Bring in the Strings!

One thing I've always known I wanted at our wedding is a string quartet. I went to a wedding with one when I was a kid, and since I haven't been to that many weddings in my life, I grew up thinking that all weddings had a string quartet! Come to find out, it's actually pretty rare these days. I was only able to find two options in the whole area we're getting married in! Thankfully, I found The Candlelight Strings, and thanks to them, we will be experiencing some beautiful string music on our wedding day, courtesy of these smiling faces:

Before the ceremony, we want to keep it feeling very classic, so they will be playing a mixture of mine and Mr. Turtle's favorite Classical and Baroque pieces, including some old wedding standbys of course! We're mixing it up a little bit for our ceremony though.  For my walk down the aisle, they are preparing an arrangement of "Something" by the Beatles. (Like a few of the other Bee couples, the Turtles are big time Beatles fans!) "Something" has been Mr. Turtle's song for me since high school, so I know that he is going to love hearing it at the wedding!

It should sound a little bit like this version, from The Vitamin String Quartet:

For the recessional, I am asking them to play "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay, which should sound a little bit like this:

For the cocktail hour and dinner, the string quartet will switch from Classical mode to more recognizable contemporary pieces. We are requesting a mixture of songs from old musicals, classic rock, Frank Sinatra-style crooner songs, and themes from some of our favorite movies and TV shows. This should create a more fun, upbeat atmosphere, but still classy and old fashioned. Hopefully some of our guests will recognize the songs and enjoy hearing them played by a string quartet for a change!

Anyway, this is an aspect of our wedding that I am really looking forward to! I have a feeling that it won't hit me that we're actually getting married until I hear the strings begin to play before the ceremony begins. 

What are you doing for the music in your wedding? Did you choose songs for the ceremony that carry special meaning for you?