Naples Bay Resort

I have been by the Naples Bay Resort many times but had never played a wedding ceremony there. It is a beautiful venue with the pool and marina right there and a small room perfect for a smaller sized wedding reception. It is a peaceful and elegant setting.  There was a nice sense of privacy as the area had been closed off  for the private function and the beautiful shrubs offered a screen.  I was here to play violin solo for the wedding ceremony of Jayne and Colin from Chicago.

It was great to work with Lynn Alexander, the coordinator at the Naples Bay Resort, Bob Mitchell of A Beautiful Florida Wedding , Mark Block of Naples Photography, and Dominick Buonantuono of Mobile Sound Entertainment.

I began to play lively classical music 15 minutes prior to the start of the ceremony. As Bob Mitchell led the wedding party down the aisle, I began to play Bach’s, Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring. The Groom’s Mother was seated, and the Groom, Best Man and Maid of Honor took their places. As Jayne made her entrance with both her parents, I played the Clarke Trumpet Voluntary.

When I perform violin solo at weddings, I give the Bride the option of me playing softly throughout the ceremony and Jayne did like this idea.  I spoke with Bob prior to let him know this and he liked the idea too. So as the vows were spoken, rings exchanged and the sand ceremony performed,  I muted  my instrument and played slow classical pieces such as the Handel Air, Bach Arioso,  Vivaldi’s Largo, The Prayer, and Debussy’s Clair de Lune.  I could still hear Bob speaking so I knew I was not too loud. As Jayne and Colin made their kiss as husband and wife, I removed the mute and began to play Vivaldi’s  Spring as the wedding party made their way back down the aisle.

I continued to play as the guests mingled and pictures were being taken. Later as the guests went inside for the reception, someone from the balcony of a nearby condo called down to me that they had enjoyed it!  The guests on the nearby yacht started to applaud too!  It was a great feeling to have my music so appreciated.

Congratulations to Jayne and Colin. May you have many years of happiness ahead of you!

La Playa

We know that Naples is also a destination wedding location internationally. And this was definitely the case for our wedding Friday night at the La Playa Beach Resort. Jill and Mikkel live in Denmark and so their wedding celebration included guests from all over. Although Skype was an option for us when we were doing our planning, Jill and I found email worked just fine.  She chose the Seaside String Quartet to provide the wedding ceremony and cocktail reception music. I am joined by my colleagues, Joan Stewart, Susan Sikuta, and Diane Coffman. The ceremony was to begin at 6 pm so prelude music would begin at 5:45.  Cocktail hour on the terrace across the street would be 7-8 pm.

The ceremony setting looked beautiful thanks to Sarah and Jenny of Lyfe of the Party. As I was about to take my pictures, they arrived with the lovely arrangements for the podiums. I always loved peonies and I saw later the color matched the bridesmaids dresses perfectly. It was a beautiful evening , a bit more humid that the last couple of days, with a nice refreshing breeze. It was great to see Michaela of  Gulfside Media Wedding Photography again. She is from Fort Myers and I used to see her frequently at  NAWP networking meetings.

After completing my set up, I then checked in with Karen, the coordinator at La Playa for any changes. Reverend Berger, the Officiate, arrived early so we were able to confirm the details for the ceremony. We did some last minute checks of the music and were ready for this special evening.

As the guests began to make their way onto the gulf lawn we performed a mix of classical and popular selections. These were Schubert’s Ave Maria, Can You Feel the Love Tonight,  At Last,  Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #3 , and In My Life. We finished that song just as I saw the wedding party come out the door and make their way down the steps. Perfect timing!

Reverend Berger led the way as we began to play the Pachelbel Canon in D. Following him, Mikkel and his Groomsmen took their places. Jill’s Grandmother was seated as well as the Parents of both couples. The 5 Bridesmaids made their way down the aisle and the young ring bearer and flower girl completed the wedding party. We always play the music until all have take their places and despite a bit of a detour, the young children did make their way down the aisle. I was glad to see Jill still waiting by the gate. Upon hearing the short fanfare we play for the Bridal March, she began to make her way onto the lawn.

After Reverend Berger made his welcoming remarks, the Mothers came forward to speak a prayer for the couple. Jill’s Mother said the prayer in English and Mikkel’s Mother spoke in her native language. After the vows were spoken and ring’s exchanged, it was time for the sand ceremony. We began to play Unchained Melody as the couple came forward and poured their sand into a single vase. With the ceremony completed and the couple introduced as Mr. and Mrs., we played the Mendelssohn Wedding March as the wedding party exited down the aisle.

As guests mingled, enjoyed the signature drink and pictures were being taken, we played Handel’s Le Rejouissance, Vivaldi’s Spring,  Handel’s Entrance of the Queen of Sheba and an Allegro movement from the Water Music Suite. We then made our way across the street to set up for the cocktail reception.

It was all pops music for the reception.  On the playlist were  Born to Run, Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You, Come Away With Me, Come Fly With Me, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, I’ll Stand By You, I’ve Had the Time of My Life, Livin’ on a Prayer, Piano Man, Take a Chance on Me, Good Riddance Time of Your Life, Viva la Vida and Wonderful Tonight (it was the perfect song to end  our evening).  Jim from  A D.J. with Class came out to say hello. As the guests were entering the ballroom for the dinner, many commented how much they enjoyed the music. It was fun!

I got to meet Jill and give her my congratulations.  I think she looked amazed at how everything came together so well. It made me think back to when she was walking down the aisle. What a feeling to see the lovely flowers, hear the music, see your Groom awaiting your arrival,  have all your wedding dreams be real!  I am so glad she felt we helped make this a special day for her!

Congratulations and all our very best to Jill and Mikkel!

Marco Beach Ocean Resort

Amy and Sammy from Michigan chose the Marco Beach Ocean Resort as the venue for their May wedding. But, instead of choosing the beach , they chose to have their destination wedding ceremony in the valet courtyard. It turned out to be so lovely. Corrin and her staff transformed the area into an elegant romantic setting.  It was a beautiful evening.

I took a peak inside the restaurant too and the flowers and drapery continued up the banister  to the ballroom. Arrangements of roses were everywhere on the tables. It was amazing! I found out later the flowers were done by a florist in the Chicago area, Bellaserio Florist and were chosen because they had done the flowers for the weddings of Amy’s sisters.

Amy and Sammy chose the string trio to provide their ceremony music and spent a lot of time researching music, sending me links to YouTube videos. I was able to accommodate most of their requests and they were extremely understanding about the songs we could not do. I try to explain to my clients that I must have the sheet music in order to arrange it for our groups. I usually also tell them that it will sound different from what they hear on those videos.  They helped us add some great new songs to our repertoire list!

They chose all pops songs. For the prelude, their choices were Paradise,  How Sweet It Is, Secrets, Viva la Vida,  If I Ain’t Got You,  Summer Wind,  Stand By Me,  The Way You Look Tonight and Into the Mystic. The songs that we did not play due to the timing, we did play afterwards while pictures were being taken. Everyone was so quiet as they were being seated and waiting for the ceremony to begin. It was like playing a concert!

The music for the Ceremony was Can’t Help Falling in Love for the Seating of the Mothers, Marry You for the Entrance of the Wedding Party, Marry Me for the Entrance of the Bride, Just the Way You Are Amazing for the Recessional and Make You Feel My Love as the postlude. Reverend Thomas McCulley of New Life Community Church Officiated.

We really enjoyed performing the music they chose and it was a pleasure to meet them!  We hope everyone enjoyed their time here in Florida! All the very best to Amy and Sammy!

Casa Ybel

It is such a relief that you can’t always trust the weather forecast when it’s a bad one. Yesterday we had an unusual day of rain all day long and the forecast was for rain again today. But on this first Friday in May, it was a beautiful sunny day with a wonderful breeze when I arrived at the Casa Ybel Resort on Sanibel Island.  Since it is quite a trip from Naples, Joan Stewart carpooled with me and Diane Coffman joined us there. It was the Seaside String Trio providing the wedding ceremony music for our couple from Los Angeles, Linzey and Garrett.  A huge tent was set up behind the Thistle Lodge for the reception and that would have been the backup plan in case of rain. Since the weather was beautiful, we were out on the beach. Signature Florals did a beautiful job with the ceremony site. Cody and Tiffany from Hunter Ryan Photo were here to do the photography.

Garrett chose the prelude music and he obviously loves romantic classical music. He chose Torna a Surriento (Come Back to Sorrento), Debussy’s Claire de Lune, and The Girl with the Flaxen Hair,  Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise,  Faure’s Pavane and Schubert’s, Ave Maria. It turned out we needed one more piece so we added the Elgar Salut d’ Amour which I think fit nicely along with his other choices.

I had called Lea, the coordinator at the resort,  a week ago to confirm everything so once I got a big wave from her, we began to play the Pachelbel Canon in D for the Processional. As we played, a Grandmother was seated, the two Mothers were seated, the Officiant, a friend of Linzey’s, walked out followed by Garrett and his Groomsmen, 7 Bridesmaids, 1 Junior Bridesmaid and 2 Flower Girls. All the girls wore a different colored dress and all had a ring of flowers on their heads. I had never seen that before and all the girls looked gorgeous. More great flowers from Signature Florals!  For Linzey’s Entrance , the music was Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns and Roses. This was a special request that I think it will be a great addition to our repertoire list. It has already been requested by a future bride.

It was a great ceremony, a bit out of the ordinary with a California New Age vibe and you could tell it was a fun bunch a people. I was seated where I could see Linzey and she looked so beautiful in her lovely lace gown and so happy! There was lots of laughter during the ceremony and huge cheers when the newly married couple kissed.

The music for the recessional was Firework. As the guests mingled and pictures were being taken, we also played Here Comes the Sun and Yellow.

I am so glad it was an ideal day for them and we wish this couple all the very best! It was a pleasure to work with Linzey and to meet her and Garrett!

Naples Beach Hotel

We have been having some unpredictable spring weather just like the rest of the country. So it was a real treat that the weather was so beautiful on this Saturday evening and I was so glad for our couple from Texas, Missy and Jesse.  The Seaside Strings Trio was providing the music for the wedding ceremony and cocktail reception for this destination wedding so I am joined by colleagues Joan Stewart on violin and Diane Coffman on cello.

Melissa, event manager at the Naples Beach Hotel, was busy with final touches to the ceremony site when I arrived and the wedding party was off to the side lawn for pictures. I checked in with Paige of No Worries Weddings who was serving as the wedding coordinator for the event.  It was great to see fellow vendors David of Faces By Frohmberg, Alex and Greg from New Ground Photography , Kevin from Botanicals on the Gulf  and Russ Winn, the Officiate.

We began to play prelude music fifteen minutes prior to the ceremony. It was all lively classical music on our playlist: Rondeau by Mouret, Handel’s Entrance of the Queen of Sheba, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto 3, Rigaudon by Campra,  a Haydn Divertimento, and movements from the Handel Water Music Suite . When I got the signal from Paige, we began to play the Pachelbel Canon in D for the Entrance of the Wedding Party. It was a large group which included the seating of three Mothers, the Entrance of Reverend Winn, the Groom, Jesse, and his Groomsmen, the three Bridesmaids,  a Junior Bridesmaid and the Ring bearer and Flower Girl. The children were fairly young and it took a bit of time for them to take their place. I saw Paige come out to check on the delay and she knew to wait to send the Bride until all were in place. That accomplished , we began the fanfare to the Bridal Chorus to announce the Entrance of our Bride, Missy.

Music during the ceremony was The Prayer for a lighting of the Unity lanterns. I thought this might take longer due to the strong breeze but it worked out great. As the couple were introduced and then made their way back down the aisle, we played Viva la Vida as the Recessional.

Cocktail Reception was held right there on the lawn too so we did not have to move at all. It was all pops music chosen for this. On the playlist were All You Need is Love, Always on My Mind, At Last, Better Together, Brown Eyed Girl, Don’t Stop Believin ( Jesse came and sat near us to listen during this one which was a real treat) Fly Me to the Moon, Happy Together( to which the couple danced) How Sweet It Is, I’m Yours, It’s Your Love, Just Like Heaven, Lucky, Marry You, Need You Now and we finished with Wouldn’t It be Nice.

It was a great evening with a fun group of people and it all once again made me marvel at how lucky I am to live in such a wonderful place to have such a great job.

Many thanks to Alex and Greg of New Ground Photography for this amazing photo!

La Playa Gulf Lawn

We are very fortunate to be named a Preferred Vendor at the La Playa Resort. So when I was contacted by Michelle and Joseph about Seaside Strings providing music for their wedding and I was unavailable but my other colleagues were available, they put their trust in me to handle all the details even though I would not be one of the performers.  They were such a joy to work with! Living in California , this was a destination wedding for them so we had many phone conversations.  My colleagues , Joan Stewart and Susan Sikuta on violin and Julie Cornwall on cello, formed the Seaside Strings Trio and provided the wedding ceremony and cocktail reception music. Joan served as the leader for the day and with a fact sheet in their music books and the music all in order, I knew all would go smoothly.

Julie took these photos for me. Jenny and Sarah of Lyfe of the Party did a beautiful job on the ceremony site. The La Playa Resort is such a lovely venue!

Michelle and Joseph chose so many wonderful people to help make this day special. Kathie Resop of Side by Side Destination Wedding Services, AnnMarie and Steven of iheARt films, Karl and Nanette from Luminaire Foto and Father Charles Obie, the Officiant. We always enjoy seeing them!

As I spoke with the couple,  I knew that they realized how the live music would enhance their event and they took great care in making their selections. The prelude included many lively pieces as they wished to have a celebratory feel.  The selections  they chose were the Mouret Rondeau, Delibes Flower Duet, Handel Allegro, Telemann Sonata, Handel Le Rejouissance and Vivaldi Spring. The Groom’s parents informally walked into this piece which was a special favorite of theirs.

The Pachelbel Canon in D was chosen for the Entrance of the Wedding Party. This included Father Obie, Joseph, the Best Man, Flower Girl with a Bible, Ring Bearer, a Flower Girl with the rose petals and Matron of Honor.  The Wagner Bridal Chorus with its fanfare announced the Entrance of the Bride.

After the readings and the homily by Father Obie, the couple chose an excerpt from The Prayer as a musical interlude.  After the Sand Ceremony was completed, they chose the Bach Air as background music for their prayer time. The ceremony concluded with Mendelssohn’s Wedding March. Beethoven’s Ode to Joy and Bach’s Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring were played as their guests transitioned to the cocktail reception.

It was all popular songs for the reception. On the playlist was Tonight, As Time Goes By, It’s a Beautiful Day, How Sweet It Is, New York, NY, Unforgettable, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, That’s Amore, Unchained Melody, What a Wonderful World, Wonderful Tonight, You Are the Sunshine of My Life, Penny Lane, From this Moment On, All You Need is Love, Viva la Vida and Wouldn’t It Be Nice.

I heard from Kathie: “ I have never seen a couple so in love on their wedding day!”

We are so happy for them and wish them all the best!

Here is a picture of the trio. Many thanks to Karl and Nanette of Luminaire Foto !

The Club at Mediterra

The Club at Mediterra has to one of the most elegant places in  Naples to get married. There is a long pavered walkway from the parking area to a courtyard which then leads to a huge porte- cochere in front of the clubhouse.  The beautiful landscaping enhances the look to make this an excellent venue for a wedding ceremony. On this Saturday evening in April, Lindsey and Bryant were getting married and the Seaside Strings Trio was providing the wedding ceremony music and cocktail reception music. I am joined by colleagues Joan Stewart on violin and Diane Coffman on cello.

It was a warm evening so we were grateful that Mary Ann, the events manager at Mediterra,  had placed us in the shade. We were also thankful that any threat of rain was now over and it would be a beautiful evening for the couple and their guests. I had met Lindsey along with her mother last month to discuss the details and was excited for her that the big day had finally arrived!

We began to play prelude music thirty minutes prior to the ceremony. Guests gathered at the end of the walkway and close to the ceremony time then walked down to take their seats. We performed lively classical music selections. When I got the signal that they were ready to begin, we performed Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring for the Seating of the Grandparents and the Mothers. When the Groom took his place at the top of the stairs and his Groomsmen had lined themselves down the steps , we concluded and switched to the music for the Entrance of the Bridesmaids, Charpentier’s Te Deum. The 5 Bridesmaids took their places on the other side , mirroring the men, as the Ring Bearers and Flower Girl came down the aisle.  The Pachelbel Canon in D announced the Entrance of our Bride. When Lindsey took her place at the top of the steps to join Bryant, we concluded and their friend Chriss, who served as Officiant,  welcomed everyone. Vows were spoken, rings exchanged and then a special poem was read during which we played quietly in the background the song Hallelujah. Lindsey called this the hand ceremony.  As the couples kissed and Chriss pronounced them husband and wife, we performed This Will Be (An Everlasting Love for the Recessional.

We quickly moved to the porte- cochere area where the cocktail reception would take place. We played a mix of music,  performing lively classical selections, several waltzes and popular songs such as Marry Me, All You Need is Love, Come Fly With Me, I’m Yours, Just the Way You Are Amazing, Kiss the Girl, How Sweet It is and Don’t Stop Believin’.  The highlight of the evening for us was when a couple began to dance to When I’m 64. We got such wonderful comments from the guests as they moved inside for the dinner.

We hope everyone enjoyed this special night and congratulations and best wishes to Lindsey and Bryant!