Choosing Music For Your Civil Wedding Ceremony

Wondering where to begin choosing music for your civil ceremony? Music may be an inherent part of your life but this doesn’t mean that you’ll feel confident selecting a musical programme for your wedding ceremony. While it’s not rocket science, you may wonder if certain music is appropriate or if your ceremony will be personalised enough or if you’ll leave guests scratching their heads with your song choices. This guide is intended to give you orientation and some reassurance based on my experience of this as an instrumental pianist. Please feel more than free to add your musical ideas, past, present or future to the discussion below.

Foreword

There is no such thing as a perfect programme of wedding music. Yes, you may have been to your cousin’s wedding last summer and they may have had the most amazing music at it, with a beautiful singer or a string quartet. It seems like other people are really well organised and decisive. The secret to success here, however, is that you only have to choose the music that you want and to hire a decent musician or musicians to perform it. Chances are that so long as you love the few songs which you choose, you’ll have no regrets and, assuming your instrumentalists are of good calibre, most music will work well for your ceremony.

That said, I’m asking readers to offer their ideas on this in the comments below with what music they’ve had at their civil ceremonies and where in the ceremony they’ve elected to have it.

This guide is intended to give a starting point to programme structure with a couple of suggestions of my own thrown in.

Bridal Entrance:

Keep it slow or moderately slow. Anything from Canon In D by Pachelbel to California by Phantom Planet and everything between and beyond works here. You’re setting an atmosphere and giving yourself time to gather your thoughts on the amazing event as it begins to unfold. I have always found that your entrance piece will tend to be shorter that you’d think because it really does only take about two minutes for bridesmaids and bride herself to process up to the top of the room. A good wedding musician will always time it more or less perfectly as he should know how and where to wind down the song.

The Readings:

It can be fitting to have music accompany your readers when they read passages about the nature of love and marriage. This can be any soft-rock instrumental or folk song that may or may not mean something to you. Your instrumentalist should keep things really quiet here if you opt for this so that speakers, who may not have microphones, can be clearly heard. Again, this is merely for effect and is a far cry from performance on the part of the musician.

Transitional Periods:

Some humanist wedding ceremonies have wind, bottle or sand ceremonies leading up the recitation of the vows. While this is open to opinion, I have found that Irish airs work beautifully on the piano for these transitional ceremonies. Pieces like O’Carolan’s Concerto or Ó Catháin’s Tabhair dom do Lámh can be mesmerising at an Irish wedding ceremony. They add that traditional dimension, giving your wedding a timeless, rustic feel. These pieces can be played before and/or during the ceremony in question.

The Signing Of The Register:

This very important part of your wedding ceremony legalises your marriage in the eyes of the state with your groomsmen and bridesmaids, generally, as witnesses. Depending on the nature of your wedding venue, your guests may be inclined to chat in their seats while this signing takes place. Everyone, nonetheless, appreciates some pleasant piece of music in the background to keep a sense of continuity to the wedding ceremony. At a recent event, I was asked to perform Debussy’s Clair De Lune after the signing had taken place. I thought that this encapsulated the atmosphere perfectly around this part of your ceremony. It’s reflective and solemn and it should contrast with the big finale as you get ready to process down the aisle.

The Recessional:

Now, as you walk out together, you can let loose with your final song. To put a framework around what this should sound like, I have previously performed Coldplay’s Life In Technicolor II and Guns N’ Roses’ Sweet Child Of Mine. An epic ballad or a song with an instantly memorable hook and tempo work perfectly here as you process down to claps and cheers. This should basically sound like the soundtrack you’d have if your life were a film with a happy ending.

This list barely scratches the surface of musical possibilities but it hopefully gives you more confidence about selecting your own repertoire without reservation or worry. Your musician is always only more than happy to spend time discussing your music and suggesting ideas where you’re uncertain. Looking on wedding and bridal forums helps with ideas as you engage with other people of experience.

Get in touch!

Paul is an instrument pianist specialising in performing music at your wedding ceremony and/or for your drinks reception. He is only too happy to guide your through the process of sorting out music on your wedding day and, if you get in touch today, you can be sure of a speedy response. He looks forward to hearing from you.