WIN WIN WIN

1.This past weekend, one of my best friends, Brad Frost married his long time girfriend Melissa Bostian in Richmond, VA. Despite it being August and Richmond, they decided to have the wedding outside. It was worth the roasting sun, the whole scene was beautiful—they held the ceremony in the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens against a backdrop of picture perfect trees, plants and flowers. I’ve known them both for a long time, and they’re as amazing individually as they are for each other. Congrats, guys! WIN!

2. They asked me to provide the music for the ceremony, and since they don’t allow amplified instruments in the garden (and you can’t really roll a piano out onto the green), I teamed up with another longtime friend and an amazingly talented multi-instrumentalist i’ve had the priveledge of playing in groups with over the years, Aaron Spring. I bought a classical guitar for the occasion, knowing that it would both sound more appropriate in this setting and carry better outdoors than a steel string. We played the traditional pieces, Pachelbel’s Canon in D, and the Wedding March (here comes the bride) for the ceremony, and we also surprised everyone with a classical guitar and flute arrangement of an original song i wrote and performed while in a band with the Groom in college. Everything went off without a hitch. WIN!

3. I loved playing that classical guitar, but honestly, I really didn’t need it. I went back up to Sam Ash this afternoon and returned it for store credit, and picked up a really nice set of speakers for my record player instead. My roommate Fraser works there and helped me out, and even got the price knocked down like 100 bucks. After all was said and done, i owed 20 dollars on top of the credit for the guitar, and i’ve been bathing in a rich and wonderful aural soundscape for the past few hours. WIN!