Recently, I was looking around at some sites for Wedding Ceremony music. There’s a lot of different ways you can go about doing it.  I’ve done all traditional, all contemporary, and mix between the two. Here are the parts of a ceremony to pick music for…

 The Prelude:

Songs to play while the guests are being seated, usually light background music to set the mood.  Typically, we do the standard classical music, but — for more of a contemporary ceremony, check out Vitamin String Quartet.

I found a good selection of music from theknot.com Here’s some suggestions.

Water Music” (George F. Handel)
“Violin Concerto in A” (Franz Joseph Haydn)
“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” (from Cantata 147), (Johann S. Bach)
“At Last” (Vitamin String Quartet)

 Processionals
Seating of the Grandparents
Seating of the Parents
Bridal Party
The Bride

You don’t have to have a seating of the Grandparents, remember everything on here is optional. You can have the same song for both the Grandparents and Parents, and even the Bridal Party if you want and then change the music for when you enter. Here are some suggestions 

“Trumpet Voluntary” (John Stanley)
“Bridal Chorus” (from Lohengrin), (Richard Wagner)
“Wedding March” (from The Marriage of Figaro), (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)

Interludes

This is for when you want music to emphasize a certain moment during the ceremony, mainly the lighting of the Unity Candle or Unity Sand.

“Clair de Lune” (Claude Debussy)
“Adagio” (Felix Mendelssohn)
“Ave Maria” (Franz Schubert)
“Thank You” (Led Zeppelin)

Recessional

The music you walk out to. Something fun and happy!

“Hallelujah Chorus” (from The Messiah), (George F. Handel)
“Trumpet Tune and Bell Symphony,” (Henry Purcell)
“Beautiful Day” (U2)
“Wedding March” (from A Midsummer Night’s Dream), (Felix Mendelssohn)

Don’t feel that you have to use any of these suggestions on the Knot’s page. If you think of something that is significant for you, that’s the better choice.   And we can always go thru some songs when we get together.

Here’s another cool page with more modern musical selections for the ceremony.