We play a large variety of ceremonies. At times we have full classical ensembles with violins, harps, cellos, violas and woodwind. And sometimes we have a very simple ceremony with piano only. There are two main questions to ask yourselves when planning the music for your ceremony. One is the size and scale of the ensemble. Do you want a presence with many pieces? Does the venue demand a larger group? Or do you just want to keep it simple with the size and only have one or two pieces? Next question is regarding repertoire. Are you looking for an electic musical ceremony or do you want something traditional. OR do you want to think totally out of the box and have a rock and roll repertoire with violins and cello. You can have strings play Dave Matthews, Musicals, pop tunes. And a simple pianist can also play your favorite classical piece. So the instrumentation doesn't ALWAYS have to dictate the repertoire. In fact, sometimes it is really awesome to hear a classical ensemble play "Crash into you." Or "The Scientist"....
For years most brides would play it safe and have the ceremony represent mainly classical music along the lines of Pachelbel's Canon, Mozarts "Romanze", Bach and Beethoven. These days it is not uncommon to have a ceremony that will start off with a traditional piece and then deviate to a beautiful rock ballad (ie Clocks from Coldplay) and then segue back into another classical piece. In other words anything goes....Recently we played an all Beattles ceremony that was gorgeous. The ensemble was bass, piano, electric guitar and flute. We played Here Comes the Sun, In My Life, Here there and Everywhere finished off with COME TOGETHER as the recessional. This ceremony was in a hotel and the couple did not want an overtly religious ceremony so it really worked. I also played a wedding in a big venue in NYC where the bride came down the aisle to an instrumental string version of "Dancing Queen." Apparently she was known to her guests as the DANCING QUEEN. So the song served its purpose.
I don't recommend changing songs for every person that comes down the aisle. Mainly we chose a few specific pieces and always change songs for the bride. But my recommendation is to think out of the box. Keep a list of your favorite songs. Some songs played at the ceremony that are significant can be repeated at the reception to tie in a common theme. At that Beattles wedding we had the band play "When I'm 64" for the cake cutting to bring back the theme established during the ceremony. It was perfect and yet not too overdone.
Who are your favorite artists? How can you personalize the music at your wedding and still make it romantic and meaningful? Are there any songs that are important to your parents? Do you want to honor your grandparents by playing some traditional ethnic pieces? Put some thought into your ceremony. It goes by very quickly but this is one of the few times during your wedding that we recommend being very specific with your music. You will be happy that you were....
