The 2017 wedding season is starting a bit early for me this year. Typically my first wedding would be in mid-May, but this year it's the last Saturday in March. Fortunately it's inside not out. Actually I'm just playing cocktail music. They've made other arrangements for the ceremony and dancing after dinner. It's a relatively easy gig but there was one hiccup. They wanted me to play a lot of swing music. This is after they had gone to my website and listened to me play classical stuff. I had to explain that I didn't have any swing music in my repertoire, so we settled on selections from the great American songbook.
I really like playing weddings but the conversations with the clients can take a peculiar turn. I think they believe that I can play any song ever written on a moments notice. While I'm flattered by their confidence in me, I can't really do that.
My friends often ask about the difficult brides or "bridezillas". Truthfully that is rarely a problem. Sometimes I get requests that are outrageous by my standards, but I remind myself that they have never hired a musician before. A simple phone call or email usually takes care of it. Last year I had to remind a bride that the concerto that she wanted me to play during the recessional would last over 20 minutes and also required an orchestra. I recommended a substitute piece that she was thrilled with.
If I'm going to have problems it will usually be with the groom. He wants to be involved in the planning of his own wedding, which is admirable, so the bride's mother assigns him the music. He is afraid of screwing up his one job and inciting the wrath of his mother-in-law because he fears it will be mentioned periodically for the rest of his life. So he must "win" every conversation with me. First he bargains the price, then the time ("You should plan on getting there about an hour and a half early and begin playing an hour before the ceremony. The guests will be arriving then and I don't want them to be bored.") One groom called every week for four months to change one of the songs. God bless 'em for wanting to get it right, but please have a little pity on the guitar guy.
The part that often surprises and amuses me is how often I'm wrong about their choices. There have been so many times that I learned a song for them that I really didn't agree with only to change my mind once I was there and the wedding started. ie. "The Imperial March" (Darth Vader's theme) for the brides processional. I remind myself time and again that this is their wedding not mine. My job is to arrange and play their song on solo guitar as best as I can.
There have been so many times that I have arrived at wedding with a touch of dread in my heart and left an hour later walking on "cloud nine" knowing that I've successfully contributed to a very special day for some very nice people. And been well paid for it despite the grooms best intentions.