Today’s wedding ceremony was wonderful. We arrived at the historic church at Balls Falls conservation area quite early, and the only other person inside the church was the officiant. We had a really nice chat and setup for our performance. The music for the ceremony was fantastic—Sarah and Shaun had spoken with me about creating an arrangement of a portion of the second movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto number 5 known as the Emperor Concerto. This music was to be played as the 3 bridesmaids, the maid of honor and the flower girls walked up to the front of the church, as well as for the bride’s processional. During the signing, the sister of the groom sang Schubert's Ave Maria, and the ceremony ended with an upbeat rendition of Handel’s La Rejouissance from the Royal Fireworks. It was so nice to perform in this small chapel. Though when we arrived it was pretty chilly, once the heat was on and all of the guests arrived, the room was very warm, and everyone had a great time.

Wedding ceremony musicians Niagara: Duo d’Amore-violin and cello duos, string trios and string quartets

What a beautiful wedding! The weather was very cold and snowy on the morning of January 25^th, but the short drive to the White Oaks Resort was beautiful. When we arrived at the venue and setup, we introduced ourselves to he groom, and had a quick chat with the officiant and the Jacquie, the coordinator at the hotel, before setting up in the Grand Event Foyer Room. This room was huge, and setup for about 200 guests. As the guests were arriving we performed a mix of classical with a few light popular songs thrown in to the mix. For the stat of the ceremony we performed a beautiful rendition of A Thousand Years by Christina Perri for both the bridesmaids and the bride, and the sound filled the room, and I could tell by the silence of the guests that and the glint in Jackyln’s eye as she stood at the front that it was enjoyed by all. For the singing of the register, we performed two songs—the theme from Game of Thrones and Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton, one of the couple’s favorite songs, which worked very well during this portion of the ceremony. It is often nice to have a bolder song to start the signing of the register with and switch to something that is a bit softer, and this was certainly the case at this wedding ceremony. For the grand finale, the couple walked down the aisle to Marry You by Bruno Mars. As we were packing up, a number of guests went out of their way to speak with us, telling us how much they enjoyed our performance. Thank you to great clients and everyone at the venue for such a beautiful experience—everyone had an amazing time.

Wedding Venue/planner: Jacquie Conte, White Oaks Resort and Spa

Wedding ceremony musicians: Duo d’Amore-violin and cello duos, string trios and string quartets