The Wedding Singer

Recently, I attended the wedding of Che’s sister, Jen. Che asked me if I could sing during the reception, and naturally I said yes. As per request, I was supposed to perform Michael Buble’s “Come fly with me” (well I don’t think that is originally by Buble but I don’t know who sang it originally and I’m too lazy right now to go search it up).

The reception was actually supposed to start at 7 or 8pm in the ballroom of the Manila Hotel, but I got there at 530 because I was supposed to sing with the strings (and not with a minus one tape or CD as I usually do). I didn’t really know what the program was and I found out that I would actually be singing during the cake cutting ceremony (which meant that I wouldn’t need to sing the whole song, I’d only have to sing a couple of minutes of it a la American Idol).

The program was really good and well put-together. The flow was very smooth, clean, and coordinated, and the host did a great job of keeping the audience entertained and ensuring that things were moving forward. There were actually a couple of other song numbers – one from Che’s niece, a harmonica number from Che and Jen's dad, and a couple from Olive, who is Jen’s close friend and bridesmaid. The food was pretty good too – you gotta love these Chinese lauriats! =) And I learned a new word – lumiachi! None of us on the table knew what it was, but when the waiters brought it out, it seemed to be like buchi but without the sesame seeds.

Anyway, this got me thinking – whose weddings have I sang for as well? I decided to list down the ones I can actually recall:

• Raych and Nick – “You” (Martin Nievera version of the Carpenters original) and “What matters most”
• Gosh and Letlet – “You” (again, but this was a group song with the rest of the clan)
• Mitch and Fergus – “On the wings of love” and “When you say nothing at all”
• Duncan and Amy – “I’ll be”
• Paul and Les – “The Promise” (Martin’s version again)
• Nats and Dennis – “The way you look tonight” and “There for me”
• Mark and Sharon – “You are so beautiful”
• Erika – “On the wings of Love”
• Alelie – “Forever” (duet with Karen)
• Lanie and Carlo - "The Promise" (again) and "The Promise of love" (also by Martin Nievera)
• Ray and Joy – I actually sang quite a few songs here. I sang in church (I actually sang U2’s “All I want is you’ while Joy walked down the aisle!) and my band performed at the end of the reception.
• Dino and Dennese - "The way you look tonight" impromptu!
• Jed and Ods – “Angels brought me here” and “Cruisin’” (duet with Vanessa)
• Joh and Raffa – “Angels brought me here” and “Bless the broken road”
• Gi and Pau – “All the way” and “Unforgettable”
• Aries and Audrey - "Flying without wings"
• Nanay and Tatay – “The way you look tonight”

I may be singing in a couple of upcoming weddings, which leads me to think that maybe I can try doing this on the side. I wonder how much a wedding singer earns per wedding (and I wonder where I can apply for this sideline hehehe).