Wedding Ceremony Music – What You Need to Consider
Wedding ceremony music is one of hundreds of issues brides and grooms have to consider for the wedding day-of. You will learn from this article about different music parts in a traditional wedding ceremony. We will also recommend some of the most popular songs for the ceremony.
Most wedding ceremony can be divided into five main parts: prelude, processional, the ceremony itself, recessional and postlude.
Prelude
The musical prelude for a wedding ceremony sets the mood for the service to follow. The prelude music should reflect your personality and the theme of your wedding. If you are having a beach wedding in Hawaii, the prelude music should reflect this theme and thus set the guests into the right mood. The prelude music should be around 30 to 45 minutes before moving to the processional music.
Processional
The wedding processional is when the wedding party starts to walk down the aisle. The length of music should be calculated based of the length of the aisle and the number of people in the wedding party. Wagner’s Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin (aka “Here comes the Bride”) is the most popular choice as the processional song. You can choose whatever song you feel comfortable with. Most brides and grooms will choose a classical song while others will add their own twist. However if the ceremony is carried out in a house of worship, you should check with the Officiant about your choice of music beforehand.
Ceremony
During the ceremony, there might be musical interludes for moments such as praying, lighting the unity candle, etc. You might choose to incorporate in this phase or not. Any music chosen should be solemn and coordinated with the needs of the Officiant. So discuss the music well in advance with him/her also.
Recessional
Once the couple has been pronounced husband and wife and the wedding party exits the ceremony venue, the recessional music starts and sets the mood for the reception party. Thus the recessional music should be cheerful and festive. You can choose the recessional music from any artist you like, as long as the songs are joyful and meaningful to you.
Postlude
The ceremony is not over until the guests leave. Thus postlude is the continuous music that plays while the guests exit the ceremony venue. The length of postlude music depends on the amount of guests you have. In case the reception party and the ceremony are held in the same location, the postlude music is especially important as it acts as a transition from the ceremony to the reception.
You can go to Amazon.com or use Spotify to do a quick search on wedding ceremony music. There are many ready-made wedding playlists out there that you can find that suits your wedding theme.
