Last weekend I played a wedding at Smolak Farms in Andover, MA. I got a little lost on the way there, but had given myself ample time to get to the wedding and I arrived an hour early. When I entered the front gate, I realized how big the farm was and there were many parking lots to choose from. I felt overwhelmed already. I walked through what seemed to be an entire field before I saw the big tent. It was soon after that I realized the only bathrooms available were porter potties. I was preparing myself for what I thought would be a very long couple of hours.
When I reached the tent, the bride immediately recognized me with a big smile. She was very warm and approachable and I felt at ease again. The ceremony was unique in that it had many cultural traditions that I had never seen before. 5 minutes before the start of the ceremony, the priest came up to me and told me to just add music to all of these little rituals – and that it would be great if I could just improvise something on the spot. This took me by surprise, but I felt ok about it since improvisation is a strength of mine. All in all the ceremony went smoothly and I was on my way to the next engagement.
