Wedding music

25 years!

I fell in love with Candace the first time I saw her as I listened to her sing, and ever since she has brought wonderful music into my life. At our wedding, held outdoors near a wooded stream at 8 o’clock in the morning, she sang Keith Green’s The Lord is My Shepherd, accompanied by Diane Ramsey on the flute and Jody Kessel on the guitar:

The Lord is my Shepherd from Kerry Magruder on Vimeo.

The wedding ceremony was filled with joyous music from start to finish, beginning with Purcell’s Ayre as the Prelude, and a trumpet voluntary as the processional, both performed by a brass quartet of Glenn Lemons (trumpet), Troy Peterson (trumpet), Dr. Roger Cody (trombone) and Trent Kite (tuba). Then Gloria Fields sang Morning Has Broken, by Cat Stevens, again accompanied by Diane Ramsey on the flute and Jody Kessel on the guitar:

Morning Has Broken from Kerry Magruder on Vimeo.

Just before the charge to the couple and the exchange of wedding vows, our dear friend Michael Barfield performed his Season Suite, a song that could not have been better suited to the occasion:

Season Suite from Kerry Magruder on Vimeo.

Finally, a sextet of Tanya Henmen, Gloria Fields, LaNita Partin, Jill Stoufer, Lori Zoll and Sharon Tait Burch concluded the ceremony with The Lord Bless You and Keep You, by Lutkin:

The Lord Bless You and Keep You from Kerry Magruder on Vimeo.

To all of you who gave us the gift of music on this special day, we offer our continual, life-long thanks. We remember you with joy and treasure your friendship.

But there was more: throughout these performances various songbirds provided improvisational melodies, particularly one red-winged blackbird who repeatedly serenaded us with his organ pipes. As Robert Frost wrote,

“to do that to birds was why she came.”

Thank you, Candace, for making music such a central part of our lives together!

25 years!