Announcing your starting lineup

When you reach a certain age, your life becomes a non-stop barrage of weddings, especially in the summers. A lot of the ideas we actually did use in our wedding were gleaned from our friends' weddings, a mishmash of the elements that would suit us best. There was one part of every wedding that always left us wondering, "How would we do this?" and it's the moment with all the zazz:

 

"It could use more... zazz."

How does the wedding party make their grand entrance at the reception? Sure, everyone's just seen you officially become husband and wife, but this is the first time you will arrive someplace as a married team. Plus, it's a great way to acknowledge your wedding party as MVPs of the day, if you're lucky and your reality series helped you pick the right people. And when looking for inspiration for a flashy introduction, no one does over-the-top and in-your-face like the NBA.

Well, Shaq, specifically, but the NBA doesn't do too bad for itself.

Somewhere around 2010, Dave announced that he had found the perfect entrance music for our as-yet-unplanned wedding. "Just the first minute or so," he said, "but I think this would be amazing."

It really does make for triumphant entrance music, doesn't it? Imagine the wedding party in basketball jerseys, being introduced with their numbers, positions, and heights. The room is completely dark except for the spotlights on the star players, and the electric excitement of the crowd is palpable. After the bride and groom enter, they take the dance floor and shoot a few lay-ups in lieu of their first dance. At this point, perhaps the music has transitioned to the Harlem Globetrotters' theme music? We didn't really get that far in thinking it through...

Why we didn't do this: If anything would terrify Amanda more than the thought of being looked at while walking down the aisle, it would be having people watch her attempt to shoot a basketball. The lighting might have been a tad impractical, as well.

What we did instead: Fortunately, we had a competing idea that we've held close to our hearts for many years. You see, there's a movie we both love that ends with a great song, to which the characters stride purposefully into their future. It's this one, and we stopped just short of putting everyone in red beanies.