Are you afraid of your wedding music?

Planning the music for a wedding ceremony—especially your wedding ceremony—can be a daunting task.

For some, planning a church wedding ceremony can be especially frightening. You probably feel more intimidated than if you were planning something not as formal. A church wedding comes with so many requirements, traditions, and expectations, including music you might not know anything about.

Don’t let it be more complicated than it needs to be!

With a little help, it won’t be so bad. If you don’t yet have a copy of the checklist that comes with our church wedding music how-to guide, the information below can help you get started. But the checklist has six pages of detailed things to keep you from forgetting to do (and the guide explains it all and provides lots of tips). All this will help make your ceremony music a joy-filled and memorable experience!

There’s lots to do, but here’s how to keep it all straight

Up till now, you might not have been sure how to even get started. It’s true that there are many little things to be concerned about (as is also the case with other parts of your wedding day planning).

Fortunately, ceremony music planning can be broken down into a series of steps, so that you need not worry about everything all at once. This approach breaks down your work into manageable chunks.

These steps guide you through the planning process but are not intended to be a strictly-followed procedure.

In other words, they’re meant to help simplify your planning, not complicate it by only allowing you to address something at a certain time.

Step 1

Start off with the basics. Where are you getting married and when? How big will the ceremony be? Learn what your church’s expectations are regarding music. Figure out what you want the general character of the music to be. How much music will you need to find?

Step 2

Start exploring music ideas and make some initial choices. Roughly piece together ceremony music choices that give you the ceremony character you’re looking for.

Step 3

Get the musicians who will make this ceremony music reality for you!

Step 4

With your musicians, finalize your music choices (picking out additional music first, of course).

Step 5

Keep an eye on things in the weeks and months until your ceremony nears to make sure that progress is being made.

Step 6

Take care of all the last-minute details.

Is that all?

If that’s all there is to do, you might be wondering why I have this whole site dedicated to the subject of planning church wedding music and offer a guidebook to help you.

Obviously, it’s the details. None of the steps are complicated from a common-sense perspective, but knowing how to accomplish them is another story.

That’s where I want to use our experience as church wedding musicians to help you sort it all out.

You can learn more about easily getting started by checking out Church Wedding Music 101: 3 free videos that introduce you to the topic of church wedding music!

Get the guide.

Think about these steps and whether you have the expertise to do them all yourself.

Remember, the steps apply even if you want your musicians to pick out music for you (well OK, I guess if you want the musicians to pick out everything for you, then two of the six steps can be skipped).

Think about getting the guide to help you. The checklist, sample ceremonies, and hundreds of music ideas ought to be enough to convince you. The money-back satisfaction guarantee means it’s my problem, not yours, if it’s not helpful to you!

© 2011, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

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©2012 Wedding Music Unveiled. All Rights Reserved.

You wouldn’t pass up help that would simplify your work, would you?

I couldn’t be happier that you’ve found Wedding Music Unveiled to help you organize and simplify your ceremony music planning!

But did you know that by only reading the articles on this site, you’re getting only some of the full wealth of information I have for you?

Too much to share here

It just isn’t practical on this site to share all that I have for you. There are more music selections, tips, articles and other goodies than I can make room for. I share some of these extra items with in my email newsletter.

Subscribe today and take advantage of all the information you ought to have for planning your wedding. It’s free.

Let us help you make your day perfect. Take advantage of all we have to offer you.

But if you don’t subscribe to the newsletter, you are missing out.

You’re also missing great bonus tips and information. Here are examples of newsletter topics from the past few months:

• how to enjoy your ceremony music even when the ceremony will likely be a blur to you
• connecting your pre-ceremony music to your processional music to build up to your entrance
• how to avoid the stress from juggling many different ceremony ideas in your head
• staying in touch with reality to avoid being disappointed by your music
• avoiding trouble by recognizing and handling the limitations of your soloists
• understanding your reaction to possible music selections as you listen to it to help make the best choices
• additional music selections
• amusing examples of really bad wedding music advice I’ve come across
• reminders about & early details from web site articles before they’re posted (sometimes even with extra details that don’t get posted!)
• and much more!

It’s not just for the couple!

If you are a wedding musician (whether a full-time church musician or someone who occasionally plays for weddings), clergy, church staff or a wedding professional, there’s also special information just for you. Just click the appropriate button after entering your email address and you’ll get information that’s relevant to you.

Getting help is easy and is just a few clicks away

If you’d like some extra help (and who wouldn’t?) with your wedding music, subscribe today!

Subscribe now by signing up at the top & right side of the page or below.

© 2011, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

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©2012 Wedding Music Unveiled. All Rights Reserved.

Not starting your planning early enough to accomplish everything is the biggest cause of wedding music stress.

Church musicians I’ve talked to report that too many couples wait too long to contact them about wedding music arrangements.

One or two months before the wedding is very late to be starting to talk about music and does not leave couples with many options.

For more on making arrangements for wedding music, see these articles on meeting with your church and your church musician.

You’ve got a lot to do

From the couple’s perspective, this is completely understandable. It’s easy for couples to be preoccupied with other wedding day details. There is a lot of work to do.

I also hear that many couples whose weddings are very close find themselves way behind and scrambling to accomplish everything.

Do you really know all that needs to be done?

This got me wondering whether couples really understand what all needs to be done for their wedding music. It would be a shame for them to be thinking all along that they’re on track when they’re actually unknowingly way behind schedule.

If you’re working with my downloadable wedding music planning checklist or following my recommended wedding music planning phases, you’ll know up front what needs to be done. If you have my Guide to Selecting Memorable Church Wedding Music you’ll also know how to do everything.

Here’s everything you need to do & why you should start early

In the interest of preventing this kind of stress, here’s a quick, high-level summary of everything that needs to be done for music for a typical church wedding ceremony:

• Find out your church’s expectations about ceremony music
• Determine your primary source of music (e.g., organ, piano)
• Sort out basic ceremony and wedding music details with your church
• Learn what moods & styles you prefer
• Figure out how much music you’ll need
• Schedule planning discussions with at least your primary musician
• Select your music for the entire ceremony (get ideas from your musician(s) as necessary)
• Get church’s approval for your selected music
• Line up other musicians
• Figure out what special instructions to give to your musicians
• Figure out what your musicians need from you or the church (if they’re from outside)
• Coordinate multiple musicians (especially if they don’t know each other and will be playing together)
• Keep musicians up to date with all your music selections (especially as you make changes). Make sure your plans will work.
• Get music and musician information into your wedding program

All this takes time

This is a lot to accomplish in only one or two months—especially when those months are packed full with other preparations.

Make sure you leave yourself enough time to do everything by starting early!

If you need more evidence of how much needs to be done, see my article “Wedding Disasters: Lessons From Stories of Wedding Music Gone Wrong”.

Don’t forget: the things you need to do aren’t the only things that take time.

• Sometimes musicians need to learn your music.
• Maybe they even need to first find and buy sheet music.
• At the very least, they’ll need time to practice.
• Just finding a convenient time to meet with the church and with musicians can chew up several days or weeks.

Less stress, don’t settle

Wedding music is only one part of your wedding day plans. But you’ll stress yourself out if you wait too long to work on it.

Don’t put yourself in the position of having to settle because there isn’t time to do it the way you’d like.

How far before the wedding you should start working on wedding music will differ with each wedding and what you have in mind. But as a rule of thumb, plan to be working on it at some level no less than six months ahead.

Again, find some way to get organized in your planning. Ideally, get a copy of my wedding music and guide. It will simplify your work by taking the burden of figuring it all out and keeping track of it off your shoulders.

Let’s hear your thoughts

What do you think? Do you think couples wait to start thinking about ceremony music because they’re too busy, because they don’t realize just how much they’ll need to do, or some combination?

Did you start your wedding music planning earlier? How has that made a difference for you?

Share your thoughts! I’d love to hear them and get your feedback.

© 2011, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

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©2012 Wedding Music Unveiled. All Rights Reserved.

I have a tip for you today that could save you some money. And perhaps quite a bit of stress too!

It’s really easy to get ahead of yourself when starting to plan your wedding ceremony.

After all, there’s so much to do and you’re tremendously excited.

Don’t get ahead of yourself
I suppose I could say that my tip is to take a deep breath, don’t get ahead of yourself, and do things in a logical order.

That would all be true (and I can help you with that too), but I can also help you by being more specific.

Check that your ideas for wedding musicians are OK before hiring them

The tip is really simple: Before you hire ceremony musicians, check with your church to see what their policy is regarding outside musicians.

“Outside” could mean musicians that aren’t members of the church or it could mean musicians that the church and its staff are already comfortable working with.

Lots of different church policies

Some churches won’t allow non-member musicians.

Some churches have their own preferred musicians that must be used. If you want a violinist, they’ll give you a name or two to contact.

Each church has its own policies and there can be lots of variations. Some churches may have no policies at all. You won’t know and should not assume what will be OK until you’ve talked with them.

It’s even possible that a restriction might be a matter of practicality, rather than policy. Maybe you want a string quartet, but the church happens to be smaller and knows from experience that there won’t be room.

Imagine going out and hiring a string quartet, including paying the deposit to get them to reserve the date and then talking to the church two months later and finding out it won’t be possible. Imagine the stress this would cause you. Imagine the lost deposit money.

I can help you

I want to save you from this.

So start with the church, then move on to other details.

This is exactly approach I recommend in my church wedding music checklist and my Guide to Selecting Memorable Church Wedding Music (the checklist comes with the guide).

I know many couples are anxious to “attack” their wedding planning with great enthusiasm. but doing things in a logical order prevents extra stress, headaches, wasted deposits, and so on. Get yourself a copy of my Guide and use the checklist to keep yourself on the right track.

© 2011, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

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©2012 Wedding Music Unveiled. All Rights Reserved.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the wedding ceremony music planning you need to do, maybe you need some wedding music samples!

You’ve got so many decisions to make planning your wedding. Sometimes, you need a little help or inspiration. Sometimes that can be nothing more than seeing what others have done.

Here are sample wedding ceremony music listings. Maybe these examples will help you get past any feelings of being overwhelmed.

Ideas and inspiration from wedding music samples

These wedding ceremony samples are all from real-world weddings.

Regardless whose wedding they were for, how much (or how little) planning went into them, or how the pieces were selected, they are couples’ best efforts to put together meaningful ceremony music.

Don’t copy…seek inspiration

Don’t just copy them…that defeats the entire purpose!

Instead, look them over, listen to the music and find inspiration in them. Then make choices about what you like from amongst the many music selections you have in front of you!

++ Example Ceremony 1 ++

Processional: Debussy: Claire de lune

Hymn: “O Father All Creating”

Recessional: Bach: “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”

++ Example Ceremony 2 ++

Prelude: Purifoy: Hyfrydol

Processional: Handel: Largo from Xerxes

Hymns:

• “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”
• “Lord, When You Came as Welcome Guest”

Recessional: Purcell: Trumpet Voluntary

++ Example Ceremony 3 ++

Prelude: Telemann: The Heroic Music

Processionals:

• (bridal party) Bach: “Liebster Jesu, wir sind Hier” (“Dearest Jesus, We Are Here”)
• (bridal) Reger: “Nun Danket alle Gott” (“Now Thank We All Our God”)

Hymns:

• “The Church’s One Foundation”
• “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”

Recessional: Handel: The Trumpet Shall Sound

If this is helpful to you, you’ll want to check out Wedding Music Unveiled’s Guide to Selecting Memorable Church Wedding Music. It includes over 30 pages of sample wedding ceremonies as a bonus document!

Share yours

What wedding music samples do you have to add? Help inspire others!

© 2011, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

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©2012 Wedding Music Unveiled. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to communicate your joy in a way words cannot express.

Lots of work is ahead

Whether you have been engaged or just got engaged over the holidays, if you have a wedding coming up this year you already know just how much work you have to do in the coming months!

Preparing for your wedding day is no small project. You need to plan a reception, the ceremony, rehearsal dinners, dealing with out-of-town guests, attire, gifts, decorations, and the list goes on. Each of these by itself can be a major project.

This is your chance to express yourself

Don’t let your ceremony music get lost in the shuffle! It’s an important part of your day.

So much of the rest of the day is about accommodating the needs of other people.

But this is your chance to express your joy while you have the attention of your family, your friends, your wedding party and most importantly, your soon-to-be-spouse!

You need to get it right the first time

For some of your wedding day’s details, you can call upon your own skills or rely on planning guides, friends, families, web sites, and other sources of information in your preparations.

But planning music for a wedding ceremony, a church service, or any formal event is not something that comes naturally to most people. After all, it’s not something that you have probably ever done before. You’ve probably never even done anything similar. You don’t have the benefit of practice to get it right.

You need it to be perfect and have only one chance to get it right!

Motivation, not pressure

Why am I telling you this? Don’t you have enough to worry about already?

Don’t worry, I’m not trying to stress you out.

I’ve seen too many couples put music off until the last minute (and even have the musicians “just handle everything”).

What I hear back from couples that have done this is generally either regret that they should have put more thought into it (or started earlier) or that the results were “OK”.

What I’ve heard from couples that have taken their music seriously and really put some effort into it has been “Wow!!!”. (OK, maybe they used different words, but “wow!” captures the nature of their responses.)

Don’t let the opportunity go by

As I said above, don’t let your ceremony music get lost in the shuffle! This is your chance to express yourself, to express your great joy.

If your ceremony music ends up being nothing more than background noise, you’ve truly missed out on an opportunity.

Get started now

To learn how to get started, check out my free Church Wedding Music 101 video mini-course. Enter your email address below (or on the top right side of the page) right now and I’ll send you the link and you can start watching the first video right away.

© 2011, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

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©2012 Wedding Music Unveiled. All Rights Reserved.

“I need to plan my wedding ceremony music and I don’t know where to start.”

Boy, have I heard this more than a few times!

If you are new here, welcome!

If you’re getting married in 2011 and just starting your wedding planning (or at least the wedding ceremony music), I’ll help you out by showing you what your next steps should be.

By the way, if you’re just recently engaged, congratulations!

This article will help you even if you know absolutely nothing about church wedding music.

I’ve got two lists for you.

First is a list of “getting started” tips. Second is a list of resources Wedding Music Unveiled has available here to help you. These are resources that will expand on the listed tips and go much, much further.

5 tips for how to plan wedding ceremony music (for a church)

• Understand what music in a church wedding means (hint: it’s neither entertainment nor background music)
• Get the basics out of the way before thinking about music. Don’t “put the cart before the horse”—know where your ceremony will be and what musical options are available to you before doing too much planning or you risk disappointment or having to do some of the work over.
• Don’t wait too long to get started. Too many couples put off dealing with music until a few weeks or maybe a month before the wedding. Don’t do that. Start now.
• Figure out what you want in your music and focus on that
• Figure out what approach you want to take to planning your wedding ceremony music. Your options:
  • DIY (do it yourself)
  • “Let my musician do it all”
  • A combination of the above

I’ve got a 6-step process that will take you from “getting started” right through to the ceremony. These 6 steps help you plan your wedding ceremony music whether you’re doing it all yourself or letting your musician do it.

Don’t be tempted by the “let my musician do it” approach. It does sound very tempting. But I’ve heard many couples express regret afterwards.

It’s not as attractive as it sounds, because there’s still plenty you’ll need to do if you want music that’s personal, memorable, and distinctive.

Unless you just don’t care about the music at all, you won’t get the results you want by not being involved. I recommend the hybrid approach: you figure out what you want and use the musician’s experience to help you get it.

Wedding ceremony music resources at Wedding Music Unveiled

Obviously, the tips above are just the “tip of the iceberg”. There’s much more beneath the surface.

Wedding Music Unveiled has lots available to help you regardless of the approach you want to take next:

• Lots of blog articles (We’ve got articles that expand all the tips above. Start with our “Getting Started” articles then browse around or search for more
• Our free video course “Church Wedding Music 101” will help you with all the basics, including explaining the 6 steps I mentioned above
• Follow us on Twitter or check us out on Facebook
• If you’re ready to just get down to work and, need a detailed wedding checklist, hundreds of music ideas appropriate for a church, sample wedding ceremonies and lots, lots of tips from church musicians and more, check out our comprehensive church wedding music guidebook/e-book.

Do you have enough to give you an idea how to start planning your church wedding ceremony music? I hope so! I hope I’ve pointed you in the right direction.

If you still need more (and most people will), stick around. Add this site to your blog reader using our RSS feed. Better yet, before you forget and do anything else, sign up below for my free email newsletter and get immediate access to the Church Wedding Music 101 videos.

© 2011, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

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©2012 Wedding Music Unveiled. All Rights Reserved.

My gift to you: A few great wedding processional song combination ideas.

A majority of couples these days have two wedding processional songs: one for the bridal party (or sometimes the wedding party) and one for the bride herself.

When a couple chooses this direction, they have to find two pieces of music that go together well in a complementary way (because the pieces are played back-to-back). I doubt too many couples would want two pieces of music that clash.

I like to help couples plan their wedding music, especially when they have little experience with classical music and more especially because of this, they as a result feel a little unsure of themselves.

Combinations of wedding processional songs

Here is a handful of pairings of pieces that I believe work well together as wedding processionals:

• Telemann: Grazioso and Brahms: St. Anthony’s Chorale
• Charpentier: Prelude to the Te Deum and Telemann: Grazioso
• Campra: Rigaudon and Bach: Wachet Auf
• Telemann: Grazioso and Handel: March from Occasional Oratorio
• Stanley: Trumpet Voluntary in D and Boyce: Trumpet Voluntary (Largo Andante)
• Bach: “Sheep May Safely Graze” and Boyce: Trumpet Voluntary (Largo Andante)

Or make your combinations of wedding processional songs

Feel free to use any of these for yourself. Or better yet, try to put some of your own choices together to see how they sound. Remember, it’s all about expressing joy “in your own words”.

Where to get more help

If you need music ideas to choose from, just like these, my Guide to Selecting Memorable Church Wedding Music e-book contains hundreds of music ideas (on top of all the great tips and our popular wedding music planning checklist)!

Or if you just need some help getting your wedding planning started, check out my Church Wedding Music 101 video “mini-course”. It’s free, and you can get immediate access with your email address below (or on the side of the page near the top or by following the link).

If you’ve heard any great pairings of wedding processional songs, I’d love to hear about them. It’s exciting to hear the results of other people’s creativity.

© 2010 – 2011, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

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©2012 Wedding Music Unveiled. All Rights Reserved.

Congratulations on finding Wedding Music Unveiled and welcome! Whether you just got engaged or have been for a while, if you’re planning a 2011 church wedding, this site is for you!

This site can be your home for everything you need to select and prepare music for your church wedding ceremony. I’ll help you organize your planning and provide all sorts of unique and interesting music ideas.

My goal is to help you achieve the memorable ceremony you’ve dreamed of and at the same time take some pressure of planning a wedding off you (you’ve got plenty of other wedding day preparations, right?).

To help us get acquainted, here are our most-popular articles.

Check out the articles that look interesting to you. When you’re done, browse around and see what else we have to offer.

#10: 6 Wedding Ceremony Pieces of Music Everyone Ought to Avoid

Here are some of the most commonly-used pieces in wedding ceremonies today that are so overused that they are no longer effective.

#9: Want Some Instrumental Wedding Songs?

Including an instrument in your church wedding ceremony is a wonderful way help set the mood for this joyous occasion. Instrumental wedding songs give your ceremony character and help you “personalize” it. Here are music ideas for your instrument-enhanced wedding ceremony.

#8: Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary in D

Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary in D is his best-known work, used in countless weddings because of its stately, majestic, ceremonial, melodic, pleasing character.

#7: 11 Exciting Wedding Postlude Music Ideas to End Your Ceremony

Your wedding postlude music will be the last music your guests hear before leaving your ceremony. You’ll want to leave them in an upbeat mood! Here are exciting, distinctive and memorable church wedding postlude music ideas.

#6: The Pachelbel Canon in D: What You Probably Don’t Know

You’ve probably heard the Pachelbel Canon in D in just about every wedding you’ve attended. But what do you really know about this incredibly well-liked piece of music? And just how did it get to be so popular? This article looks at the beloved Canon from those perspectives, but also at the effect of its popularity on wedding ceremonies that use it.

#5: Give Me 5 Minutes And I’ll Give You 11 Great Wedding Recessionals

Here are great pieces of music well-suited for use as a recessional in a church wedding ceremony.

#4: Be Bold With Your Wedding Prelude Music!

From the first note played at your ceremony until the last, your music choices will say something about you. You get to choose what that statement is.

#3: Avoid Overused Music! 29 Better Choices for Prelude Music for Wedding Ceremonies

Here are 29 great choices of prelude music for wedding ceremonies. They’re all perfect for church weddings.

#2: Wedding Songs for Church Wedding Ceremonies

It can be tricky enough to find the perfect song for your wedding, but finding one also appropriate for a church without issues can be extra difficult. But not if you follow these guidelines.

#1: 28 Top Choices for Wedding Processional Music

Here are 28 choices for wedding ceremony Processionals that should guarantee you a memorable wedding day! Choices range from soft to majestic.

Get started today!

There’s plenty of reading here for you.

But if you’d like to “jump-start” your wedding music planning, check out my Guide to Selecting Memorable Church Wedding Music.

If you’d like to learn a little more about the subject before the jump-start, check out my Church Wedding Music 101 3-part video “mini-course”. It’s free and it comes with my email newsletter. Your e-mail address will get you immediate access!

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

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©2012 Wedding Music Unveiled. All Rights Reserved.

In an earlier article, I gave you some tips for incorporating a Christmas-time “flavor” to your wedding music. The point of the article was that it is definitely possible, but you want to make sure your wedding is actually close to Christmas and that you don’t go overboard.

You can check out that Christmas wedding music tips article here.

Now I have actual music ideas for you. These ideas below will work fine. They’re not too “Christmas-y” (some aren’t Christmas music at all—but they’ll fit in perfectly).

As I mentioned in the other article, I suggest keeping the Christmas “flavor” to the prelude (or pre-service) music and maybe the processional or recessional.

My Guide to Selecting Memorable Church Wedding Music includes links for every piece of music I could find a recording for. If these links are helpful to you, please check out the guide. I think you’ll find it extremely beneficial to you. I’ll also include links for most of these pieces in my next email newsletter.

Christmas-time wedding music ideas

• Brahms: Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen (or Lo, How a Rose E’er Bloometh)

• Franck: Pastorale

• Franck: Prelude, Fugue and Variation

• Sowerby: Carillon

• D’Aquin: Swiss Noel

• D’Aquin: Noel Grand Jeu Et Duo

• Vierne: Pastorale, from Organ Symphony #1

• Vierne: Berceuse

• Widor: Adagio from Organ Symphony #5

• Widor: Adagio from Organ Symphony #6

• Zipoli: Pastorale

• Domenico Scarlatti: Pastorale

• Eugene Thayer: Alla Pastorale

Processionals & recessionals

Here are a few processional and recessional pieces that aren’t Christmas music, but will work well close to Christmas. If you need more processional and recessional ideas, Wedding Music Unveiled has other articles with even more suggestions.

Processionals:

• Brahms: Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen (or Lo, How a Rose E’er Bloometh)

• Telemann: Grazioso (full name is la Grace from Heroic Marches)

• Handel: Air from Water Music Suite No. 1 in F

• Vaughan Williams: Rhosymedre

Recessionals:

• Purcell: Festival Rondeau from “Abdelazer”

• Handel: Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

Anything else?

Know any other pieces that would be good for a Christmas-time wedding? Leave a comment and share with fellow readers. Your comments are always welcome and appreciated!

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

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©2012 Wedding Music Unveiled. All Rights Reserved.