My friend always wanted to walk down the aisle to Malcolm McLaren's Madame Butterfly from 1984, complete with drum machine and spoken word rap. Because she wasn't paying for her wedding alone, lots of her wishes were easily being stripped from HER wedding. So despite her growing fears about what others would think; as one of her maids of honor, I convinced her to still use it. I did try to see if I could get someone to digitize a few things out of the song, but in the end we went with her original album (or was it a 45?) version.She got married at the Carousel Gardens in New Orlean's City Park, on a balmy October night with the multicolored glass in the carousel lit up. The music filled the night and it was one of the few things she was able to keep from her original wedding vision.* That and her periwinkle tulle gown with handmade fairy wings!
The whole thing was glorious; from the setting, to the Gerber daisy-decorated cake, to the gorgeous bridesmaid dresses (seriously, I still want an occasion to wear mine again!), to the flower girl dresses sewn by the bride that tied all the dresses together! The weather was perfect. That year, mid-October in New Orleans was balmy, but not muggy. There was even a fabulous breeze!
* Again, in my personal opinion, parents paying for the wedding CAN be the absolutely wrong way to go.
I can relate. I didn't get to dance with my late husband to the song I wanted. I still regret it.
ReplyDeleteIt's the old "whose wedding is this?" conundrum.
ReplyDeleteMy belief is that sanity starts with limiting the guest list to people who already know what the Happy Couple is like, so that the guests who think the McLaren song or the fairy wings are a little odd will at worst shrug and say, "Well, she was always like that."
Parental control of weddings dates from an era when women married younger and the wedding was for the parents' social circle anyway. Our civilization needs some modern accommodation that recognizes the role of family -- and that sometimes parents are happy to host -- as well as that this is not the occasion to try to change one's children's personalities.