Several times a month, a bride-to-be asks me for recommendations for music to incorporate into her wedding ceremony.
“What do people usually do?” she asks, typically with a touch of panic in her voice. (As you may have heard, wedding planning can be a stressful undertaking.)
My answer, most often, is that it’s all about what YOU like. A few questions I might ask the bride and groom usually include:
- If you had to choose, would you describe yourselves as traditional or contemporary?
- What is the tone of your ceremony venue?
- Are there any songs or artists that are especially meaningful to you and/or your families?
People never seem to have trouble conceptualizing what their dream wedding will be — visions of color palettes, bouquets, event venues, fondant-laden cakes and merengue-laden white dresses dance in their heads from before the groom-to-be drops to one knee. But music is part of what makes your wedding, your wedding!
My humble advice is to throw out the rules of “what people usually do” and select music for your ceremony that (1) fits your venue and (2) fits the couple up at the altar. If the words you would use to describe your wedding include “elegant” and “stately,” then by all means ask your musicians to play Pachelbel’s Canon in D. But, if you don’t know Mozart from Madonna, pick something that is meaningful to you, and you can’t go wrong!
laura naturally, LLC 