6/11/11 Bollywood wedding at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia PA

My groom for this wedding inquired about Bollywood music for the cocktail hour. He hired a string trio (two violins, one violin who can also play guitar, and cello), asked me to score 9 Bollywood songs for string trio, and asked for Western classical music for the wedding ceremony.

The song list (and please note, some of these songs took 13 hours a piece to write out):

1. Ek Ladki
2. Tujhe Dekha
3. Hoton Se
4. Chandi Jaisa
5. Jai Ho
6. Kabhi Kabhi
7. Aapki Nazro
8. Chaiyya Chaiyya
9. Yeh Dil

Also of note: when I showed up for the wedding ceremony, the officiant asked if we had any traditional Indian classical music for the fire ceremony. The groom forgot to tell me about this. But wait, it ends well! Now, I studied South Indian (Carnatic) music for 10 years, and my teacher JUST cleared me to play in public (that's just the way it is in that tradition), so I sat down cross legged near the altar when the fire ceremony was about to start, detuned my violin, put coconut oil on my fingers, and played 10 minutes of the Chakravakkam raga for them.

The cocktail hour was an even mix of songs from my MTV fake book (the other violinist switched over to guitar sometimes), and the Bollywood songs. We had the crowd DANCING to acoustic music!

Every year, I end up with one big wedding that's the wedding of the year. I have to say, this wedding plus Lori's daughter's wedding (see next post) make it a magical year of TWO huge weddings! If you want Bollywood or classical Indian music (South Indian, aka Carnatic violin), I've got that too! I can't think of any other musician in this geographical area who can do both the music arrangements and traditional Indian classical music. Plus, we had a BLAST!

Love,
Catherine

11/4/11 Wedding at Lucien's Manor, Berlin NJ

This is a story about a mother's love and devotion.

When Lori called me in May 2011, she wanted to learn the violin well enough to play for her daughter's wedding on November 4th. My childhood blessing is that I had some of the world's best teachers (Robert Davidovici, wherever you are, THANK YOU), and I feel comfortable that I can pass on what they learned.

Lori hid the lessons from her daughter for SIX MONTHS. She practiced an hour every day in secret (her daughter was still living with her at the time, so this wasn't always easy to do). As Lori and I became friends, she made some funny decisions. She introduced me to her daughter as a friend, but told her I was a social worker. Also, she asked her daughter to invite me to the wedding as a guest, since she decided to hire me, a harpist, and a guitarist colleague to play the wedding ceremony and cocktail hour. As I got to know her daughter, it was increasingly difficult to keep the stories straight.

Anyhow, for six months, Lori worked on this song: Gilmore Girls theme song. Every week, I gave her one major task to perform. Like I said, she practiced for an hour every night. Since Lori never studied music or performed in public before, my primary focus was to teach her every mental trick I knew about staying calm and centered under pressure. I literally taught her everything I know.

On the wedding day, the harpist and I played for Lori's daughter. I don't remember when she finally realized I was there, but there was some cursing when she hugged me later on. The spotlight was on her mom Lori. The guitarist and I backed her up during the cocktail hour. We gathered everyone around.

Lori is a star. She played the song better than the seasoned pros accompanying her. Her daughter was crying tears of joy at the sacrifice her mom made; at ALL the sacrifices her mom made throughout her life. As for me, this wedding, and Lori's performance, ranks in the top 10 events of my humble life.

I'm happy that I can pass everything I've learned on to other people, and I'm grateful for Lori's friendship!

Love,
Catherine

(P.S. - I really don't have to do this, and it's unsolicited. I ate cocktail hour and reception food at Lucien's Manor in Berlin, NJ. They remodeled their place, and it's beautiful. The food is really, truly amazing. The family selected it because the value for the money is the best in South Jersey. I am happy to recommend their services to everyone. -CB)

7/18/10 wedding in Cape May

First off, I would like to give a shout out to Susan Salmon, mandolin (www.myspace.com/susansalmon) and Kahlil Gunther, piano (www.gunthermusic.com), without whom I could not have pulled off such an amazing musical event. This is the blog post I've promised you for so long!

Our bride, Laura, chose the Peter Shields Inn in Cape May. First of all, sometimes Kahlil plays there for the dinner hour (and his music is on their website), so please contact them: www.petershieldsinn.com. I digress, though.

Laura was the most fun bride in the WORLD. Because the Peter Shields has a 1920s vibe, she asked for a 1920s jazz cocktail hour. Also, since the front porch has a gorgeous balcony over some steps, Susan and I played the ceremony on the balcony and she got married on the steps! It was stunning. She selected "Is This Love" and "In My Life" for processional music, and "Once in a Lifetime" by the Talking Heads for the recessional. Way too much fun. Beforehand, she came to the screen door behind us to chat and requested "Freebird". We laughed and played it for her. I was worried a little about what the guests would think (runaway bride), but they LOVED it! What a fun bride.

The 1920s music is not in most musicians' repertoire. It took me 20-30 hours to organize 4 hours' worth of this music. Kahlil joined us at the piano inside and we rolled through songs like the Charleston, Sheik of Araby, 5 foot 2, and Blue Skies. It was some of the most fun I've ever had on a gig, and it was rollicking and sweet music. Thank you, Laura! As a side benefit, I have all this 1920s jazz music compiled now, which not many people outside of a Dixieland band would have ready to go. Fun and productive, just the way I like it! If you really love what you do, you will put extra time and love into it. I wish Laura all the best and am so grateful she hired us!