12 Mar WEDDING MUSIC AT D’ARIA WINERY

Our superb live musical entertainment set the tone for a mystical forest wedding on the grounds of D’Aria Winery, just outside Durbanville, about 50 km away from Cape Town. – http://www.daria.co.za

As the guests arrived, they were served delicious D’Aria wine to enliven them before they set off on a short walk into the depths of the little forest. We, the musicians of the Hungarian Trio first played at the site of the welcome drinks where everyone was already in a merry mood, and then set off to play in the beautiful glade of poplar trees, for which the renowned Poplars Restaurant on D’Aria is named.

http://www.dining-out.co.za/md/Poplars-Restaurant/1757

Before playing the Wedding March,we set the tone for the Wedding Ceremony with uplifting light classics, nothing heavy ,just things that most people would know and enjoy, such as Vivaldi Four Seasons, (the Spring is our favourite, with its imitated birdsongs most apt for the forest setting!), Lord of the Dance, Bach Air, Gabriel’s Oboe from The Mission, and so on. This time our beautiful bride chose to enter to Pachelbel’s Kanon in D, a very suitable choice as she approached from the other side of a rustic bridge over the stream. Of course,for the Ceremony,we play in a stationary set-up like a string-quartet.

As we played, the bride floated over the path of fallen leaves, our cool and beautiful sounds mingled with the gentle breeze and bird song. A heavenly moment.

The ceremony, Afrikaans and English together, was most moving, and we were encouraged to think of the holy union of two blessed souls.

At the end of the ceremony, we changed the solemn mood to a far more celebratory atmosphere with the Mendelssohn Wedding March as the couple made their exit, and then with our favourite foot-tapping Wien Bleibt Wien, a brilliant cheer-up number for the petal shower and kissing-queue, always a delightful moment!

After a group photograph, the couple and their family left for photographs, leaving their guests in our capable hands. Time for music for the beginning of the party! This is where we start to stroll through the guests, serenading them with romantic gypsy serenades. If there is any constraint in the air, where guests perhaps do not know one another, we pride ourselves on breaking the ice and getting everyone relaxed, happy and chatting. Italian songs made famous by Pavarotti always bring on the smiles, together with movie themes such as Scent of a Woman and Titanic, tunes from Phantom and Les Miserables, some jazzy numbers like Girl from Ipanema, Summer Samba, Besame Mucho , and of course for the older family members, Johann Strauss Waltzes -if we do not play them , someone will surely ask for them! The evening would not be complete without the romantic violin strains of some Hungarian Gypsy csardas, and some lovely French Cafe` tunes, Under Paris Skies, C’est si Bon etc. African guests always enjoy our Soweto String Quartet style arrangements such as Ntyilo, Ntyilo (Little Bird), and everyone, not only Jewish or Irish guests, love the Irish Jigs and items such as If I Were a Rich Man and Havah Nagila. Tangos always inspire some of the guests to dance the night away, or at least until the Wedding Cake makes its appearance.