At first I thought the email was a scam.  Scammers have gotten pretty good at pretending to be clients looking for wedding music, but they usually “out” themselves with suspect venue addresses and other weird details.  This email was from a production company in New York City. They were working on a wedding in Brooklyn and needed 2  Renaissance era fanfare trumpeters- in costume.  In scouring the internet looking for such a thing, they had come across a video of my Royal Horn duo on Youtube.  

We were exactly what they were looking for- we had the valveless, old school fanfare horns, and the costumes. I had both made several years ago, hoping to score some unique and lucrative gigs with the unusual yet authentic combination of horns and outfits.  But, aside from a few grand opening gigs, The Royal Horns really hadn’t gotten much work over their roughly 10 year life span.

And I didn’t think we’d be getting anything from this email either- the whole thing just seemed too unusual.  But I looked up the production company and they were legit.  I researched the venue and it was also legit.  When I corresponded with the production company, they were super professional and very legit.

We were in business- this was a real gig!

It was going to be a bit of an adventure though.  Two days after Christmas. A 3 hour drive from Lancaster, PA to Brooklyn, NY and back.  And the only thing we had to play was the bride’s procession down the aisle and the couple’s recession/walk out after the ceremony.  That’s it!

So I called up one of my trumpet buddies and asked them if they wanted to play. When they said, “Yeah- I need an adventure.”, I knew I made the right choice of partners.

When the day came, we met in a parking lot just north of Lancaster city and hit the highway to New York.  A big winter storm had been through northern New Jersey/New York the night before, but by the time we were on the road, everything was clear.  It was actually a very pretty drive, with everything but the road covered in a sticky snow.

Things were going unexpectedly well with very light traffic and no issues when we got into Brooklyn.  We even got a free parking space on the street only half a block away from the venue!  

Greeters

After checking in with the wedding people and the production team, we realized that the entire wedding was Renaissance/Midieval themed.  There were special, costumed greeters suiting up to meet each guest as they entered.  Many of the guests were expected to arrive in costume as well.  This whole thing was shaping up to be pretty cool!

We had plenty of time before the festivities started, and there was a record store in the shop below the venue, so off we went.  A few records later, we got dressed, practiced our fanfares, snapped a few pictures of ourselves and took our positions at the top of the aisle.

The bride was going to enter from the side, walking alongside a table of guests until she met us  at the top of the aisle.  From there she was to turn left and walk down the aisle until she met her partner at the podium.  We would be playing fanfares the whole time.  We wouldn’t be able to see the bride enter from the side- our cue to play would come from the production assistant, who was stationed at a good spot.

A bunch of people took photos of us as we stood there waiting.  Things were running behind schedule, as they often do, but everything seemed to be going well otherwise.  Eventually, the bridal party started making their way into the room and up to the podium, using the same path that the bride was to use. The DJ was playing music for them, but he was to stop when the bride began to enter. 

The production assistant was diligently checking her list and matching it with the people processing in. I knew we were seconds away from playing, so my eyes were glued to her, looking for her cue.  

But then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a white dress.  It was the bride- she was halfway through her processional!  We should have been playing!! But the DJ was still at it.

I looked back at the production assistant. She looked sick and angry at the same time. She didn’t cue us though.

I thought maybe there was an ad lib change of plans, where the bride would stop right beside us at the top of the aisle, the DJ would stop playing, and then we’d blow fanfares as the bride walked down to the podium.

I adjusted my stance so I could hoist the horn up quickly when the cue came.

But it didn’t come!

Without a pause or so much as a look in our direction, the bride rounded the corner at the top of the aisle and walked straight down to the podium.  The DJ played the whole time!  Instead of heralding the bride, we were a forgotten detail.  

The production assistant was very professional in concealing her emotions as she came over and let us know that she was going to talk to the DJ and make sure that the recessional didn’t get screwed up too.

She returned a few minutes later, and as the couple exchanged vows, gave us these instructions. 

“The officiant will make the ending of the ceremony very obvious by saying ‘you may kiss the bride’.  At that point, you play fanfares as the couple walks to the center spot of the aisle, where they will pause and address the guests.  At that point, you’re done.”

A few minutes later, as expected, the officiant said the magic words and we blew our fanfares as loud as we could, but the applause and cheering for the couple and their kiss was pretty vigorous.  I doubt anybody heard us! About 10 seconds in, the officiant waved her hand in the air and called for everybody’s attention.  Apparently, she had decided on a whim to add some additional words.

Getting ready for the “big” moment.

We stopped playing. She had a mic, and she was in charge.

The couple was still at the podium, so we planned to play them to their recessional center spot as soon as the officiant finished speaking.

She stopped after only a few seconds and I sucked in a big breath of air, only to be preempted once again by the DJ!  I tried to play over it for a few bars, hoping the DJ would yield, but he probably didn’t even hear us from his station across the room.  There was no fighting it.  

The production assistant’s expression was a Jeckyll and Hyde mixture of expressionless and “I’ll choke you out right now’!” She apologized to us for the mix ups (not her fault), thanked us very much for coming all the way from southern PA,  told us we were all done for the evening, and that our invoice would be processed that week.

There was nothing left to do except change back into our  21st century jeans and sweatpants, pack up our stuff, and head to the car for a 3 hour drive back home.  

We definitely had an adventure that day, but I don’t think we envisioned it turning out like that!  We had driven a total of 6 hours, waited around about 2 hours, played a total of about 15 seconds, and there’s a good chance that most of that was drowned out by cheering or the DJ.

I say this to my musician friends all the time but it’s so true for us- “you just never really know what’s going to happen on a day at work.”

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