What's the cool jams?

Who wants a humpday treat?

So...B and I have a problem: we can't for the life of us agree on music for the reception.

It's not so much that we have different tastes in music, just that I tend to be more tolerant of mainstream tunes than he is.  I can jam out to pretty much anything I can sing to, while his standards are a wee bit higher.  I guess that's what comes with the territory of being a friggin Master of Music and all...psh.  Anyway, the music conversation usually goes something like this:

But we both hate Katy Perry!  Let's just put all of her songs on the "Do Not Play" list and be done with it!
I know...but some of her songs are fun to dance to, and I'm sure a lot of our guests like her music.  Don't we kind of need to think about their music tastes and not just ours?
But she can't sing and her music is terrible!

At which point I ask whether hearing "California Gurls" at our wedding reception would really be the end of the world and he gives me a pointed look.

Serendipity

Whenever I'm at Barnes and Noble I take a few minutes to leaf through their selection of wedding magazines.  I rarely let myself buy one, since I have stacks and stacks of them at home, but I just love the feel of the glossy pages and can't help but savor the gorgeous photographs of the featured fairytale weddings.  Tonight, on such an occasion, I stumbled across a beautiful spread in Real Weddings, an Australian magazine I'd never seen before.

My mouth fell open as I saw my vision for our wedding actualized and in print in front of me.  It was like a dream sequence.  For the longest time I've been trying to explain to friends and family that I want to incorporate a vintage, musical theme into our decor and invitations, but whenever I described it to people it ended up sounding kitschy and juvenile.  This magazine spread, however, was anything but:

  

Father-Daughter Dance: Dad's Picks

When I got home from visiting B, the lil sis (who had waited up for me - what a doll) told me that my dad had spent the last several nights going through their iTunes library in search of a good father-daughter dance.  How adorable is that?!  Sure enough, when I saw him the next day, he told me he had a few songs in mind, and sat down at the computer to play them for me.

His choices definitely have an old-school country flavor to them, and listening to them brought a smile to my face.  While it's not really a musical genre I listen to regularly, they're the kinds of songs my parents played when I was growing up, so the nostalgia factor is huge.

Jerry Jeff Walker - She Knows Her Daddy Sings



This is a really sweet song, although I have to nominate it as one of the most awkward music videos of all time.  Regardless, I'll probably always associate Jerry Jeff Walker with my parents since I think they own every one of his albums, and I can definitely imagine dancing with my dad to this song.

Dancing with Dad

I've tried on more than one occasion to ask my dad what song he wants to dance to at the reception and somehow the subject always gets changed before he has to answer.  Usually this happens after he responds with something like "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" and then pretends to be insulted by my eye roll. Before I know it, we're discussing the do-not-play list or ceremony music, and never really get back to our original topic.

Proud Papa at my college graduation

I'd climb inside the swirling skies to be with you...

I heart Norah Jones.  Seriously.  Her sultry, soulful voice makes me all nostalgic and miss my man like crazy.  She's in a league all her own.

I actually got to see B this past weekend - he flew in for my cousin's wedding and we got to have some quality time together (even if he was only on Dakota soil for less than 24 hours - more on that later).  Now, let me just say, we've been doing this whole *Distance* thing for a while now, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that the distance almost seems more manageable when there's more time between each meeting.  It might sound crazy, but think about it:

I'm on my own, I'm making my peace with it, I'm finally starting to establish a routine, and then --BAM-- my world gets completely shaken up!  He's here!  Life is grand!  Everybody's happy!  ...and then he leaves, and I've got to go back to the real world.  There is no opportunity for sanity that way - I'm either elated or depressed, no time for in-between!

Don't get me wrong - I love our quality time, but as strange as it sounds, I find dealing with the distance much much easier when there are fewer goodbyes to deal with.  So as great as it was to see him, this is the part I hate, and I'll probably spend the next few days with Norah.  But don't feel too bad for me; she makes for pretty good company.

What do you think?  Agree?  Think I'm nuts?  And do you have songs that make you close your eyes, sigh and just listen?  Sound off in the comments!

Sigh...

The ultimate inspiration for any upcoming wedding, but especially for me and mine.  I listen to it whenever I really miss him, and it makes him seem much closer.  Enjoy...



The Wedding Song (There Is Love)
-Paul Stookey (Peter, Paul and Mary)  

He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubador is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here, has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love. There is Love.

Well a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
And they shall travel on to where the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning is now and until the end
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again.
And there is Love. There is Love.

Well then what’s to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it Love that brings you here or Love that brings you life?
Or if loving is the answer, then who’s the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you’ve never seen before?
Oh there’s Love, there is Love.

Oh the marriage of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love. Oh there’s Love.