Her music sets the stage for a beautiful wedding

CORRESPONDENT

She has a repertoire that ranges from Bach to the Beatles. She’s unflappable, ready to help create the most perfect day for the bride and groom.

She is Nina Vickers, harpist to hundreds of brides in the North Shore.

After 24 years playing music at weddings, Nina Vickers said she knows where the focus must always be: on the bride.

“It’s not about the music during a wedding. It’s about contingencies.

I’m watching the bride and groom all the time as I’m playing. If the best man forgets the ring, I keep playing. If a dog runs through the ceremony in an outdoor wedding, I just keep playing. The idea is to keep everybody focused on the bride.”

Vickers is in demand during the busy season, playing an average of four weddings on a weekend.

She owns 10 harps, a convenience that allows her to drop off an instrument at the wedding site beforehand to avoid having to transport a single instrument from one assignment to another when time is important.

Vickers said she is one of the few harpists who plays throughout the ceremony, providing a soft, soothing backdrop to the minister’s voice.

She got the idea from TV evangelists.

“The harp is very unobtrusive.

Harp music calms the bride and groom, especially if anything goes wrong.”

Nancy Otovick, mother of a Salem bride who hired Vickers to play at her wedding at Crane’s Castle in early June, says Vickers plays beautiful music.

“As Allyson and I were thinking about music for the wedding, I said, ‘Here we are at this beautiful place, what about harp music?” Otovic said Vickers not only plays beautifully, she dresses like a fashion model.

An accomplished seamstress, she often makes a gown especially for a wedding.

“She asked Allyson what colors her bridesmaids were going to wear and then made a dress to match,” Otovic said.

“She was so easy to work with and her music is so beautiful.

My daughter fell in love with Nina.

Vickers said she has 250 ball gowns. “I don’t believe in black and white. I’m showy.”

She follows the latest fashion and can reproduce a gown she saw in a magazine for a fraction of the cost of the original.

“I’m the only 62-year-old woman who subscribes to Modern Bride. That’s where I get the ideas.”

Vickers charges $275 and up for a two hour performance.

Higher prices come when she must travel far from her Salem home.

Music is a second career for Vickers

She trained as a lawyer and worked in immigration law for many years.

Twenty-four years ago, she quit after being diagnosed with breast cancer and having a mastectomy.

“After that, I wanted a job where everybody is happy to see me. At a wedding everybody is happy to see me.”

Vickers knows hundreds of pieces of music and can play about 100 of them from memory.

The music bride’s most often request is from the 18th Century and is classical. Most popular is Pachelbel’s Canon in D, followed closely by Purcell’s Trumpet Tune and Purcell’s Ground in F.

But Vickers can play a mean Beatles on the harp, too. And on one occasion, the Beatles saved the day.

“Two funeral directors were getting married and wanted the ceremony to take place in their funeral home. They said, ‘Bring your harp in through the crematorium,” she remembers. “I noticed that everybody coming in looked like they were going to a funeral, so I started to play the Beatles, Ob-La-Di; Ob-La-Da and All My Loving. It was a big job.”

Another big job was the most unusual.

“I took my gold harp on a boat to Misery Island,” she said. “It was the Hobb’s wedding. The family owns the popcorn concession at Salem Willows.”

Vickers said she draws the line at bad weather.

“I do not play the harp in the rain and wind and snow. It’s gold and antique.”