Music and the Reception

The reality is that no good wedding reception is complete without a playlist of the bride and groom's favorite music, with the added combination of the lovable wacky dances that everyone gets on the dance floor for. I knew early in this wedding planning stage that I didn't want your usual tacky wedding fair. Nope, no YMCA or electric slide or country music slow dances for this girl. I want something classy, something reminiscent of a glamorous time ages past, that gets even the couple's dances MOVING, twirling and dipping and swirling.

The thought process started just a week after the two of us got home from the amazing wedding proposal trip. See, OUR song is one of those ballads that generally results in few dry eyes left in the house. While perfect for our kind of love, not exactly first dance material for a couple that longs to bust-a-move on the dance floor the minute we're announced as a married couple. I did find another dance song by accident, however, while at work actually. My cafe, however, is a place that has always had a good assortment of music fed through the speakers. Well, frankly, Sinatra saved the moment, and the rest of the story has been my own blooming love affair with some tunes danced my grandparents in old military Officer's Clubs long before i was born.

I think the music had been pulling at my heart longer than that, however.

When I think back to the most fun I ever had on a date, I remember the evening William and I headed out to Jefferson Barracks for the annual World War II reenactment, which was topped off with an inexpensive dinner and era dancing coming from the hired (REAL) Big Band. Eventually I was pulled to the dance floor, where William twirled me and dipped me and bobbed me to the sound of music we both enjoyed. So what if we made up our own steps, we faked it until we made it, and no one was the wiser.....and it was the most fun we had on a dance floor, next to couples in era costume and old lovers who were in alive when these tunes were new.

My interest is always perked when my generation recreates their version of the nostalgic sound, of course.

I'm even writing this after buying a CD of Peggy Lee tunes. I guess you guys can look forward to a night of Frank and Ella and Benny too, Cab Calloway, Billie Holliday, the Andrews sisters, you name it.

Grandma AJ and Grandpa Jim, this song's for you......looking down at us from heaven......

Our Story: How we Met

2006 was one of those years that was full of surprises. That summer I had graduated with my Associate of Fine Arts from the local community college by my parents' house, and I had picked up part time work in Saint Louis' historic Union Station as a Barista (aka, Coffee Shop Girl) at one of the local shops. However, most importantly, that was the year I met William.

An acquaintance of mine invited me to join him at an Anglican, but rather ecumenical, weekly Potluck Dinner and Bible Study. It was a place of good people, good food, and most of all good conversation. To this day, some of the people from that little group are among my best friends. I fell into the little community as the token Roman Catholic. Oddly enough, the group also included a token Lutheran among its ranks as a guest of one the group's other members, a certain special guy that I would much later finally start some interesting conversation with. It wasn't until the following Spring, however, in 2007, that conversation between the two of us reached a comfortable level, thanks to a weekly gathering at a local Pub where all of us would socialize and discuss theology over great beer.

Finally, in part because of a few local rock n' roll shows, and eventually an outing involving Irish Rebel Music and Guinness, William and I both worked up the nerve to admit we had been eying one another this entire time, which resulted in an eventual date.......and many more regular gathering involving Irish Rebel Music.

We started dating that Spring. And only a few months into things, William nervously got down on one knee, sang me a marvelous song about a soldier who fell in love and then was whisked off to war, and told me that he loved me. That was also the night we first hear "OUR" song, another traditional song entitled "GRACE," about the heartbreaking story of Joseph Mary Plunkett and Grace Gifford. Plunkett was executed the morning after their wedding day in 1916 due to his role in the Irish Uprising against the British. The music, sadly, was all too fitting. Only months before that night, William had signed his contract with the United States Army and would be on his way to Basic Combat Training for the summer and fall months. We only had a few short months to be together before our relationship would become long-distance and by letter only. Luckily, we made sure that I did in fact meet his family, and he met mine in that short time.

Trust me, I looked forward to those letters, which arrived every week and kept me focused during the summer session. After, His best friend and I drove down to Fort Jackson, North Carolina to Congratulate him and wish him well. I still have a box with each handwrriten numbered note, to remind myself to keep the art of letter writing somewhat alive.

Luckily, William was home from his Advanced training by December, and in time for our first Christmas as a couple, and the rest....well, is history!