Fools Rush In
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

"I suppose you've heard we'll marry just about anyone . . ." was the beginning of the letter we received from the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York in response to our inquiry if we could be married in one of their chapels. Actually, we had heard stories to that effect and we knew that the Cathedral hosted all kinds of events, from the annual Blessing of the Animals—which usually included an elephant and a few snakes—to jazz concerts. However, it was their ongoing community program to train stone-carvers to work on the building itself that originally brought us to visit the cathedral: my future wife, Karen, was a stone carver herself and all of our trips to New York always included a visit uptown to see the progress on the 100-year-old building project.

Thus, when we decided to get married we thought we'd give Saint John the Divine a try. To our delight, permission was granted and we set a date of April 1, 1995! With all the secrecy of a military operation, we told only our four adult children from our previous marriages and my 80-year-old mother, Katie, who has lived in New York since emigrating from Germany many years ago, about our intentions—sending them airplane tickets and making hotel reservations for the weekend of what would become our "elopement."

What to do about music? The actual ceremony would only involve us, the priest, the four "kids," and my mother in the much smaller St. Ambrose Chapel in the nave off from the cavernous main cathedral, but we certainly wanted music. "Fools Rush In" was a natural for the incidental music on an April Fool's Day wedding, but couldn't we also have a serious moment as well? We asked my mother, who had always sung around the house and in her church choir if she would do the honors, and she agreed—if she could sing in German accompanied by an organ.

As it turned out, the only organ in Saint John the Divine's is in the enormous public space of the main chapel, but a promise to one's mother is a promise. Thus it was, that at the appropriate moment in our wedding ceremony, the eight of us left the St. Ambrose Chapel for a brief walk into the main sanctuary, where Katie, accompanied by the subdued might of the catheral organ, sang in a clear and strong voice all the verses of Schubert's "Der Linden Baum." And because the Cathedral is often a stop for the tour buses (which that particular morning included two bus-loads of German tourists), upon completion, the cathedral was filled with applause and "Bravos." Ever unflappable, Katie took a small bow and we all trooped back to the chapel for the rest of the ceremony.

Jack Sattel
Minneapolis