Ceremony Music

Well, the processional will be the traditional wedding march – that is one of the things C requested!
But we plan on choosing a non-traditional song for our recessional. Just haven’t chosen one yet. Plus it needs to sound good played on an acoustic guitar….

I’m a traditional gal myself, and was thrilled to have the organ playing at our ceremony. Our church has an amazingly beautiful organ….so, we went with Trumpet Voluntary (by Jeremiah Clark) for the attendant processional, The Bridal Chorus (by Richard Wagner) for the bridal processional and Allegro Maestoso from Water Music (by George F. Handel) for the recessional.

I’ve seen a lot of n.t. songs being used, and they are always amazing selections. I think it just depends on your personal style and what instrument(s) are being used during th ceremony.

I grew up dreaming of a traditional wedding but I guess with age comes change =) This August I will be walking down the garden aisle to Lea Salonga’s “Two Words” and Sarah McLachlin’s “Ordinary Miracle” for the recessional. The cocktail and dinner reception will be very jazzy (Michael Buble, Renee Olstead, etc.) while our first dance is a song called “To Have and To Hold” by a female artist which to date I am still searching the name for …

Ooh, my video will be to Novelle Vague’s “I’ll Melt With You”, so I guess I not a traditional gal =p

I won’t reveal the song, but we’re going to come down the aisle to an acoustic Pixies cover. I’m pretty sure it will make me cry.

we’re getting married in a church which is kind of MAKING us do the traditional songs…which i suppose i am ok with. our first dance song will be to something from rascal flatts, the group we saw in concert the night we met.

I’m in the same dilemma as Rachel- our ceremony’s musician is going to be playing an acoustic guitar. I’m leaning toward something Beatles. He’s a fan of classic rock, such as Rush. We’ll see! Also, my sister is a singer, and she’ll be composing some original songs for us, so I’m pretty excited!

The processional for the bridesmaids and the recessional are being done by the Vitamin String Quartet – they’re a string quartet who cover and do tributes to various artists. The songs we’re choosing are Tori Amos tributes. The song I’m walking down the aisle to is “Headlines” by the Spice Girls (yeah, ’cause I’m a Spice Fan). Our first dance song is “Besame Mucho” by Andrea Bocelli. It’s a bit of a cha-cha so we’ll have to do a bit of choreography. Should be fun. :)

Interesting read! since so many weddings don’t happen in churches anymore, it seems more brides are choosing contemporary music to process and recess. I have had a bride come down the aisle to “At Last” by Etta James and my own daughter and her husband sang from “Miss Saigon” at their ceremony. Acoustic guitar is such a lovely touch to a wedding. I have a favorite here in Philadelphia- of course!

I’m doing pretty traditional music for my wedding. Since it’s a Jewish ceremony, obviously no Wagner, but I’m doing Canon in D for the processional and Arrival of the Queen of Sheba for the recessional. We’re having a very traditional string quartet do the ceremony and prelude music. I’m not doing a first dance – the very thought makes me cringe – but the first song that will play, which I hope will attract everyone to the floor, is California Stars by Billy Bragg. My fiance and I met and fell in love when we were living in California, and it’s a very special place to us.

We are going with all non-traditional songs, I will walk down to “For My Love” by Bethany Dillon. We haven’t yet picked a recessional song. We are doing a very short song for the first dance, its on Jack Johnson’s new CD the song is “Angel” my Fiánce picked it, and its so sweet and simple and just barely over two minutes in length. We will be having some friends perform the songs live with acoustic guitars. I am so excited I get goosebumps every time I hear one of the songs :)

We’re having a full Catholic mass, so the music was dictated by that. However, I didn’t want to use the same songs you hear at every wedding.
The processional will be La Grâce composed by Georg Philipp Telemann and played by an organist and trumpeter. It’s gorgeous.

Our cantor (a friend of my fiance) will sing Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ in Italian during communion, and our recessional is Clarke’s Trumpet Tune (I love the opening notes- exactly the fanfare I wanted!)

All these songs and others can be heard here:
http://www.stclementchurch.org/worship/sacraments/weddings/music.php

davash, I had friends who met in California do their first dance to California Stars. Nothing fancy, just an old-fashioned junior-high slow-dance, but it made us all cry. You should do it.

Wow, so apparently there aren’t a lot of people doing non-traditional songs after all!
We’re doing all non-traditional songs for our ceremony.
Our Mums and grandmas will be escorted by our ushers just before the bridesmaids walk down the aisle, and their song is “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. I will be walking down the aisle to Johnny Cash’s cover of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and our recessional will be to “Gold to Me” by Ben Harper.

I agree that more couples are including some non-traditional music for their wedding-especially for the prelude.

For example, as a harpist, I have been asked to play Air on a G String (Bach) and Making Memories of Us (Keith Urban)—for the same wedding. Definitely combining the traditional with the NT!!

Another couple wanted When You Wish Upon a Star followed by Canon in D! A quick tip: Make sure you get the approval of the officiant (especially if the wedding will be preformed by a member of the clergy) BEFORE finalizing your wedding music.
This will save everyone time and frustration.