Haverstraw Bay County Park – Wedding Ceremony Music

This weekend we played a beautiful outdoor ceremony at Haverstraw Bay County Park in West Haverstraw New York. It was the first outdoor ceremony of the year. The weather was as perfect as it could be with blue sky and 70 degrees. It overlooks the Haverstraw Bay which is just north of the Tappan Zee bay (Tappan and Haverstraw are both Native tribes or at least the name they were given by European Colonialization in the 17th century)

There was a priest who was oversaw the ceremony and was quite entertaining…I will have to get his name! Here is some of the music that was played for the ceremony:

Procession of Grandmother, Mother of Bride, Parents of Groom, and 3 bridesmaids – MANDOLIN RAIN
Procession of Bride – BLACKBIRD
Recessional – STARLIGHT (MUSE)

For the prelude:

Falling Slowly
Don’t Stop Believing
In My Life – Beatles
Over the Rainbow
You and Me – Lifehouse

Unchained Melody
I Dreamed a Dream
Can’t Help Falling in Love
Slide
How Sweet it is – James Taylor

The Water’s Edge is one of the premier wedding venues located in Long Island City. Where is Long Island City? Just in case you don’t know, it is in Queens. Whenever I go there I think I am going somewhere far into Long Island, but in fact it overlooks the Manhattan skyline as you can see in the pictures. I loved the bright colors for this ceremony!  The songs for this ceremony were:

Bridal Entrance: Falling Slowly from Once
Recessional: Good Life by OneRepublic

Good Life was a new one for us and we are definitely going to add it to our regular repertoire!

watersedge1

Hidden in Morristown NJ is this jewel of a hotel called the Madison Hotel. As you can see from our amateur pictures, there is a beautiful green house with massive chandeliers. Here is some of the music that we played chosen by the couple that made for a beautiful ceremony.
Prelude:
Chasing Cars
Don’t Stop Believing
Iris
You and Me – Dave Mathews
Bittersweet Symphony
You and Me – Lifehouse

Yellow by Coldplay -  for the bridal party

Bride – Can’t Help Falling In Love

Recessional – All you need is love

Happy New Years everyone! We had a great year playing for so many beautiful couples and beautiful venues. There is no better way than to bring in the New Years playing music. As usual, these pictures taken by me do not do the venue or event must justice. It was an amazing and fun wedding at Liberty House overlooking New York City. Can’t beat that on New Years!

We have played at the Kane Street synagogue nearby as well as the Brooklyn Historical Society, but this was our first time at the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue. This is a very modern looking synagogue with great acoustics. The Chuppah looked like freshly cut Aspen trees (I am from Colorado, they were probably not) which the groom informed me they were cut the day before in Connecticut. The Rabbi presiding was quite entertaining. The cantor and the grounds manager were nice and easy to work with. A great venue that I hope to see more of. Starting next year, I promise to add pictures again to these posts!

This was our first time playing music at the Stone House at Stirling Ridge. It is a somewhat newer venue. There is ample space for guests and easy parking! This is a good new wedding venue and I have a feeling we will be seeing much more of this place.

This weekend we played at St. Joseph Catholic church on the upper east side at 87th street. This is a beautiful cathedral with an amazing sounding organ which was also used. The music director and cantor are also very talented. We took some video, but of course I forgot to press the “record” button…

Today we played guitar and cello at the ceremony at 632 on Hudson. This quite a unique venue! I have been hanging out around the West Village for many years since it has some of my favorite restaurants and music venues and also my wife was a manager at Jacks Coffee (no longer). I had not idea that this place existed. The ceremony took place on the ground floor of a somewhat small space. The 200 or so guests overlooked the ceremony from balconies on 3 upper floors that overlook the ground. Very good acoustics and really cool space!

Today we played a beautiful ceremony and Cocktail hour at the Botanical gardens. I was joined on cello by the very talented Noah Hoffeld. The ceremony was outdoors overlooking the river and the cocktail hour was in the Garden Terrace Room and the outdoor space. The Garden Terrace Room was just recently renovated which adds even more beauty to an already amazing venue.

Today we played at the W hotel in Union Square. It was a Jewish wedding with a beautiful handmade Chuppah. This is a classic and elegant venue as well as extremely convenient for guests (and us)!