Almost every bride I have ever met has wanted her wedding day to go smoothly. They desire perfection.
But life is not perfect. The spontaneous things that happen on a wedding day are what people are most inclined to remember. If you want some happy memories, be ready to react to everything with a smile.
I attended a wedding where, in the middle of the sermon, the groomsman fainted. He suddenly dropped backwards to the floor. While someone made sure he was okay, someone else fetched a chair. He sat on the chair beside the best man for the remainder of the ceremony.
At one outdoor wedding. the bride was standing in the archway at the top of the hill, ready to make her way to the “altar”. A whirlwind came just at that moment and lifted her headpiece and veil completely off her head! Without missing a beat, she grabbed it and carried on down the “isle”. I couldn’t help but wonder what she was silently thinking about the half hour she had just spent putting that headpiece in place.
I was entertaining on the keyboard at another outdoor wedding celebration when, again, a small whirlwind blew through. My music book blew down onto the keyboard, hitting the “demo” button. What an abrupt change of music style that was!
As I was playing the organ for a church wedding, I could see glimpses of the bridesmaids in the foyer, but nobody was moving into place to start proceeding up the isle. I improvised (and perspired a lot) for another twenty minutes before things began to happen. I later discovered that the bridal vehicle had had a flat tire on the way to the church. Even more interesting, it happened near my home and my brothers were the ones who helped the bride out of her dilemma, wondering all the time how little sister was managing the delay!
One wedding I was involved in was held on the Labour Day weekend. That is a weekend one can usually count on some decent weather, when many people enjoy a last camping trip for the summer. However, we woke up on the appointed morning to six inches of snow! The bridesmaids nearly froze in their spaghetti-strap dresses.
Perhaps the best/worst experience of playing for weddings was one held in the chapel of a university. The event had been planned as a small, quiet evening, but during the final week those plans grew. Three days before the wedding, I was asked to play the organ. Since I had some music somewhat prepared from previous occasions and could not think of a sufficient excuse, I agreed. I arrived early, only to discover that the organ would not switch on. Shortly before start time, some guys pushed in a piano from the hallway. Talk about “winging it”! With little visibility and only a hymn book for piano music, the wedding went on. It really is true that, generally, people don’t think of what the song is as long as there is music!
After observing these and other minor bloopers, I have learned that there is no reason to fear a special occasion. Memories are made from well-executed plans with hiccups.
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