Branding Your Wedding: Hear

Continuing with the branding series….

There are a few things I would change about our wedding, but the music is the one detail the husband and I planned out meticulously.  While our guests were being seated, the sun streamed through the chapel windows.  A close friend sang and plucked his guitar.  After our grandmothers and mothers were seated, my brother sang Your Love is Extravagant while our friend sang harmony.  My maids and I walked down the aisle to Divine Romance.  The simple purity of the guitar with their voices was amazing, and exactly what we wanted.  During the reception we had a bluegrass trio play.  We love music, and we wanted our wedding to reflect our tastes.  We definitely didn’t want a DJ playing anything remotely close to Flo Rida (no matter how addictive it is).  Why?  Because it didn’t fit with the overall brand of the wedding.  We had a simple, sweet ceremony and a barn reception.  A DJ didn’t seem to fit with the overall picture.

Brides sometimes forget how important the music is.  Too often they leave it up to the DJ to play the party music.  So how do you help the music reinforce the brand?

Do you want your wedding to be a celebration?  Pick fun upbeat music, a la Love Actually.  Do you want your ceremony to feel as dramatic as November Rain?  Use piano with the strings!  Do you want an old Hollywood feel?  Go heavy on the strings and horns.  Do you want sweet melancholy?  Pick a pure clean voice with a string guitar.

So what music would I pick for our classic wedding?  I think something similar to the Hope Floats soundtrack (a favorite of both E and I).  Keep the Trisha Yearwood and Sheryl Crow for the ceremony.  Play Lyle Lovett, Gillian Welch, Jonell Moser and Deana Carter during the cocktail and dinner hours.  Pump up the Rolling Stones, Garth Brooks, The Mavericks, Whiskeytown and Bryan Adams for the dancing.  All pure Americana.

A.