Erin and Scott Get Married: The Soundtrack

As promised yesterday, here’s the soundtrack to our wedding.

Now, this is not the music that’s going to be playing as we get married. Nor is it a group of “our songs.” We don’t really have an “our song,” save for a running joke about “Now That We Found Love” by Heavy D and The Boyz, which I really wanted to put on here, but Erin wouldn’t let me. I don’t know why. I think no matter who you are, you long to hear the words “Rev me up, rev me up/My little buttercup/We can tug sheets, snuggle up and get stuck” whispered sweetly in your ear.

No, this is really the soundtrack to our path to marriage. They’re the songs that make us think of each other, or remind us of times – good and bad – in our relationship. It’s taken a lot of work to get here, and as much as Erin and I approached our relationship seriously from the beginning, I’ll confess that there were times when it looked like it might not happen. Some of these songs reflect that struggle, and, for me, it would be disingenuous not to acknowledge it here. I think Erin feels the same way.

Having said all that, there is plenty of joy here.

As I write this, “Sound Opinions” is on and they’re talking about a recent academic study that looked at different genres of music, the people that listen to them, and how the music they listen to reflects who they are. Erin and I have been expressing who we are through music (mostly other people’s) since we were in junior high, so we couldn’t imagine not doing so during one of the most important times in our lives.

So here we go. The first six songs are Erin’s, the next six are mine.

Side Erin:
1. You Are The Best Thing – Ray LaMontagne
2. Today – Joshua Radin
3. Sorry Signs on Cash Machines – Mason Jennings
4. Somebody Loved – The Weepies
5. Landed – Ben Folds
6. Cigarettes and Coffee – Otis Redding

Side Scott:
7. Face It – The Reputation
8. Take Me Anywhere – Tegan and Sara
9. If I’m On The Late Side – The Faces
10. Learn To Live With What You Are – Ben Folds
11. Hallowween – Matt Pond PA
12. You Got It – Roy Orbison

Below you’ll find a link to the Imeem playlist of our soundtrack. You can use the player on that page to listen to the songs we’ve chosen. (I’d embed it here but, citing “security concerns”, WordPress doesn’t allow embedding anything that uses javascript. Boo.)

For those of you who are technically adept, you’ll also see a link under the playlist to a website that will allow you to download a ZIP file of all 12 of these songs in MP3 format.

Hope you like them.

- Scott

PLAYLIST: Scott and Erin Get Married

DOWNLOAD: Scott and Erin Get Married: The Soundtrack
(Look for the orange Download button)

UPDATE: Crap, so apparently the iMeem thing is only playing 30 second increments now for Erin’s tracks. I think that happens if a bunch of people listen to them. On the plus side, my songs are still playing the full versions. Maybe it’ll reset tomorrow? I’ll check into it and see if I can figure out an auto-play option for those of you who don’t want to download.

UPDATE 2: OK, it’s back to playing the full tracks now.

Thank you, law of averages!

So in a first for either Scott or I, our little wedding blog here actually hit #2 in the “Fastest Growing Blogs” at WordPress.com today, as measured by, well, WordPress.com.

Much like the Amazon rankings, this doesn’t mean a whole lot when you consider the competition and our ready-built audience, but it was a nice thing, just the same. The only blog to beat us to the top was Barack Obama For President 2008 and I’m gonna be honest with you: if any blog is going to beat us, it might as well be the one that’s promoting an Obama win next month.

(Which, in lieu of gifts, cast your vote in honor of us and vote Obama! It’s the gift that keeps on giving!)

It’s been a fun day for us, and we’ve just been blown away by everyone who’s come by the site to visit and say hi. We’d like to clarify that we’re not really “inviting” people to a “virtual wedding.” This blog is as much for us as it is for our friends and loved ones. It’s a way for us to capture the weekend – again, we’re not live-blogging the ceremony, or having a live stream, despite what some friends and loved ones would like! I live my life pretty publicly. At least virtually I do. This isn’t to say I can’t experience something without sharing it on the Internet, but I ask myself, “Why wouldn’t I?” I’m being quite serious when I tell you that the untold joy that blogging and community has brought me over the years makes doing this pretty effortless.

I’ve made very true connections with people as a result of this hobby – it wouldn’t seem right not to have some fun and share some of this with them, with you.

Anyway, so I know some folks might get the wrong idea, and it makes me sorta sad – though thrilled with the work that clearly lies ahead of us - that we still live in a culture that believes these electronic boxes on our desks at home and at work are somehow a hindrance rather than an opportunity. That the connections made via this technology aren’t as organic or authentic as those we make in our “real” lives. I believe in the work that I do each day because I know first-hand that this is a misconception. What we can achieve online, together, as one big ol’ global community, is immeasurable. My almost-husband believes that equally.

Never will you find a household more passionate about the Internet than ours.

So we’re glad you’re here and I hope you know that we have more respect for you than to do this as a stunt. Marriage, after all, is no gimmick. Neither is this.

But it is pretty fun.

– Erin

EDIT: An earlier version of this post had a link to Glamour’s Smitten blog, which posted about our wedding plans. That post is still floating around in the ether of the Internet but due to some technical difficulties on Glamou’rs site, the live link has changed. It’s here now. – Scott

Music to marry by

Hopefully by day’s end I will have figured out how to set up the official Scott and Erin Get Married Soundtrack.

For those of you who know us personally, the fact that we’ve put together a soundtrack for our wedding should not surprise you in the slightest bit. We live for excuses to make a modern-day mix tape.

We’re working on two things: a player so you can listen to the songs from the comfort of this Web site or, if you are so inclined, downloadable files so you can bring the magic to your iPod. Or something. Trust us, though. The songs we’ve picked out are fantastic.

- Erin

A good place to start

Hi, folks.

If you’re all “Wot’s all this then, guv’nor?” then here are a few links to get you started:

Read the FAQ and The Eloping for a quick rundown of what we’re doing next weekend, and how we’ll be updating this site.

Then for some mushy stuff about us, check out The Happy Couple.

And if you’re like me, you’re already hunting for the RSS feed. It’s at the top of the right-hand column, but can also be found here:

 Oooh! Oooh! An RSS feed!

Our wedding is famous-ish

Erin and I have been saying all along that our plan for our wedding suits us just fine. And while we wouldn’t change a thing about it, we recognize that it’s not for everybody. Some people want The Big Wedding. And those weddings are great. Hell, our first weddings were Big Weddings. In fact, we just recently went to a wedding of some close friends that was Big Wedding-style and had a fantastic time. (I had such a good time, I did “the worm” on the dance floor.* Before you ask, I was sober. No, really, I was driving!)

But you couldn’t make us do that all over again if you paid us.

Apparently, we’re not alone in wanting to do it differently. This week’s Time Out Chicago feature story is all about non-traditional wedding celebrations. And guess who’s in the “I do, take two” article? Yeah, us!

I know this seems like I was trying to brag on us in the pages of my employer, and weaseled my way into the story, but I had nothing to do with it. The writer is a freelancer friend of ours, and independently decided our wedding is so awesome that it had to be shared with the entire city of Chicago (or at least TOC’s circulation).

So go check it out. It talks about the details of our wedding, and features this money quote from my future Mrs.: “I think I would have stabbed myself in the uterus if I had to think about things like flower arrangements and invitations again.” - Scott

* If you want to learn how to do the worm, watch this video.

Love

Love consists in this, that two solitudes

protect and touch and greet each other.

For one human being to love another;

that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks;

the last test and proof;

the work for which all other work is but preparation.

- Rainer Maria Rilke