A close friend is planning her wedding dinner next July, and she’s given me the honour of choosing (and writing, she suggested) the music for her wedding.

Arguably, the most important number seems to lie with the walk-in song. Having shot weddings for several years, I’ve seen quite a few, and they all have one thing in common—the rousing tah-dah music that accompanies the flinging of the doors open, as the bride and groom walk in.

Come to think of it, the majestic music isn’t unique to the couple’s walk-in—the first dish gets the same treatment. A foreigner asked me, at a recent wedding I attended, if it’s true that they play The Final Countdown to accompany the first dish at Chinese dinner banquets here. I couldn’t deny it.

So it’s got to be big. It’s got to say HERE THEY ARE in bold caps. To quote my July-bride friend, “something with a crescendo.”

I’m thinking, but it’s coming to naught for now. (Other than the inconvenient problem of everything I hear triggering off music in my head, since her request.)

I’ve got a few ideas for their first dance, but I need suggestions for the walk-in number. To further drive home this point, her sister is getting married in January next year, and she’s chosen something that will break out in a screaming guitar solo when the bride sweeps in. Uh. Yeah.

Don’t worry about the food music though, the hotel is usually fully equipped to announce the food with suitable grandeur.