For many people, June 1 marks the beginning of summer, the time to dust off the bikini and head to the beach. As a young-ish professional musician, my June 1 landmark is a little bit different: the official start of Wedding Season. Every weekend I pull out my flute, zip up my trusty black trousers, strap on my high heels, and head off to another wild and crazy day of "gigging." Whenever non-musicians (primarily of the female species) discover that this is how I make my summer living, the response goes something like this:
Friend: You mean, you get to go to a wedding every weekend?
Me: Yeah, sometimes two or three.
Friend: Wow, that must be so much fun!
Me: Oh, it's cool. But I never know anyone in these weddings. I'm just the hired help.
Friend: But you get to see all the weddings! I'd love to see that many weddings! Weddings are the greatest! Blah blah weddings. Weddings blah blah blah. Blah blah weddings blah blah.
Don't get me wrong. Playing for weddings is a pretty sweet job. I get paid a fairly impressive sum of money for very little time. But it does has its disadvantages. The most notable of these? The BRIDE. Brides are a funny thing. You take a sane, intelligent, pleasant woman, put a diamond on her finger, and schedule an event she's been waiting for her whole life, and she instantly becomes the Creature From the Black Lagoon with a tinge of Crazy added. Some of these ladies want the strangest things. For instance, the bride of Today's Wedding requested that her prelude music include our flute, vioiln, and cello trio playing "I'm So Excited." Which would have been awesome and kind of hilarious. Except that it required me to locate, and PURCHASE, the sheet music for "I'm So Excited." Which I would then own. Forever.
Other odd requests include one from a bride who was getting married under this really old, amazing tree. She wanted us to play the background music while sitting. In. The. Tree. Need I say more?
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