weddings....

I did two weddings today, both of which were, to me, somewhat remarkable.

The first wedding was a couple apparently in their 30s who wanted things to be “different”. I guess the highlight of their wedding’s different-ness was exchanging wedding vows that they themselves had written. (I imagine that’s licit....heck, the whole wedding rite is replete with liberties to adapt etc.) They were ok - kinda sappy in some parts, but I liked how they ended it with something to the effect of “may God punish me if I ever seek to part from this marriage before death.”

This wedding was also remarkable in that the bride accepted a suggestion from me that she have some Gregorian chant - so, I did the “In te speravi, Domine” offertory, the second of two that the Graduale Romanum gives for wedding Masses. The text is, I think, stunning for weddings: “In You, O Lord, I have trusted; I said: You are my God; my welfare is in your hands.” (Ps. 31:15,16 - Klaus, I hope I translated that acceptably!) What a wonderful sense of surrender to God’s will, a reminder that we are and have nothing except by God’s design. Perhaps not coincidentally, this is the same psalm that Jesus quotes in St. Luke’s Gospel as He dies. (And, going a step further - remember 1 Corinthians: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ laid down His life for the Church...”)

The second wedding was a more typical one except rather large for being so - 10 bridesmaids and groomsmen. The couple was about my age, give and take a few years. The bride was of Italian descent and wanted something sung at some point in Italian. She first came to me with a pop-style thingie that I really didn’t think was consistent with the concept of “ritual music”; thankfully I was able to find a simple Italian-language setting of the first couple verses of “Ubi caritas” - nothing musically remarkable, but it’s another text that I wish were sung more at weddings.

And, another remarkable element: the bride and groom were EMHCs. They had had the Cana wedding Gospel passage read, and I thought the symbolism was nice.

This second wedding was also the first one I have played since relocating to my new parish. I’ve been woodshedding for the last couple of weeks - it actually went better than I expected, with no major flubs from me save for a few “emancipated dissonances” in the pedals. ;-) The repertoire: Handel air in F, Jesu Joy, Kanon in D, Trumpet Voluntary, Mass o’ Creation, Schubert Ave, La réjouissance, Marcello Psalm 19. I was nervous, I confess, when the trumpeter told me he needed tempos that I thought were pretty sprightly - at least, they were peppier than I had been practicing!