Dami and Greg's wedding at Morden Hall Park! Two worlds joining in to one.
As a mixed ethnicity gospel choir, we often are asked by mixed ethnicity couples to perform at their wedding ceremonies. Dami and Greg had so many influences coming together for them, Dami with West Indian heritage but growing up in London, Gregor born and raised in Germany before moving to London after university. Not only was there a language barrier for Greg’s family but also a cultural one, and expressing their faith in a different way.
Yet we know that there are a few things in the world that bring people together from all nations, tribes and tongues - and the best of them is music! Dami and Greg put a lot of thought in to their song choices to reflect their tastes, faith and history.
Morden Hall Park is a beautiful wedding venue to be married in (and luckily it was a gorgeous day for them too). The bright open hall for the ceremony is full of light and a blank canvas for beautiful flowers. Right outside the ceremony room is a gorgeous courtyard and green for drinks, with the stunning Morden Hall Park and streams just beyond to gaze at and explore.
The wedding ceremony began with a commission arrangement from the couple, of Beyoncé’s Smash Into You. Such an amazing start! Here’s a recording we took just before the service.
Fast forward to the signing of the register: our mash up of You Got The Love by Candi Staton and Never Too Much by Luther Vandross. For anyone who likes soul music, this works perfectly. The choice of song here whisked away any tension that the congregation may have had (weddings are often a bit nervous to begin with!) as it was well known and a relaxed style of music.
Dami and Greg made space for their faith to be part of the service - something you can’t usually do in civil ceremonies. After the legal requirements had been fulfilled, we said goodbye to the registrars and hello to their pastor who took us in to the blessing part of the service. We invited their family and friends to sing a long with us with Oh Happy Day and Amazing Grace and, wow, they sounded good! Check it out:
The happy couple walked out to (Your love keeps lifting me) Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson. It’s such a celebratory song with an uplifting pulse - perfect for recessional music. The end to our arrangement of the song feels like a big release of joy! We didn’t film this one on the day due to space constraints and background noise so here is a video from another year!
After the ceremony, we headed outside to the courtyard to sing a capella to the waiting guests. This was a great opportunity for people to hear us up close and join in with us.
Here’s a full list of Dami and Greg’s wedding ceremony song choices at Morden Hall Park Wedding Venue:
Entrance: Smash Into You by Beyoncé
Signing of the register: You Got The Love / Never Too Much (this is 5 minutes long so just about long enough for the signing, we would usually sing at least 2 songs here).
The Blessing: Oh Happy Day and Amazing Grace
Exit: (Your love keeps lifting me) Higher and Higher by Jackie Wilson
Outside, after the ceremony: - Happy by Pharrell Williams
- Lean on Me by Bill Withers
- Joyful Joyful from Sister Act 2
- Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen
- Lovely Day by Bill Withers
Thanks so much to Dami and Greg for having us and Morden Hall Park Wedding Venue for being lovely to work with!