Wedding Music Tips #1 and #2

Yesterday my string quartet played a wedding at Our Lady of the Rosary in downtown Manhattan. It was, as you know if you were in the vicinity of New York, extremely rainy and windy. The kind of day you want to crawl into bed and not come out until Monday morning. However. We had a wedding to play and so forward we marched.

The four of us duly arrived at the church where there seemed to be some confusion about the placement of the string quartet. The priest said we were expected to play from the balcony--however, there was no way we would be able to see the proceedings and take cues from that vantage point. Bird's-eye view may work well for hawks but is not always the best set-up for a string quartet. After moving a few floral arrangements, we were able to squeeze into the left side of the altar, a much better arrangement for accurately judging the timing of things.

The wedding began on time (hurrah!) but with a very long homily and communion for all 100 guests, we ran overtime. I proceeded to ask for overtime payment for the string quartet, and the wedding couple were thankfully prepared for such exigencies.

The rain had stopped for this wedding couple by the time they were exiting as Man and Wife, and it truly was a beautiful ceremony. Being a very young couple indeed, their friends hooted and hollared as they left the church. I imagine they were in for a raucous time at the reception.

Wedding Tip #1: Discuss beforehand the placement of the ensemble if you have a preference, or leave the decision to the musicians to determine the best view point.

Wedding Tip #2: Discuss (if not stated in the contract, which is preferable) overtime payment before the event--so everyone is on the same page--if in fact things become longish.

Until the next wedding,

Alice Hamlet, Director
www.tenstringsmusicstudio.com