Choosing the right wedding music, really helps to set the tone of your day. Depending on the type of wedding you have planned, you’ll probably need to choose music for at least the ceremony and reception, and possibly for the period inbetween whilst photos or a champagne reception are taking place.
Ceremony music
This really does depend on whether you’re marrying in a church or a non-religious venue.
Church Ceremony: If you’re marrying in a church, then your choices will quite likely be limited to classical or religious pieces. You may have the option of a church organist, a solo singer and a choir. It would be unusual to have any ‘contemporary’ music at a religious ceremony, but it’s not unheard of, so if you’re in any doubts then ask and see what the church policy is on music.
Civil Ceremony: – your options here are completely dependent on what the venue allows. You might end up having a stereo play your favourite song whilst the bride makes her entrance. Equally you might have a string quartet or solo singer during the signing of the register, followed by another uplifting song for leaving the ceremony as husband and wife. You need to check on the venue’s (and sometimes the country’s) policy for playing religious songs at a civil ceremony. Some places have extremely strict rules on not having any songs with any connotations. These include, but are not limited to: ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams, ‘Jerusalem’ and if you are having a winter wedding, then anything to do with Christmas, God or Jesus would be out. So you need to find out as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
Here are some popular choices of classical music for your wedding ceremony:
For the bride’s entrance
- Canon in D (Pachelbel)
- Air from the Water Music (Handel)
- Air on a G String (Bach)
- Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (Handel)
- Bridal March from Lohengrin (Here comes the bride) (Wagner)
- The Wedding March (Mendelssohn)
- Wedding March from The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)
For the bride and groom leaving the ceremony
- Trumpet Voluntary (Jeremiah Clark)
- Coronation March (Walton)
- Toccata (Symphony No 5) (Widor)
- Music for the Royal Fireworks (Handel)
- Brandenburg Concerto No 3 (Bach)
- Ode to Joy (Symphony No. 9) (Beethoven)
- Trumpet Tune in C (Purcell)
- Wedding March from A Midsummer NightsDream (Mendelssohn)
Here are some popular choices for contemporary music for your civil wedding ceremony:
- Feeling Good (Nina Simone)
- Songbird (Eva Cassidy)
- All You Need is Love (The Beatles)
- Suddenly (Angry Anderson)
- I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing (Aerosmith)
- Truly Madly Deeply (Savage Garden)
- I Got You Babe (Sonny and Cher)
- This is the One (The Stones Roses)
- It Takes One to Know Me (Jonny Cash and June Carter)
- Can’t Help Falling In Love With You (Elvis Presley)
- This Will Be An Everlasting Love (Natalie Cole)
- The Forrest Gump Suite (Alan Silvestri)
- You’re Still the One (Shania Twain)
- From This Moment (Shania Twain)
- The Wedding March – Flash Gordon Soundtrack (Queen)
- I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do (Abba)
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR TAKING CD MUSIC WITH YOU:
Now, we’re not technical, but some CDs or stereos are in different formats depending on which country you’re in. You should definitely check with your wedding planner about which format you’ll need to provide your music in. If you’ve had to convert a music file in a different format, always take the original with you as well as the copy that you’ve made.
Music inbetween the wedding ceremony and reception
Depending on where and at what time of year your wedding is taking place, you may feel that you’d like some background music to add a bit of atmosphere to the day. This is usually the time when the bride and groom and their wedding party are busy with the photographer and guests will be left to mingle and possibly be served champagne and canapes. If it’s a nice day and the drinks are being served outside, then a string quartet or woodwind group are a lovely accompaniment. Either works well inside as well, but depending on the size of the venue that you’re in, you may find that their instruments ‘take over’ somewhat.
Professional musicians will normally have a set of music for weddings well-rehearsed. If there is a piece that you would particularly like them to play, then it’s often possible to put in a request for them to learn it, although this often comes at a minimal extra cost.
Music at the wedding reception
You may decide to play soft music throughout the meal, some people even opt for a solo singer in between courses.
However, the real decision is going to be whether you’d like a band or a D.J. It’s perfectly possible to have both of course, starting with a band and finishing up with a D.J.
As you’re having a destination wedding, you do have to put a certain amount of trust in your wedding planner to find out some good local options. If possible, try and ask for demo tapes of a band to be sent to you, along with a playlist. Find out if you’re allowed to request songs especially. As with the string quartets/woodwind groups above, it is often the case, that if a band has to learn a song, then they’ll charge you extra for it.
With D.Js, make sure you’ve seen a playlist of songs that he plays at weddings. If you’re able to get in touch with brides who have previously got married at your venue and can give you feedback on the wedding music that they used, then this would be extremely useful.
Try and make direct contact with the D.J and see if you’re allowed to request songs that he doesn’t have on his playlist. Above all else, ensure that he’s got your first dance music sorted!
With both bands and D.Js, it’s very important to know the duration of time that he, she or they will play for. Find out what happens if the wedding runs over time – will they continue to play and bill you for extra? Or, alternatively will they just pack up and leave? All of these things need to be discussed beforehand so that there aren’t any surprises on the night.
First Dance Choices
There are no right or wrong first dance choices. This decision should be based entirely on what both of you are comfortable are doing. Here are some options:
- Don’t do one! If you’re going to be petrified and it’ll ruin the day for you, then who’s going to make you do it? Instead, make sure you’ve told a group of your most gregarious/drunk/supportive friends in advance that they’ll have to rush to the dance floor as soon as the music starts to kick-start proceedings!
- Do a traditional slow number. The advantages are that if you’re not confident dancers, then you can just sort of sway in time to the music. The disadvantages are that it can feel like it’s going on forever and is slightly boring to watch.
- We’ve all seen the Youtube videos of first dance ‘routines’. It’s slightly overdone now and is unlikely to shock as much as this craze first did, but it’s still a huge amount of fun for your guests and will be a real talking point.
- Go formal. Rather than any of the above, the two of you could attempt some ballroom or latin dancing (which could be particularly in keeping with the theme and location of your destination wedding) for your first dance. Choosing this option is probably going to be dependent on your current dancing level, but there’s always the possibility of taking some pre-wedding dance lessons to get you up to speed.
