What Goes Behind Curating the Perfect Wedding Ceremony Music?
Oh the dreaded sound coming from your phone, notifying of you of the existence of someone else on the other side, wanting to talk to you. They could have just texted or emailed, I am sure. But as your wedding day approaches, that phone will ring and honestly, the vendors on the other side of the line are super excited to dig your brain to give you a wedding of your dreams.
We will reach out to you via email with a form for you to fill. If your music choices and other related things are not finalized, we will give you a call. Nearly 100% of the time our couples come up with their music choices by the end of this process because one of our musicians guide them through the whole thing.
In any case, I think it might be beneficial to talk about ceremony music, and things to keep in mind.
When you book us for your ceremony, we will play around thirty minutes of prelude music as your guests are arriving. This will ensure that the mood is set for your grand entrance. We will usually pick these songs, but you can definitely ask if we can include a few of your favorite songs in our prelude setlist. We will more than likely be able to squeeze them in.
Once the prelude is over, the ceremony begins. We will play one song for the precessional. Sometimes the groom walks to the processional song, sometime they just stand there while the groomsmen and bridesmaids walks. In some cases we get asked to play a different song for the groom (yes, we will play Nothing Else Matters).
Once everyone is settled, we transition to the bride’s song. Every song is very important for us, but this is just a smidge more important.
During the ceremony some couples ask us to play light music if they’re lighting the unity candle, or any other type activity.
Once they kiss, and the officiant pronounces the couple married, we begin playing the recessional song as your friends and family clap, shout and whistle. It is truly spectacular.
Let me give you a sample set of music for the ceremony and let’s go from there.
Processional: Perfect - Ed Sheeran
Bride: Canon in D
Recessional: Viva La Vida - Coldplay
This would be a common ceremony setlist we get requested. It is easy on the ears, sets the tone, and I think each song fits in its role perfectly. ‘Canon in D’ is just such a classic and creates this beautiful layered sound and it can technically keep going forever, so the bride’s walk can be as quick or as slow as possible. This is an advantage!
‘Viva La Vida’ is one of the most universally recognizable songs out there, and people tend to respond very positively to it. The cheers will be off the hook!
But what if you don’t want anything traditional at all? What if you actually like the traditional, but don’t want any pop music at all? All of these can be accommodated.
We have had couples who want contemporary music, such as Phillip Glass’ compositions, for the whole ceremony and given the right context it sounds just absolutely magical.
Amidst the traditional songs we play at ceremonies to create those dreamy atmospheres, making our couples feel like they are in a fairytale, we have had some couple request their favorite songs for their ceremonies. Here’s a setlist from a few weeks ago. We had actually never played these before, but we enjoyed them so much. Guests already knew the songs and they were singing off the top of their lungs.
Processional: Superposition - Young the Giant
Recessional: Home - Ed Sharpe
As you can see, these are not your everyday ceremony songs, but they were the perfect fit for this wedding. We always encourage our couples to think outside the bachs (haha). But again, there is a reason why traditional music is called traditional. Whatever you pick, rest assured, we will make it magical.
I also wanted to mention a few other ideas for you.
Not only can you pick whatever songs and moods you want for your ceremony, you can also dramatically alter the order of things. We have had weddings where during the bride song both of our brides started walking from the opposite ends of the room, but ended the walk by covering the isle together. It was such a wonderful display of love.
We have also had grooms walking together but changing the song midway through the walk.
Just know that this is your day. We are here to help you make your dream come true. As long as the band and the couple are on the same page about the songs and the queues, everything will work out at the end.
And this is the reason for that dreaded phone call few months before your big day. We promise to keep it short.
Hope this was helpful! You can reach out to us with any of your questions.
xoxo
PSA: If you book us for 2 or more hours, your package will include a free wireless microphone and a speaker for the officiant. If you booked us just for the ceremony, make sure still talk to us if you want to learn more about amplifying your ceremony. Your video crew can also tap into our system to take audio for the video recordings.
