April 21, 2011
Posted by Ashley
A Real Hi-Fi Wedding: Johanna & Noah’s Bright Night
I love it when music is like a love affair between couples. When it brings them together. When it’s with them along the way. There’s always a song in my head, and I’m constantly compiling an infinite playlist. I get the vibe that Johanna and Noah are the same way, and she explains how music brought them together.
Music has and always will be the single thing that reflects and defines who I am. How does my husband feel about music? Exactly the same way… Here’s our musical love story.
The stars were aligned even before we met. It was 1995 and teen-angst was on full throttle. The one thing that could sooth my mood was to escape to my room and listen to some of my fav CDs – among them- The Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness double disc. I was so drawn in to Billy Corgan’s epic songs that I paid homage to the album covers with a collage painting on the back of my bedroom door.
Noah has recounted to me on many occasions that he longs for the moments when he used to board himself up in his room, headphones on, covers on his drum skins and sticks in hand hammering out his favourite rock tunes.
When Noah and I re-met 10 years after my heart first fluttered for him at summer camp, we quickly discovered how predominant music was in our lives and how much of the same music we had in common. Our first date was at an open-air concert with The Smashing Pumpkins headlining the bill. Noah jumped at the chance to take me knowing how much we both loved the band and how I had unfortunately never had the opportunity to see them in concert.
The sound was terrible, the air was getting cool and Noah had just put his arms around me when “Tonight, Tonight” began to play. He said “listen to the first line of the song”. Of course I knew the line but I played along. He then told me that he quoted that line in his high school year book…what did you say?…me too! From that moment on I knew we had something special and I knew we had a song.
Fast forward to our wedding two years later. Our priority was to make our special day into a fun party by hosting the entire wedding at a supper club and having a DJ spin some tunes to work the crowd. Of importance was how to incorporate our favourite rock band into an otherwise traditional ceremony? We made it happen.
The wedding party and Noah walked down the isle to “All I Want Is You” by U2.
The music then changed to the opening of our song “Tonight, Tonight” for my walk down the aisle with my parents.
As mentioned we wanted our wedding to be a fun affair. Lucky for us two cheerleaders that Noah works with at the Montreal Alouettes’ football team offered to choreograph a “rock the reception” dance for us. We had set the stage, our guests anticipating a romantic first dance, which was to another Pumpkins’ tune, a beautifully romantic song “Luna”, which we planned to be rudely interrupted by records scratching at two minutes in. We jumped into step to “Ch-Check It Out” by the Beastie Boys and got everyone excited and ready to par-tay!
Overall the party was a huge success and consisted mostly of 60s-90s hits that got everyone out of their seats and having a great time. I’m too easy going to plan out every song, but that isn’t to say that I didn’t throw in a few requests of my own.
Photos By: Davina + Daniel
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