Biggest Questions When Choosing Your Wedding Ceremony Music
Is My Wedding Ceremony Music Important?
Your wedding ceremony music plays a key role when organizing the details for your wedding day. The wedding ceremony music is so very important because, prior to your entering that wonderful place to be joined in matrimony, the music simply frames the ceremony, and provides the backdrop for the next 30-45 minutes. Giving some thought to the live music prior to exchanging your vows, can add unique excitement and charm to the entire process, and based on my 20+ years in the wedding business, I have personally witnessed it to be extremely rewarding for new couples.
Religious or Liturgical Wedding Ceremony Music?
If you are going with a religious wedding ceremony, selecting the wedding music can be especially challenging since the church usually has standards regarding your choices. For example, there may be a vocalist or even a choral group that will be singing the hymns prior to your processional. The church may also have guidelines for music, and some houses of worship only permit the ‘house organist/musician’ to perform.
Many times the couple will hire me, and later, find that the house of worship has informed them that they have to use the ‘hose musician’. I know, from experience, that this rule can be stretched a little, and I usually have no trouble getting permission to perform as the pianist. As the performing musician, at the couple’s request, I often interface with the church music directors, ministers, priests, rabbis, cantors, and other officiants, to “clear” the music selections with them.
Nontraditional Wedding Ceremony Music / Civil Wedding Ceremony Music?
If you don’t want to or need to stick with traditional or religious guidelines, you can choose your wedding music by talking to the officiant, music director, or a professional musician like myself, who has the required experience in performing for wedding ceremonies. The key is to make sure that the music you select is appropriate and that it will be suitable to the tone of the service that will be conducted. As mentioned, I have compiled my own guide to selecting wedding ceremony music, which I would be happy to provide to you…just email me at Arnie@ArnieAbramsPianist.com.
If you and your fiancé decide to have a civil wedding ceremony like an outdoor garden wedding or one at your reception venue, there is a wide range of musical styles for you to choose from for your wedding ceremony music. You can select romantic music, conservative jazz, mild R&B, modern love themes, traditional folk tunes, and other romantic kinds of music that may possibly match your style. Aside from this, you can also hire a live musician to perform during the ceremony and not feel limited to a choral group and church organist.
Wedding ceremony music is integral to the overall character of your ceremony. That is why you really should take some time in deciding which music to select. Your wedding ceremony, whether it is religious or civil, will be much more memorable if the wedding ceremony music is chosen by you rather than for you.
I always recommend that brides talk to a professional to bounce around ideas about their wedding ceremony music. I have been doing this for over 20 years in the metro New Jersey/New York region, and am always happy to discuss this with couples. Feel free to give me a call anytime at (732) 995-1082, or shoot me an email.
