The style of your wedding will dictate the style of wedding songs you have, particularly for your wedding ceremony. For a religious ceremony the music is more traditional and may include hymns during the service. A civil ceremony is more relaxed and you can choose any style of music so long as it doesn’t have any religious references.
If you are having a religious ceremony you may be handed a list of pre-determined wedding songs to use during the ceremony. This is not because the venue only wants you to have music of their choosing, but because these are songs they deem suitable and for which the organist has music.
Many venues though may be happy for you to choose songs of your own, so long as you discuss them with your officiant first and get their approval. If you are choosing hymns for your service then choose hymns that are popular and which your guests will know, otherwise your service could be filled with random mumblings rather than a chorus of uplifting voices!
Civil wedding ceremonies will allow you to choose any style of music you want and many couples like to have a mixture of traditional and modern wedding songs. As a civil service tends to be shorter than a religious one you will really only need music for when you enter, signing the register and when you leave. You may also want to choose one or two pieces of background music which can be played quietly as your guests take their places.
Whichever type of ceremony you are having it is important that you listen to the chosen wedding songs in their entirety and if possible get hold of a copy of the lyrics. Some songs which may at first listen seem suitable can actually turn out to be totally unsuitable once you read through the lyrics. It is also important that if you are entrusting a third party to source or even play the music that they know which version to play. There is a tale about a bride who requested the theme song from Robin Hood to be played as she walked back down the aisle. On the day the organist broke into ‘Robin Hood, Robin Hood, riding through the glen..’ when what she actually meant was ‘Everything I Do, I Do It For You’ – the theme from the movie Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves!
Here are a few suggestions for traditional and contemporary wedding songs for your wedding ceremony:
The Prelude: Traditional Songs
Awake My Heart With Gladness –Flor Peeters
Chorale in A Minor, Adagio –Cesar Franck
Concerto in D Minor, Adagio –Tomaso Albinoni
Contemporary Songs
Loving You –Kenny G
Truly –Lionel Richie
Unchained Melody –The Righteous Brothers
The Processional: Traditional Songs
Romeo and Juliet Love Theme –Tchaikovsky
Spring, from the Four Seasons –Antonio Vivaldi
Te Deum –Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Contemporary Songs
The Vow –Jeremy Lubbock
Wedding Processional from the Sound of Music –Rodgers and Hammerstein
Wind Beneath My Wings –Bette Midler
The Recessional: Traditional Songs
Hornpipe –George F Handel
Ode To Joy –Ludwig van Beethoven
Spring, Allegro from the Four Seasons –Antonio Vivaldi
Contemporary Songs
Oh! You Pretty Things –David Bowie
Signed, Sealed, Delivered –Stevie Wonder
Sunshine of My Life –Stevie Wonder
