La Rejouissance
Listener Submission: Most Meaningful Wedding Music Story

More Meaningful Wedding Music Stories Arrival of the Queen of Sheba Allegretto in Tandem Water Music Child No More Because Old Love Fools Rush In Moonlight Sonata The Lord's Prayer A Traditional Jewish Marriage Song Llef Susurro Rhosemedrye All Bach The Best Song in the World Perhaps Love A Mother's Blessing Memories Simple Gifts I Will Morning Song In Spite of Ourselves Salvation Army Singers Cats May Safely Sleep Give Yourself To Love How Can I Keep From Singing? Overture from Candide The Servant Song A Hebrew Blessing These Are For You The Lover's Waltz La Rejouissance Erev Shel Shoshanim Toccata You Are the New Day Dixieland Jazz Because Beauty and the Beast Beautiful The Lord's Prayer Somewhere Over the Rainbow How Can I Keep From Singing Devoted to You Promenade Days Together Stand By Me List of All Stories Odes to Joy home

My husband and I met while we were both volunteering with the U of M Marching Band. We had both grown up around music and played in wind ensembles through high school and college, and his father was a high-school band director. Music was a common bond between us, and we develop that bond as friends before we started dating. My husband is also a self-taught classical music connoisseur, and he passed on as much of that knowledge as he could to me. We're not professional musicians, but we enjoy having music in our lives and MPR on our radio.

For our wedding, we felt it would be inappropriate and a letdown to have the usual, traditional music that everyone uses (such as "Prince of Denmark" and Pachabel’s "Canon in D") for our wedding. We felt it should reflect the importance of music to us and our knowledge of music (not expert, but more than most of our friends!) So we chose "The Great Gate of Kiev" from Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky for our processional because it seemed so stately. We also chose "La Rejouissance" from Music for the Royal Fireworks by Handel for the recessional because it seemed appropriate.

My husband's cousin who is a professional church organist and the Summit Hill Brass Quintet played both pieces—outstanding! These songs fit our love of classical music, helped us achieve our goal of having great music that would wow the crowd, and were two of our all-time favorite pieces. They also symbolized, to us, the connection we have through classical music and always remind us of our wedding day and the great love we share. Oh, and we had to have "Ode to Joy" as our opening hymn because we both love Beethoven and especially his 9th symphony!

Cathy de Ranitz
St. Louis Park, MN