MonaLisa playing at a wedding at Hainburg castle, Lower Austria

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Wedding at Hainburg castle ruin

Saturday, 27 October 2007

Hey guys!

Today we had our first paid gig! What do you say? It was our first paid job coming from our live concerts on 29 Sep and 6 Oct 2007. Mr. Wagnes, the principal of our Orth an der Donau Music School had recomended us. Thank you!

Rambling meadows surround the castle ruin on the top of Hainburg hill (Lower Austria).

The bridal couple wanted to have some background music for their civil marriage and the following church service at the Hainburg castle ruin (Lower Austria). They asked Mr. Wagnes if he could provide a singer for that. But this singer, our vocal teacher Elisabeth Herscht, didn't have time that day - nor any of her colleagues. Thus Mr. Wagnes just suggested us. Isn't that cool?

He must have spoken very nicely about us, because the bridal couple immediately agreed to the idea to let two 13 year old girls sing for their celebration without even asking for an audio sample. At this point we want to thank the newlywed very much for their confidence!

Therefore our Dad suggested songs from our concert repertory which we could play as a duo, just with our guitars and without much techical effort. From these songs the bridal pair chose five songs and then sent the program, when we should play wich song.

In front of the Hainburg castle ruin: That's the Jeep we used to transport all our equipment up the hill.

The wedding day itself was flipping cold, but very exciting. With a real Jeep we drove up the hill where the chapel was situated. Although quite small it was beautifully restored. During the wedding ceremony we learned that in the year 1252 King Ottokar II of Bohemia and Margarethe of Austria also married in the same chapel!

The Hainburg chapel beatuifully renovated inside.

Inside the chapel which is located next to the Hainburg castle ruin.

On the right picture you can view the inside of the chapel. To the left of the altar we installed a loud-speaker, a mini-mixing console and our instruments. We had to amplify our headset-microphones and our guitars.

At 1 pm the bridal pair marched into the chapel while we were playing Samba Pa Ti (Santana). The marriage registrar already awaited them to welcome the wedding community, the bridal couple and the witnesses. But as the chapel was very small the couple arrived at the altar too fast, so that Lisa simply cut her guitar solo J, as they wanted to start with the ceremony.

After the "Yes-word" and the changing of the rings bride and groom and the witnesses were asked to sign the papers while we were playing I will (The Beatles). After a short poem at the end of the ceremony we sang Love is all around (The Troggs) in two voices for which we got applause.

Unfortunately the chapel wasn't heated. It was almost a miracle that we could twang the strings of our guitars at all. You can't imagine how i c y c o l d our fingers had been. We couldn't understand that the poor bride didn't freeze to death in her beautiful short-sleeved dress ;)

A niche to the left of the altar was our "stage".

After a short refreshment for the wedding guests the church service started at 2 pm. At it's beginning we played All my lovin' (The Beatles) and at the end we sang Wonderful tonight (Eric Clapton).

These songs we played better than the songs of the first part, because we had warmed up with hot tea in the break. Again we raised a cheer and one guest even congratulated us on our song selection (for which actually the bridal couple was responsible). He said that we had played all his favourite songs. J

Afterwards we had to pack in and drive down everything with the Jeep again. Back in our car we turned up the heat at full blast to warm up. But despite the cold it was a great experience for us and the first small insight in the world of professional musicians.

The Orth an der Donau brass music playing open-air.

The brass music played outside for hours! Brrrrrr!

We are happy that the bridal pair liked our music and we want to thank them again for their confidence. MonaLisa wish you all the best for your common future!

At the end we also want to congratulate all the other musicians. We really admired them for their constancy. The five brass players and the drummer played the welcome for the bridal pair, during the refreshment break and at the end of the celebration, and everything under the open sky! Even if brass music is not our favored kind of music, we nevertheless found that they played very lovely!