Ceremony Harpist, Century Memorial Chapel, Naperville

Set up to the left of the altar area.

Century Memorial Chapel is a well known wedding venue in Naperville, and I have been there quite a few times over the years. It is truly one of the best run facilities, as it comes with its own wedding coordinator who will keep you (and more importantly, everyone else) on schedule and organized! My only caveat is that it is a fairly dark space, and this is not at all represented on their publicity materials. On the website, it looks sun drenched and light colored. I feel the photos I took this day are fairly representative of the real look of the place. It is absolutely fine, but you will want to visit to make sure it is what you are expecting!

I ended up moving back just a bit to accommodate the wedding party!!

The lovely bride brought together love songs from many generations, including "Can't Help Falling in Love" by Elvis Presley, "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie, and "Marry Me" by Train. When it was time for the processional, she kept to tradition with Canon in D and Wagner's Bridal Chorus. One of the best aspects of Century Memorial Chapel is that you walk out of your wedding ceremony (to Mendelssohn's Wedding March, in this case) and into one of the most beautiful park like settings imaginable!  

The aisle at Century Memorial Chapel

Please visit my "Song Lists" page if you would like to see all of the repertoire possibilities for your wedding!

Wedding Ceremony Harpist, Century Memorial Chapel, Naper Settlement, Naperville

Set up at dusk in Century Memorial Chapel

I was delighted to be back at Century Memorial Chapel on the Naper Settlement campus.  The church was built in 1864, and has been lovingly cared for and even moved to its present location!  Happily, it is completely handicap accessible, and sits in a beautiful park setting. The congregational area fits my idea of big enough without being too big.  A small party of 50 people would not feel overwhelmed here, but it can accommodate almost 200 hundred.

The bridal couple wanted to keep things sleek and simple, so I played "Canon in D" for everyone in the processional.  Parents and attendants all walked down to the slower part of the piece, and when I could see the bride was ready to start down the aisle I switched to the more exciting part, put in a special little intro, and the congregation all stood up - this is how I know I have done my job correctly!!

This particular couple knew that they wanted live music, but were not set on any particular pieces.  Once they answered my short list of questions (Classical or popular?  Any religious or ethnic  traditions that we should honor?) I was delighted to pick for them.  This is actually much more common than I think most people would guess.  I am always happy to choose for you if that would be helpful.  Music should be the least of your wedding day stress, and I am happy to help with that in any way possible!

Harpist's view into the congregational area.