As I mentioned in ‘The Wedding In Hiroshima Pt I – The Ceremony‘ one of my two tasks ahead of our wedding was to make a soundtrack CD. I thought it would just be background music whilst everyone ate their food at the reception party which is why we decided to play pretty safe with nothing too heavy or loud. We really didn’t know how it would be used so selected a few songs each and then decided on some mutual ones such as ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You‘, ‘Hey Jude’, ‘Tiny Dancer’ and ‘California Dreamin’.

Sadly there wasn’t room in the playlist for the Angry Anderson classic ‘Suddenly‘ which quite memorably was the soundtrack to the greatest soap wedding of all time! That was when Scott and Charlene got married in the Aussie TV soap ‘Neighbours‘ in 1988 which was watched by nearly 20 million people. It was also used in the final episode of the BBC series ‘Gavin & Stacey‘ (S03E06) and the opening chords of the song were never far from my head on our wedding day. True!

As we were just about to enter the wedding reception area we could hear ‘Always Be My Baby‘ by Mariah Carey blasting out of the stereo. Certainly not my choice of music and at that stage we had no idea how the songs were being chosen or whether the CD had just been put on and left to play.

Once the toast had been done by the oldest man in the place it was apparent that there was someone in charge of music and playing it at the right time. ‘Dreams‘ by The Cranberries has a lovely intro and that kicked in right on cue at the moment everyone said ‘kanpai‘ (cheers) which was a lovely moment. Such fabricated atmosphere may not be so appreciated at football matches (although I don’t mind it too much….within reason!) these days but in this environment it was cherished by my wife and I.

My father-in-law’s slide show on our England trip in the Summer was accompanied by ‘Time After Time‘ which is a hugely popular song in Japan. This Cyndi Lauper track was the only one I actually had to buy especially for the day so I guess I should be happy that it got repeated about five times during this part of the party. Gotta get value for money on my £1 purchase!

When it came to the traditional cutting of the cake ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger‘ by Oasis was playing in the background which was not actually my choice for the CD but that of my wife who rates this as one of her most favourite songs. By chance we cut into the cake just as the chorus got going. Again, it was a fitting moment!

American singer Josh Groban’s 2003 version of ‘You Raise Me Up‘ was pretty much chosen as an ironic joke song which has been a guilty pleasure of mine ever since it was used in the final show of long running BBC2 comedy music quiz ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks‘ (S22E11). Unbelievably, this over-the top power ballad was the soundtrack to my final emotional speech and the key change (everyone loves a good key change right?!) came about as my wife and I were walking hand in hand out of the reception as our wedding day concluded.

Other songs to feature throughout the evening included ‘Your Song‘ by Elton John and ‘Let It Be’ by The Beatles but sadly the majority of the instrumental tunes chosen by me were not used which was a shame. Not the end of the world but as a frustrated DJ who regularly uses songs in my English lessons and loves many of life’s moments to be soundtracked, this was a tad disappointing.

Of course, if I’d taken a bit more interest in organising the wedding day beforehand I could’ve maybe dictated what music be used and when. John Williams’ ‘Imperial March‘ and the ‘Post horn Gallop‘ (the music which Leicester City FC come onto the pitch at the start of each and every match) would definitely have been played!

You can read “The Wedding In Hiroshima Pt I – The Ceremony” here

You can read “The Wedding In Hiroshima Pt II – The Reception” here