The Music of Love – commission your own wedding song

Those old married folk, myself included, always say make sure to spend money on the elements of your wedding day that will be apart of your memories for years to come into your marriage.  This is very practical advice especially in regard to your wedding photographer and videographer as these will provide the detailed memories of your special day.

However memories are not purely driven by visual recognition alone and all the senses can provide memory recall.  This is also why brides carefully choose their wedding perfume and their special first dance song.  But how about taking this one step further and commissioning your very own wedding song based on your love story together?

This is exactly what Milja Kaunisto  singer-songwriter, mommy to one fantastic daughter, writer and traveling woman can create for you.  Milja lives in a small medieval village in the Southern France, where she writes her Wedding Songs.

your own wedding songMilja: “I make wedding songs. ‘Yeah, so you play at weddings?’ I’m asked. No, I make wedding songs. I write them, record them, and usually sing them on a CD as well. Wedding songs. You know, the kind of love songs that makes you weep every time you hear them, because they remind you of your own love story.

 I started doing this after my first wedding – yes, I’m on my second time around. (I think there’s actually a song by that name.) On the first go-around, I had been disappointed that I couldn’t find a love song that described my unique love story. Well, it’s not every day you come across a love song about a 19-year old Finn marrying, out of pure curiosity, the first american Cherokee cowboy she meets – although now that I think of it, that story would probably make a good country song. So I got married to my cowboy without a proper love song to call our own. I should have known it was a bad omen; the marriage failed immediately and miserably, and that for the better fortune of all participants. But I took the lesson learned at heart, and have been making wedding songs ever since.

I started with my close friend’s weddings. That way I was sure to know them well enough to write a heartfelt song about their story. One couple I knew well; it resulted in a Finnish-French marriage with guests that spoke english requiring a wedding song with lyrics in three languages – and suited for a catholic-lutheran ceremony. Both bride and groom were lovers of classical music and deeply spiritual, one of them a violinist, one an orator. The lyrics, in Finnish, French and English, spoke of angels and devoting oneself to another, entirely. It is called ‘Amen.’  Wedding Song Sample- Amen

After a while, I felt comfortable enough with writing lyrics to start writing wedding songs for couples I hadn’t known all my life. An american couple had asked me to write a dark, intense, electronic pop style love song for their wedding vows. They had met in September and were married in September. The groom showed me some love letters he had written to his bride, and based on his wonderful phrase ‘our love gave birth to September’ I wrote their love song ‘September’. Wedding Song Sample- September

wedding songs

I took on a more complex task writing a love song for two men. Their union was unorthodox to begin with, and they wanted a jazzy love song that spoke of their challenges in making their relationship work. They eloped to Barbados to get married and took along their wedding song ‘Dilemma’. I heard their wedding guests enjoyed dancing to its gentle latino rhythm on the beach…  Wedding Song Sample – Dilemma

 I’m one of those people that cries about everything. Beautiful music, my child’s face in the mornings, good food, an old marching band, diaper commercial, you name it. And when I was appointed the task of writing a wedding song for a great friend of mine that was also my step-daughter, I knew it was going to involve some serious tears. The bride and groom didn’t know of their love song as it was a gift to them, but knowing her taste in music – big, emotional pop ballads – I knew what it was going to have to be like. And when they heard their wedding song played to them… I should have asked Kleenex to sponsor the event, and not only for my own sake. ‘Yours’ is a duet, as the most touching ballads often are.  Wedding Song Sample- Yours

 A Finnish screenwriter and a journalist wanted a wedding song with no lyrics. ‘You can’t explain love’, they said. This was the first wedding song I created with my husband (the second one, more my kind of a husband) – he’s a brilliant guitarist, bass player and composer. It is a soulful jazz ballad called ‘L’anneau’ – ‘The Ring.’  Wedding Song Sample – The Ring

 The weepy person that I am, sometimes I get a love story that makes me cry just reading it. Recently, a lovely Finnish couple had both written their side of the story and about their emotions for one another in such beautiful way that I felt I knew them personally. It was easy to write a love song (‘Melodic, with a slight Irish touch’) because I had literally fallen in love with their story. The hard part was singing it in the studio. When it came to singing the refrain ‘…we have all the time in the world, an entire lifetime’ … I couldn’t get a note out – I was so overwhelmed with emotion! I later heard this had happened in their wedding as well. ‘On aikaa’ is Finnish and means ‘We have time’.  Wedding Song Sample – We Have Time

 I don’t know why it is, but I enjoy immensely the moment I get to read a couple’s love story for the first time. Yes, you guessed it, these stories often make me cry, and what’s the enjoyment in that… I don’t know. I guess a good love story just reminds me of my own. As an expat, the love stories I tend to enjoy the most are the international ones. I’m a wedding song writer, and I get to live out the best of my emotions, every day. This is why I love this work.”

Thanks to Milja,  I loved hearing about the different couples and could close my eyes and image the wedding setting as listening to the songs.  Which was your favourite?  Mine was ‘Yours’ but I am once giant softy.

To find out more about Milja and how she can help create your wedding song visit Milja’s Blog.

Monique x x

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