A Bookish Love Story

T+E

5 years ago, I met this guy. I had just gotten out of a semi-serious and seriously burdensome long-distance relationship. I had just transferred to a new school in a new city in which I knew exactly one person. I was almost 20, and I had no intention of doing anything less than what my mom would call “dating around.”

And then, mere weeks after I move to Nashville, I meet this guy. And he is interesting and uncomplicated, and he’s flirting with me. Our first spark is a mutual obsession with The Lord of the Rings. He’s tall and good-looking, and now he’s wearing glasses and sipping whiskey and talking about Tolkien? How can I not?

As I get to know him over the cold months of 2008, I learn he’s the storyteller among his friends, who all love him fiercely, and that he also happens to be an extremely talented musician. I begin to fall.

Spring comes, and we are together. The world goes a little hazy, falls away. We are sharing our lives – our friends, our passions, our secrets, our time. And we read to each other. We do many things together, but he reads books that I have read, and I am in love.

Years pass. We share many, many highs and quite a few lows too; we are together under every sky, through every season. Then one winter day almost a year ago, he gets down on one knee and puts a ring on my finger – a Jazz Age antique. It is clearer than ever that we are meant to be.

We plan a wedding, but not just any wedding… our wedding. It must have music and books, scotch and flapper dresses. It is perfect. And then, life.

♦

Today, Tyler and I celebrate five years together. I haven’t posted any wedding/honeymoon photos yet, so I thought it was an appropriate day to start. Below are some of the bookish details featured in our wedding…

an engagement shot

the last line: “20s inspired attire”

songs from the Downton Abbey, Finding Neverland, Pride and Prejudice, and Fellowship of the Ring soundtracks; readings from E.E. Cummings and Shakespeare

poster by incredible bridesmaid/graphic designer Candie Walter

Tolkien quote on the favor cards

typewriter guestbook

rings stored in a Fellowship of the Ring book safe

Lord of the Rings book cake

books on every table

cameras, hourglasses, pearls, teacups, wine bottles, book ends, too

pinwheels from pages of Pride and Prejudice for every vase

decorative paper pinwheel display

pinwheels on the mantel

dictionary page, eucalyptus, and lace boutonnieres

paper bouquets

many paper bouquets

sheet music

flapper bridesmaids

book page and peacock feather fascinator

earrings featuring quotes from A Midsummer Night’s Dream

killer wedding party

♦

Paper crafts by the bridesmaids and me.
Photos by the lovely Liz Hendrickson.
Paper goods by the fabulous Holley Maher.
Cake by Stephanie Felts of The Sweetest Day.
Flowers by Vicki Sanders of Branching Out.
Hair and makeup by Kelly Hamilton of Imagine Design Team.
Dress by Casablanca Bridal, from The White Room, Lebanon, TN.
Location: Hermitage Golf Course, Old Hickory, TN.

Words for a Rainy Day

the arch in WSP

“There is so much in the world for us all if we only have the eyes to see it, and the heart to love it, and the hand to gather it to ourselves – so much in men and women, so much in art and literature, so much everywhere in which to delight, and for which to be thankful.”

— L.M. Montgomery,
Anne of the Island

There are certain books, movies, photos, people, beds, stories, places that people turn to for comfort in times of need. I watch Pride and Prejudice or 10 Things I Hate About You. I read Anne of Green Gables. I listen to the Finding Neverland soundtrack. I stay in my room and watch old episodes of The Office or curl up on the couch with a new book. I drink tea. I eat ginger snaps. I paint my nails.

Nashville today is rainy and cold, and I plan on going home and doing at least 4 of those things to make me feel better. But for now, my beloved LMM’s words are enough.

Pandora, on Composers

I am very pleased to announce that Pandora now hosts “Composer” stations.  I use up my 40 hours a month listening to Pandora at work, often choosing stations based on my mood or what’s come out recently in the music world.  However, when I’m working at home, I prefer to listen to film scores.  The instrumental music helps me focus and the artistic genius of the composers inspire me to write well.  I jumped at the chance to start up “Dario Marianello Radio,” and was sooo proud of myself for knowing six of the first seven songs played.  Over the course of the day, that ratio fell: a few of the song choices were my all time favorites, and a few were just vaguely familiar. So I’ve decided to describe a few of my favorite purely instrumental soundtracks.  (Don’t even get me started on non-instrumental soundtracks… that’s a whooole other post.)

my all-time fav

Jan A.P. Kazcmarek wrote the music that accompanies Finding Neverland.  I wrote an entire paper for my Music Supervision class based on the music in this movie and how it steers the emotional and visual aspects of the film.  The critics thought as well of it as I do: Kaczmarek won the Academy Award for Best Original Score in 2004.  I listen to this album when I’m looking for deliverance from writer’s block.

it's no Pearl Jam, but...

Pearl Jam’s frontman Eddie Vedder tried his hand at composing a film score with Into the Wild and quit successfully, I might add.  The ambiance and sparseness of this music works to mold the themes of isolation and periphery.  I absolutely fell in love with the Krakauer’s book, and I think the music helped me to separate the book and the movie (which I sometimes have trouble doing) and into accepting as a success in its own right.

like clockwork

Hans Zimmer, bless him, has like 7 million awesome scores under his belt already, but I choose to highlight this one in particular because it seems so utterly polar from his previous work.  The music is tinny and mechanical, eerie and foreign.  I love the extreme dynamics and depth of the light and dark tones throughout.  I never would have made such odd choices – clanging and booming, sharps and flats – but it’s incredibly fitting… ingenious, even.  Zimmer is best known for Crimson Tide, Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight, and Inception.

awww, yeah, superman

Somewhere in Time is a movie I fell in love with at a very young age.  It was one of the only VHS’s in my house growing up that wasn’t a kids movie.  I guess my parents didn’t watch many movies, but this was an exception, and I watched it hundreds of times.  The music is poignant and deeply felt.  I think I was attracted to the piano parts as a girl, but I watch it now and hear orchestras.  I think this music has become an iconic moment in its era of film, but John Barry is also well known for Lion in Winter, King Kong, 11 of the first 14  James Bond films (including the infamous theme song), Out of Africa, and Dances with Wolves, almost all of which he won awards for.

not the 6 hour BBC one

Dario Marianelli is one of my favorite composers these days.  I know best his work in Pride and Prejudice and Atonement (both of which earned Academy Award nominations and a win in the case of Atonement), but he’s done V for Vendetta, The Soloist, and Eat Pray Love since then.  His work is pure and blithe, feathery and wistful.. lots of piano and violin work (two of my favorite instruments).  The subtleties and atmosphere of his music are new to me every time I listen.  I play this soundtrack often in the early mornings.

Middle Earth music

Howard Shore is unbelievable.  Taking on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy basically makes him a legend.  The music was as epic as the films themselves, and probably span the widest ranges of extremes I’ve ever heard.  Shore accompanies love scenes and orc battles, hobbit simplicity and pure evil with grace and gravity.  He won plenty of awards for his work on LOTR, but he’s also composed scores for High Fidelity (before LOTR fame), Gangs of New York, and The Aviator (after), among many others.

And I haven’t even mentioned James Newton Howard, John Williams, or James Horner.  As much as I love words (and I do love words very, very much), sometimes we are better without them.