These two had the best of both worlds: their favorite tunes played from an ipod AND a live band. Fareine describes her wonderful surprise to Steve for their wedding:

When we started planning our wedding, we knew two things: Our families don’t dance and I was sick of hearing the same wedding music over and over again (I’m a wedding photographer, so I had my fair share of Train’s “Marry Me” for the season). The original plan was to just have some background music running off the iPod, but at some point a thought popped into my head. “What if I hired one of his favorite bands to play at our reception?” I went back to the mix CD he gave me on our first date and started contacting different bands from the playlist. Several emails later, Venice is Sinking, an amazing band from Athens, GA was named our official wedding band!

At first I was going to wait til the wedding to tell Steve the surprise, but as the date got closer, coming up with the perfect set list became too much pressure, so I ended up telling him a few months out. He was absolutely psyched to create the set list and even requested a few covers, which the band happily agreed to learning!

The biggest surprise for the both of us was when our parents got up to dance when the band started playing. Again, we thought nobody at our wedding would really be into dancing, so our vision was that they would play a show while everyone casually talked and had drinks, but guests were up the entire time. The best part was that Venice played almost all original music, and everyone dug it.

The Mix CD (that Steve first gave Fareine)
1. The Haunting – Anberlin
2. Drive On To Me – Elliot
3. Awkward Last Words – Armor for Sleep
4. Burn This City – Cartel
5. Salt, Pepa, and Spinderella – Johnny Foreigner
6. Konstantine – Something Corporate
7. The Moments In Between – The Reign of Kindo
8. Iron Range – Venice is Sinking
9. You’ll Need Those Fingers for Crossing – Los Campesinos!
10. Ode We Will Bury Ourselves – Moving Mountains
11. Life is What You Make It – Number One Gun
12. Fin – Anberlin

Ceremony Music (played by Venice is Sinking)
Family/Bridal Party Processional: Air on G String – J.S. Bach
Bride Processional: Canon in D – Pachelbel
Recessional: PM’s Love Theme (from Love Actually) – Craig Armstrong

Reception Music (iPod)
First Dance: Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers
Father-Daughter Dance: Butterfly Kisses – Bob Carlisle
Mother-Son Dance: Simple Man (Acoustic) – Shinedown

Dinner Music (iPod)
Comfort in the Orchestration – The Reign of Kindo
Only You – Cartel
Going Numb – Tin Cup Prophette
Cadence (Acoustic) – Anberlin
The Red Loop – Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start
Tired Tiger – Moving Mountains
Till We Make Our Ascent – The Reign of Kindo
Now We’ve Made Our Ascent – The Reign of Kindo
Summer Tongues – Anchor & Braille
Thirty-Three – Smashing Pumpkins
Needle & Thread – Reign of Kindo
On Reflection – The Appleseed Cast
Photobooth – Death Cab for Cutie

Band Set #1
Pulaski Heights
Pebble Hill
Ryan’s Song
Okay
Compass
Sidelights
Wonderwall by Tonic (cover)
Tugboat
Charm City
Still Alive – Portal Ending Theme by Ellen McLain (cover)

Interlude (iPod)
Total Life Forever – Foals
Kids – MGMT
Animal – Miike Snow
Sleepyhead – Passion Pit
Rome – Phoenix
I Turn My Camera On – Spoon
I Stand Corrected – Vampire Weekend
Such Great Heights – The Postal Service
Just Dance – Lady Gaga & Colby O’Donis
Here In Your Arms – Hellogoodbye
Hang Me Up To Dry – Cold War Kids
If I Ever Feel Better – Phoenix
Everlasting Light – The Black Keys
Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) – Arcade Fire
I Still Remember – Bloc Party
One More Time – Daft Punk

Band Set #2
Buried Magnets
Iron Range
Bound By Violets
Sun Belt
Undecided
Poker Face by Lady Gaga (cover)
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd (cover)
CSX
Bardstown Road
Friends in Low

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Photos: Fahrenheit Photography