Service Music

In other music news, we're still looking for songs to play during the actual wedding as well. We already have at least one, but there's certainly room for more. Here's the Pacific Lutheran Choir performing Eric Whitacre's "A Boy and a Girl" (lyrics here):



And the same composer's "This Marriage" (lyrics here).



Sidenotes: separated at birth? Eric Whitacre (left) and Jesse Spencer, aka Dr. Chase from "House, MD".

Nick's favorite choral piece of all time is Morten Lauridsen's "O magnum mysterium" but it has nothing to do with love or marriage, really. Plus, it's probably too long. Still, it's pretty!



Sacred Harp singing, or shape note singing, is distinctly vintage. Though the original Sacred Harp hymn book dates from the 1840s, the music remained popular through roughly the start of WWII in many parts of the country:



Of course, if we're looking for popular-at-the-time, regal standards, we can do that too. Here's "Jerusalem", the alternate English national anthem (it's played at Cricket matches instead of "God Save the [gender-specific monarch" ...:



... or this piece by Herbert Howells (probably wouldn't pick this, but it gives you a sense of the period style in England):

Dance Music

Do you want something like this to happen at our wedding?



Neither do we. Use the comments to suggest genres or even specific songs for the dancing hours.

Can't Tell the Players Without a Program

Here are the four brave souls who have agreed to be in Nick's half of the wedding party.


The Best Man: Zach

Nick met Zach through a mutual friend in ... wait for it ... fourth grade. He was having trouble finishing Zelda II: The Adventures of Link. At the time, Nick had more or less memorized the entire game, so he ended up lending him a hand. Since then, Zach has repaid that initial favor in spades. Zach lives in Atlanta, GA with his girlfriend fiancée Sara; he works for a public defender's office in the exurbs.
Donald

Donald and Nick were on the same neighborhood swim team starting at age 8. After five years of hiatus from swimming, Nick and Donald reunited when Donald realized he still owed Nick for a candy bar he bought half a decade ago. Donald paid back the debt and promptly routed Nick in a 50-yard breaststroke sprint. The two of them dominated the 13-14 and 15+ age bracket over the coming years. Donald currently resides in London, England, where he is a men's fashion consultant and soon-to-be reservist in the British Army. He responds to "The Donald" as well as "D-Mac".

Jordan

Jordan and Nick were college roommates in 1999-2000. The worked together on a clever but ultimately futile attempt to reproduce an old Mac game called robowars that would let people program robots to battle in an arena. In the end, these robots rose up against their creators and destroyed mankind. Jordan works in the financial sector in New York City, where he lives with his fiancée Heather.

Jonathan

Jonathan was the next-door neighbor of one of Nick's few non-college friends when he first moved to Seattle. As a fellow Southerner and sports fan, the two of them instantly bonded over the weakness of Pac-10 football, the lack of sweet tea, and other assorted perks of living in the South. To make the long, gray Seattle winters more enjoyable, the two of them took up snowboarding, which led to many hilarious trips in the coming years. Jonathan has since moved back to Palm Beach, FL, where he is now managing his father's jewelry shop.