Tag Archives: Wedding Music

A swell night with The Swell Season

29 Apr

Dear Future Hubby,

The Swell Season

Now this would be considered a cute meet cute, so please take notes, make flashcards, write notes in your TI-83 calculator text section, have a nice little late night cram session with a pack of Red Bulls because you could earn some serious points for this little number.

The Swell Season is coming to town and tickets go on sale this weekend.

Yes. I know.  Don’t get so freaking excited and jump up and down like little a school girl at a Justin Bieber concert. But honestly, The Swell Season IS like Bieber for me.  Ever since Once and the formation of The Swell Season, they have quickly become my favorite group. I could listen to Strict Joy for hours on end and not get bored.  And when TV shows and movies feature their songs, yeah, I’m not going to lie, I get all fangirl. Plain and simple, they rock.

NOT The Swell Season

So this July, they are coming to the Hollywood Bowl and if I’m not down in San Diego yet working on Comic-Con, I sure as hell plan on being there. It’s bound to be an amazing night. Not only is it my favorite band BUT I’ve also never been to the Bowl.  I mean, part of me wanted my first Bowl experience to be the sing-a-long Sound of Music because really, how hilariously awesome does that sound, plus people dress up. But when TSS announced they were playing there, Maria and Capt von Trapp totally got the boot.

This got me to thinking though how a TSS Hollywood Bowl show would be an amazing meet cute for the soul fact that I would forgive anything weird or random that happens that evening because we’re at a TSS concert. So here are some option for you, incase you want to go all stalker and meet me there.

Option 1: You some how figure out where my seats are and buy the seat next to me. You can even pack a picnic and a bottle of wine and surprise me. Plus, when I see that you’ve come alone to a TSS show, I’ll be so taken aback with how “sensitive” you seem and that you are manly enough to show up to a TSS show by yourself, that I’ll totally fall for you.

Option 2: You bum rush the stage during When Your Mind’s Made Up (my favorite song, by the way) and interrupt Glen and Marketa to profess your love for me.  Then, once the crew has found me in the audience with a follow spot, you’ll rush through the crowd to find me like tennis players do after they win a Grand Slam and we’ll live happily ever after while the guys politely applaud and the girls are crying because it’s so romantic. This will also help with Gaelic Gala as Glen and Marketa will totally remember this event when we ask them to play the rehearsal dinner.

Option 3: Ok, so this option actually isn’t a meet cute, but more a cute proposal following a meet cute.  This means you’d have to some how meet me prior to the concert, win me over, make me fall in love with you, and then pop the question at The Swell Season. However, I’m not really down for dating for a month or two and then getting engaged, so you’re some how going to have to convince them to come back and play LA again in like a year after you’ve sufficiently proven yourself.

So this is your mission if you choose to accept it. I’ll let you know when I’ve bought my tickets and where exactly we’re sitting, incase any of these options sound do-able for you.

If not though, don’t stress, as The Swell Season is from Ireland after all and they’ve probably got some hot Irish roadies backstage I can shamelessly hit on. Again, that accent thing is really appealing.

Xo,

Your Future Wife

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Emerald Isle Engagement Party

23 Mar

Dear Future Hubby,

See that planter on the left? Don't end up there.

Yeah, I’ve been neglectful for the past few days. I wish I had a good story for you like St. Patrick’s Day just turned into a really long St. Patrick’s Weekend and I woke up Sunday morning to find myself asleep in a flower planter outside Irish Eyes in Chicago nursing a huge hangover. No, I’m not speaking from experience, I’m not that balls crazy. But I do know someone who that did happen to. Remind me to tell you when you meet him so you can mock him for that.

Being half Irish, my St. Patrick’s Day was mildly uneventful. I know, I know. How the hell am I allowed to have Gaelic Gala when I can’t even stomach corned beef and cabbage and celebrated the holiday by watching Millionaire Matchmaker while drinking a Shamrock Shake from McDonald’s? Fail right there. They are taking away my Irish genes as we speak.

But the thought of St. Patrick’s Day got me to thinking about how we can incorporate the greatest holiday ever into our wedding. Gaelic Gala is going to be in June so having our wedding on St. Paddy’s Day is a little out of the question. There is no way in hell I’m getting married in freezing Ireland in the middle of March. So having our engagement party on the holiday is a great compromise. We can be here or anywhere really. Honestly, Chicago would be preferred. No city except Chicago (and maybe Boston) knows how to properly celebrate it.

I used to think that I’d want to have some ridiculously prim and proper engagement party where everyone was standing around, sipping champagne and everything looking like a scene out of The Stepford Wives. Yeah, clearly I was delusional. As much as I love elegant affairs, I want our engagement party to be reflective of us as well. A celebration. A chance for our friends to come, have a pint, and rejoice in merriment. 10 bucks to the first person who gets drunk enough to do an Irish jig (BowieBride, I’m looking at you).

Ok, maybe it doesn’t have to be balls crazy Irish, like a eight bar pub crawl, someone dressing up as a leprechaun, or people kissing a fake Blarney stone, but it would be kind of cool to perhaps rent out an Irish bar on St. Patrick’s Day and have our friends not only come to celebrate the holiday, but celebrate our engagement as well. Here are some ideas I’ve come up with to not have our engagement party be in the spirit of the holiday, but elegant as well.

Admit it, this is an awesome idea.

Whiskey and Beer tasting stations: Think wine tasting party but with whiskey and beer. You’d be surprised how much Irish booze one can assemble when needed.

Irish inspired foods: Yes, I hate corned beef and cabbage, but that doesn’t mean I’m opposed to serving it at our St. Paddy’s Day engagement party. I’ll just be over at the desert bar hording Bonnafee Pie or eating Brown Bread (aka Soda Bread) and Champ like it’s going out of style.

Irish Music: No, we cannot have Celtic Thunder at the engagement party. I don’t want to ruin their grand performance at the reception, but there are wonderful Irish bands that would make great entertainment like Flogging Molly or hell, I may even pull Gaelic Gala in for a warm up performance to their gig at the Stag/Hen party.

So start prepping you liver now as this will be the warm up event to Gaelic Gala. Really, the whole reason we’re having our engagement party on St. Paddy’s Day is so everyone can be fully prepared by the time they hit Ireland. Just please for the love of god don’t end up passed out in a planter. If you do, you will be mocked and there will be photographic evidence available for everyone afterward.

Xo,
Your future wife

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I thought this was a party?!? Let’s DANCE!!!!

16 Mar

Dear Future Hubby,

A few weekends ago, Gabby and I decided that we hadn’t watching The Wedding Date in a while.  This is one of our favorite guilty pleasure movies EVER and nothing sounded better than spending a Saturday afternoon making muffins and watching Debra Messing take a male “escort” to her sister’s wedding to make her ex boyfriend jealous. If you haven’t seen it, hijinks ensue, they fall in love, blah blah blah. I won’t make you watch it because you’ll no doubt resent me for it some day and I’ll never find you as charming as Dermott Mulroney.  Ok, that’s a lie. I find you more charming than him, but seriously, boy has got it going on in this movie.

Insert Michael Buble song here

In said movie, the wedding party partakes in dance lessons prior to the big day. I am convinced this scene alone that made Michael Buble all the freaking rage as I cannot listen to “Dance with Me” without thinking of this movie and vice versa. Anywhooooo, Deb, Dermott, Amy Adams, the dude from Flash Forward and their awesome-crazy-bitchy-as-shit-I-totally-want-her-at-my-wedding cousin go learn to get there groove on as if they are going to be performing some crazy ballroom dance at their wedding reception. Excuse me, this is not Dancing with the Stars.

This, of course, got me to thinking.  I’ve often heard of friend’s parents or other older people who took dance lessons before their wedding to ensure no awkward moments are had on the dance floor. I even think my parent’s may have taken them.  You’re probably sitting there thinking “Oh fuck, she’s going to make me take dance lessons” before the wedding. Well, you’re wrong mister.  We’re not.  Unless you’ve got a club foot or I suddenly lose all sense of rhythm, I think we can sufficiently move around a dance floor for 3-4 minutes without causing each other physical harm.  Most people sway in a circle anyways and I am totally on board for swaying in a circle.  I’d rather spend 3-4 minutes with you, enjoying our first dance together than be stressing out before hand that we’re going to mess up the steps to the freaking Viennese waltz that we’ve spent 4 months learning while you hyperventilate into a bag in the corner. So not down for that shit.

The ONLY reason dance lessons should be required prior to a wedding is if you’re going to freaking rock it old school style and bust out an awesome staged dance number from a cult movie classic that I’ve probably made you watch a million times. Dances which are acceptable are…

  • The end dance from Footloose: You’ll wear a maroon jacket. I’ll wear a chiffon dress with ugly hair. We’ll pay Sarah Jessica Parker to show up with her original hair color and mole and then we’ll make all the guest dress in early 80s garb.
  • The end dance from Dirty Dancing: You’d have to learn that whole spinning on the floor on your knees thing Patrick Swayze does so well, but admit it, every guys wanted to be Johnny Castle growing up.
  • The dance from She’s All That prom:  Usher will be there to DJ and everyone will be rocking dated clothes from the 90s. I’ll be Rachel Leigh Cooke and you can be FPJ, I just swear I’m not going to let Paul Walker try and take me back to his hotel room.
  • The African Ant Eater Ritual from Can’t Buy Me Love: Admit it, you secretly want to be Patrick Dempsey.

    Jump Back!

Other acceptable group dances:  The Encino Man dance, the Teen Wolf dance, the Ferris Bueller Parade “Twist and Shout” dance, Thriller, the Breakfast Club Library dance, and the Austin Powers opening dance.

So unless you’re down for getting every single one of our guests involved with a group dance number (which they will no doubt hate you for), rest assured you will only be required to sway in a circle.

However, I have always had a thing for Kevin Bacon and I bet you’d look really hot in a maroon jacket.

Xo,
Your Future Wife

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It’s Entertainment

23 Feb

Dear Future Hubby,

DJ vs. band. It’s a difficult decision, I know. Given the type of wedding, one may be more appropriate than the other. Given the type of person I am, we’re going to have both. Sure, our wedding is probably going to be formal, especially if we go through with Gaelic Gala, but I’m sorry, I’m going to totally need to rock out to “Party in the USA” at least once, and maybe bust out some ‘N SYNC dance moves in my wedding dress as well. At the same time though, I have many ideas about live music, especially when it comes to Gaelic Gala. I have long thought about having, not one, not two, but three live musical acts for Gaelic Gala. They will not all be performing at the reception, but instead over the course of the wedding week. Yes, you read that right. The week long wedding celebration that will be Gaelic Gala. In keeping with the Irish theme of the wedding, all of these acts will of course be Irish and coincidentally, are three of my favorite musical acts ever. Imagine that.

Joint Stag-Hen Party: Gaelic Storm is going to tear the roof of whatever venue we choose to have this in. It’ll be like that scene out of Titanic only minus a sinking ship and Leonardo DiCaprio. All the bridesmaids will be very disappointed with the lack of Leo, but some traditional Irish music will not doubt cheer them up and goes great with ten shots of Jameson.

The Swell Season: No joke, I would have a fan girl moment if I met them.

Rehearsal Dinner: The Swell Season. No joke, they are my favorite band ever. If you haven’t seen the movie Once, well, I’m going to tie you to a chair and make you watch it over and over again until you’re sobbing like a baby at the end of it. The Swell Season is Glen & Marketa from Once, plus Glen’s band The Frames. Together they make up The Swell Season and their songs are so good I get the chills. Excellent entertainment for after the rehearsal dinner.

Reception: As previously mentioned, we will be dancing to “When the Stars Go Blue” by The Corrs and Bono. I don’t think The Corrs even play together anymore and Bono is off saving the world most of the time, but I’m sure with a little arm twisting (and $$ from the lotto we will be winning to pay for Gaelic Gala) they’ll totally show up to sing it live. If not, there is always kidnapping.

After The Corrs, that’s when the DJ would kick in, giving me us the best of both worlds. Live music plus hours of dancing provided by Miley Cyrus, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Journey, ‘N SYNC, Ace of Base, Spice Girls, Michael Jackson, and of course, Kenny Loggins. You don’t like Kenny Loggins? Well, you’re un-American then.

It has recently come to my attention though, that we may have been overlooking the greatest Irish artists of all time to play at Gaelic Gala. No, not U2. No, not B*Witched. No, not Sinead O’Connor. I’m talking about Celtic Thunder. You’ve never heard of them? Well, until two days ago neither had I. I was watching the BAFTAs and all of a sudden a commercial came on for Celtic Thunder: a group of 5 guys, ages ranging from what looks like 15 to 50, all dressed in tuxes as they sang and danced around the stage. Include some stairs, some set pieces, some dancing extras, and some orchestra members and it’s one big rockin’ party. It was like watching an episode of Glee with Irish dudes. As I sat there watching in horror amazement, I started to wonder why the hell we weren’t having them place at Gaelic Gala. There are so many great qualities that I think would make them perfect for our formal wedding in Ireland.

1. They don’t sing any original songs. Nothing screams good music like five Irish dudes trying to be a boy band by singing The Beach Boys, Michael Buble, Josh Groban, and Jeff Buckley. Really, I mean, why go with the original when you can have them singing, dancing, playing air guitar right in front of you?
2. They have costumes. Judging by their commercial and the video I viewed when I looked them up, they have some sweet ass costumes. We’re talking green polyester bell bottom suits and some great early 1900s outfits that look straight out of Newsies or The Legend of Bagger Vance. I want nothing more in the world than to be upstaged on my wedding day by a guy in a green suit playing a guitar.

Seriously, how can we pass this up?

3. They have a huge fan base. Their video, taped in front of a live audience, shows people wearing homemade Celtic Thunder shirts, older women screaming themselves silly like it’s the second coming of The Beatles, and even grown men standing up and clapping along. I REALLY want this to happen at my wedding. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if our mothers bonded over Celtic Thunder and wearing “I <3 George” shirts instead of nice formal attire, green tinsel wigs, all while waving glow sticks. Those would look great for the wedding pictures.
4. They come with set pieces. Their whole production takes place over a stage, stairs, some fake Astroturf, and a fountain. I’m really looking forward to their performance having more production value than our wedding. I think the Astroturf will really tie their performance and our wedding together nicely. Maybe after they finish singing Greg Brady can come out and throw a football at Marsha Brady’s nose.
5. They wear kilts for some songs. Enough said.

Really, how can we pass this opportunity up? Let’s just scrap all the other plans and have them play all three nights we need entertainment for Gaelic Gala. I just hope we’re able to get them because I’m sure they are in really high demand filming PBS specials and making old ladies throw their bras at them. On second thought, we don’t want any bra throwing at Gaelic Gala. We’ll stick with Plan A, but don’t worry. I’m sure Celtic Thunder will be available if we change our minds.

Xo,
Your Future Wife

Swell Season Photo Source: Mark Humphrey/Associated Press
Celtic Thunder Photo Source

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