. Listening to it as I added it, it was hard to hear the line 'I can't remember when you weren't there'. (Looks like I'm headed into another hard period with the holidays coming and all - but God is good!!) Dad kept asking me if I was alright while we were dancing. I think he just felt awkward and didn't know what to say. Dad's not a man of many words. Classic choice Dad!!

10. A Song For My Son (short version) - It's hard to find a good song for the mother-son dance!! My sister Kerry told us about this song. John played it for him mom and that was it. Wonderful moment at the reception! The artist is Mikki Viereck

11. L*O*V*E - There was LOTS of dancing and a wonderful time had by all (we still have people tell us that our wedding was one of the most enjoyable ones they've ever attended - wonderful compliment!). We were encircled by all of our family and friends as we took to the floor for our last dance. We wanted an upbeat song and we both just love the old classics so this catchy little song from Nat King Cole was such a perfect choice. We danced the fox trot to this. Counting isn't as noticeable by this point in the evening and I do believe I let loose and actually let John lead!

12. Time To Say Goodbye - After our last dance we had the DJ play one of my favorite songs as our 'goodbye' song. I heard this song for the first time at a skating show at Harvard. I even remember it was Rene Rocca and Gorsha Sur skating in purple costumes. I was completely mesmerized by the music and struggled in the terrible acoustics to determine which language was being sung. I called the box office the next day to find out what the song was. They couldn't help me. It was during the Christmas shopping season by the time I finally found it (the skating show had taken place at the end of October). I was doing some holiday shopping when I decided just for the heck of it, I'd try wandering through one of the big music stores at the mall. A sales person saw me roaming around and asked if they could help. I told her that I'm sure she couldn't as I knew so little of what I was searching for. I said, there was a song at a skating show... it was mostly in a foreign language, but I caught 'Time to Say Goodbye' or something... She said, 'Oh yes. Right this was, I know exactly what you mean.' And she did!! (kudos to that wonderful sales woman) I brought home my first Andrea Bocelli cd that day and became a huge fan!! (this was pre-PBS showings of his performances) Any how, the chorus of the song translated into English is (roughly), "Time to say goodbye. Places that I've never seen or experienced with you. Now I shall, I'll sail with you upon ships across the seas, seas that exist no more I revive them with you." How beautiful and incredibly romantic!! This is a duet with Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman.

John and I had the most wonderful time planning our wedding, including all of the music choices. We really did everything as a team and loved every minute of it!!!