Baby Snowman Arrives 1 week early

At 11:43 William Hunter Snow was born. Mommy Snow was excited that the event took place one week in advance. weighing 7 pounds 15 ounces, Hunter is very healthy and agreeable most of the day. He likes to follow the normal routine of sleeping, eating, and sleeping.

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Weddings for the weekend of August 7th

Thanks to all the musicians that performed this weekend. We had a busy Saturday with three weddings occurring. Couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day, but it could have been a little cooler! Also, for the first time ever, we played a wedding on a Monday. Monday's wedding took place at historic Old Salem. Usually when we're at Old Salem we play at Home Moravian church. Interestingly, this wedding and our next at Old Salem both happen at sites where we've never performed. Monday was in a beautiful little field just to the left of Salem Tavern. You can't ask for a location steeped in more history than the well preserved town of Old Salem. If you've never come for a visit you should.

These pictures were taken by Franklin Photography who provided the photography for the wedding.

SamePage has launched!!

Well, after several weeks and many sleepless nights...including tonight...SamePage has launched. What is SamePage...good question. Venture over to the link on the left that tells all about SamePage. In short, this is a planning tool to help keep everyone organized. After several years of managing close to 100 events a year by a manual process, I decided to take the steps to come up with a web service that allows the client, Elegant Ensembles and musicians to collaborate. The result is the SamePage management system which is now the only gig management system of its kind. Now all of the details of Elegant Ensembles clients can be entered via the web and musicians are invited to play the job that has been recorded. This should cut down on the numerous emails it takes to properly plan and organize music as well as the number of times it often takes to retype or cut and paste wedding details from previous emails. My favorite so far? ... Walking around with my iPad and simply organizing a wedding with a few points of the finger. Still a few minor details to work out, but it's running better than expected.

How do you know when to play?

A common question that I am asked is, "When do you know when to play during the ceremony?". This is good question and our answer is always, "Good cues". We've played many, many weddings and the flow and sequence is generally the same. What we've found works extremely well is to cover our basis by two methods. First, we will ask how many parents to be seated, how many bridesmaids and attendants and how will they be processing, and are there any children in the wedding party. From this information, we immediately know what to look for while we're performing. As long as we're given a visual cue to know when to start the seating for the parents, we can usually handle it from there. In most cases, however, a wedding director will be coordinating the procession. We setup visual cues that we actively watch for near the end of the prelude to know when to begin each part of the ceremony. A thumbs up from the back of the church for instance works to let us know everyone is ready to get started and every successive thumbs up takes us to the next piece. We decide ahead of time how to handle extra time in a piece that we're playing and how to shorten the piece to come to a fast but appropriate ending place. We also have cues to extend the prelude in case the wedding is not going to start on time. Through all of these methods, we can generally tailor the music to fit what's happening. This prevents us from having to come to the rehearsal in most cases, but in the event that you would like someone there, the leader of the ensemble can attend.

Winston-Salem's Perfect Ceremony Location

If you haven't considered it, consider it. Graylyn is an old estate home in Winston-Salem. It was owned by the Grays who were involved with RJ Reynolds during its golden years. The home is now a conference center and is a popular place for weddings. We enjoy playing at this beautiful location because it is as professionally run as it is exquisite in style and grandeur. Paula Glover runs the operations and her staff makes this place an ideal location for the ceremony and reception. She also does a great job looking after the musicians and making sure they stay hydrated on hot summer days. Check out graylyn.com.

Today's wedding was flawless even though it was hot. We managed to maneuver to the best shaded location we could find that day. We ended up setting up inside for the cocktail hour. Beautiful wedding!

Prelude music charms an uninvited guest to the wedding

So, the idea of needing to get this blog started got its boost with our most alarming event ever.

Today's wedding was at Reynolda Gardens and it was one of those hot, muggy days. We arrived and after being promised a shady spot, we rounded the corner to find that we were actually going to be setup where there were no shady areas at the ceremony site..... save one. This one shady spot was created by a weeping cherry tree, unfortunately, the limbs weeped all around the tree. It was possible to setup under the tree but we would be blocked by the limps from seeing the guests. I managed a quick maneuver of tying the limbs back so that they looked like a natural parting. Voila...we could see everything we needed to see. We had shade and our setup worked out that it was right at the top of some old brick stairs that led down to the small garden where the wedding was being held. Seemed like the perfect spot. Two of us could even sit on the walls that were part of this walkway area...natural chairs. So, we started warming up and played a few of the pieces for the ceremony so to decide on the best stopping places. We were finishing our second piece when my eye caught something long and black just to my right. I looked down and a 6 foot black snake had just finished crossing my foot. The snake had crawled through the low underbrush that was on one side of the brick walk and had crossed through our music stands. No one had seen this snake until it had finished making its way through. I quickly called out to my partners and we gently walked to the other side of the stands and waited for the snake to go about its way. A groomsman came by and hurried the snake to another location and from there someone stood guard for us. Definitely our most intense warm up session ever!

Elegant Ensembles has a blog!

After many years of wanting to tell all about the joys of playing music at weddings, Elegant Ensembles now has a blog to do so. We hope you enjoy and learn what we do to make music flawless, professional, and enjoyable for your guests.