Worth Their Weight in Gold!
To say Johnathon and Katie are worth their weight in gold is putting it mildly! We guess we will start at the very beginning of our interactions with them. We contacted them initially through Wedding Wire to discuss possibly having them perform our wedding ceremony. Johnathon responded very quickly, within hours if we remember correctly, and was ready to answer any questions we had. He also e-mailed us a few different quotes that were very budget friendly. One thing that stood out to us was that while they had a very healthy selection of music to choose from, including sound samples we were able to listen to, they said they were willing to learn new music if we had any special songs we wanted played. After examining our budget we decided to move forward. Johnathon wasn't available on our wedding date because a close friend of his was getting married on the same day, but he had a friend of theirs, named Gemma, fill in who also did an amazing job and was very professional! He was very upfront and communicated with us clearly every step of the way!
Before making any concrete decisions, we were invited over to meet with and listen to Katie and Johnathon play a few pieces for us, so we could hear them in person, and perhaps get an idea of what we want played at our wedding. They were both very friendly, and played absolutely beautifully! We both started tearing up while listening to them play a few pieces.
We honestly had no idea what we wanted when walking in there, but they talked us through everything, and we decided on asking them to play a selection of modern songs. They didn't have music to any of them, but over the course of the year either found music already written for strings, or actually translated music themselves! To give you an idea of how much work they did for us, here is our requested song list:
1.) "Be My Baby," by the Ronettes- Seating of the moms
2.) "Ben," by the Jackson 5- groomsmen carried photos of our dogs, and close friends who were going to carry photos of other dogs we have known and loved over the years. This was just one example of their flexibility. One of our pups passed away exactly one month and one day before our wedding very unexpectedly, and we weren't quite sure how we would be able to honor him without completely losing it on our day. Our final decision and number of people to determine how long this song should be was given that week! Johnathon and Katie were extremely professional and understanding during this process. They made it far less worrisome than it very easily could have been. It was like they just waved a magic wand and made sure whatever we wanted was made possible!
3.) "River of Dreams," by Billy Joel- our wedding processional
4.) "Everlong," by Foo Fighters- Bridal March - This is one of the songs we know they had to work pretty hard to translate. There were a couple of examples on Youtube, but they had to put this one together. We had a friend, a classically trained singer, offer to sing for us about two weeks before our wedding (one of her kids was not well, so it was impossible for her to have been able to make the offer sooner). Johnathon and Katie had the song completely finished already, but without hesitation contacted our friend and worked out the details directly with her! Then, after Johnathon and Katie made adjustments, our friend told us the song wasn't within her vocal range, and didn't think she was able to get her voice to sound right with it (completely understandable, she sings soprano) lol! We broke the news to Johnathon and Katie, and again they were very professional, understanding, and accommodating!
5.)"The Story," by Brandi Carlile- this was sung by one of my other friends during the ceremony, who was not easy to get ahold of during the planning process. I think this was another song they had to piece together quite a bit, too. Johnathon and Katie didn't sweat any of it, or if they did, they had amazing blotting paper and we didn't know it! They went WAY above and beyond to keep this part of the planning from being stressful for us! Gemma and Katie even showed up over an hour early to practice with my friend since she doesn't live locally!
6.)"Liberty Bell," by John Philip Sousa, and the Monty Python closing theme song- this was played for our recessional, and it was perfect!
7.) They played music before the ceremony start and during cocktail hour, too!! Our guests couldn't stop talking about how beautifully they played, and we definitely agree!
Johnathon, Katie, and Gemma did everything they possibly could to make this part of the wedding planning process and day of as stress free as possible. Out of all of the vendors and people we worked with through our entire wedding planning process, they are definitely among our top favorites! I'm sure there is much more we didn't touch on, or didn't know that happened behind the scenes, but needless to say they made us feel very special, and we are VERY grateful for everything they did for us. They even made us a beautiful wedding gift! We couldn't have asked for a more professional and talented group of musicians!
