Liturgical Wedding music

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Hello everyone! Hope you are all being bless this month of the Rosary!

Why is it not acceptable for “Here comes the Bride” to be used at church weddings?

Now I know the obvious; not liturgical—also it’s origin is from Richard Wagner’s opera Lohengrin which is considered profane as far as the scene where music is played (something like that). Was this music also played in the opera the Marriage of Figaro?

Anyone with better information please let me know, I would like to better inform young people who seem upset when the pastor tells them they cannot use “Here Comes the Bride” in church for their wedding march.

I remember as a young college student (in the "80’s) being told by a snickering Literature teacher that couples who used this particular wedding march were making a farce/mockery of their wedding he stated the above and some other Lit. pieces but I have long forgotten—

So, any help would be greatly appreciated—
God’s blessings!
viv
 
I never considered this piece. It was kinda hokey to me, and we had beautiful hyms tha glorified God at our nuptial mass, not made the bride the focus.
 
As an organist, I refuse to play the Lohengrin or the Mendelssohn wedding marches on the grounds that they are secular tunes. There are plenty of toccatas, anthems, and voluntaries out there with a tradition of liturgical use. My particular favorite postludes include Charles-Marie Widor’s Toccata from the 5th Organ Symphony, and G.F. Handel’s Hornpipe. One I cannot stand to hear is Pachelbel’s Canon in D, but that is just because everybody seems to want it at their wedding and it is such a flat, banal little tune. Perhaps it is just a fad that will pass with time, like chocolate fountains or everything being in teal. However, if I must base my music selections on the personal theology or lifestyle of the composer, that severely limits my choices, especially among the OCP lot.
 
jer1_4 said:
Hello everyone! Hope you are all being bless this month of the Rosary!

Why is it not acceptable for “Here comes the Bride” to be used at church weddings?

Now I know the obvious; not liturgical—also it’s origin is from Richard Wagner’s opera Lohengrin which is considered profane as far as the scene where music is played (something like that). Was this music also played in the opera the Marriage of Figaro?

Anyone with better information please let me know, I would like to better inform young people who seem upset when the pastor tells them they cannot use “Here Comes the Bride” in church for their wedding march.

I remember as a young college student (in the "80’s) being told by a snickering Literature teacher that couples who used this particular wedding march were making a farce/mockery of their wedding he stated the above and some other Lit. pieces but I have long forgotten—

So, any help would be greatly appreciated—
God’s blessings!
viv
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Because it tends to focus attention on the bride as the center and purpose of the event. Instead of the celebration of a Sacrament within the parish Community. It would be more appropriate to sing “We Gather Together…” or something like that.
 
Cavaille-Coll said:
My particular favorite postludes include Charles-Marie Widor’s Toccata from the 5th Organ Symphony, and G.F. Handel’s Hornpipe.
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How are some considered “secular” and others “sacred”; if there are no sacred lyrics and they were not composed just to be played at church, aren’t these secular as well?
 
I just played for my sister’s wedding. The bridesmaids and groomsmen came in to Sine Nomine, and my sister came in to Purcell’s Trumpet Tune. The happy couple recessed to Mouret’s Rondeau. My sister wanted traditional, yet non-cliche music. She specifically banned Canon in D on the grounds that we had both played it for way too many weddings and that it was the most cliched processional.
 
I used “Sheep May Safely Graze” for the bridesmaids, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” for the processional, and “Ode to Joy” for the recessional – and that was at my protestant, non-denominational wedding before I converted.

If we had it to do over again in a Catholic ceremony, I would have used Ave Maria somehow, but kept my other choices, too. I still love them.
 
Philothea_2.0 said:
I used “Sheep May Safely Graze” for the bridesmaids, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” for the processional, and “Ode to Joy” for the recessional – and that was at my protestant, non-denominational wedding before I converted.

If we had it to do over again in a Catholic ceremony, I would have used Ave Maria somehow, but kept my other choices, too. I still love them.
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We had Bach’s Ave Maria as a meditational period after Communion at our wedding, it was lovely. I don’t remember the hymn, but for coming down the aisle I had a regular Catholic hymn played on the flute by a dear friend. My choir buddies sang the same hymn for the attendants and then she switched to flute when I came in.

Simple, elegant, and understated. Choose something different and people will never stop talking about your wedding Mass!

c
 
MusicMan said:
I just played for my sister’s wedding. The bridesmaids and groomsmen came in to Sine Nomine, and my sister came in to Purcell’s Trumpet Tune. The happy couple recessed to Mouret’s Rondeau. My sister wanted traditional, yet non-cliche music. She specifically banned Canon in D on the grounds that we had both played it for way too many weddings and that it was the most cliched processional.
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The Canon in D was our warm-up in high school band and I can’t hear it to this day with smelling valve oil and old spit rags. I also banned it from my wedding! 😃
 
MusicMan said:
I just played for my sister’s wedding. The bridesmaids and groomsmen came in to Sine Nomine, and my sister came in to Purcell’s Trumpet Tune. The happy couple recessed to Mouret’s Rondeau. My sister wanted traditional, yet non-cliche music. She specifically banned Canon in D on the grounds that we had both played it for way too many weddings and that it was the most cliched processional.
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:amen: Canon in D is totally cliche. I’m not sold on the idea of Ave Maria either, especially not the Schubert version, though there are many lovely versions.

Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring is beautiful though :
 
I know I’ll get blasted for this by someone, but we used the good ol’ Mass of Creation for the Mass setting. It was the first time in decades that it had been played in that parish on the organ. The parish members who were guests at the ceremony were astounded that it could be played like that.

My sister also did the “flower to Mary” ceremony, mostly because she felt an obligation to, not because she wanted to. We did the Schubert “Ave Maria.” I’m not a fan.

Jesu isn’t yet cliche, but it was too “standard fare” for my sister’s tastes.
 
jer1_4 said:
Was this music also played in the opera the Marriage of Figaro?

That opera preceded Lohengrin by nearly a century.

I am also a church organist and my main reason for not wanting to use the Lohengrin processional is musical. It is a piece of music with integrity and for artistic reasons should not be altered to fit the length of the procession. That can happen in both directions: Needing to be arbitrarily shortened, or lengthened by inapporpriate interpolations or returns. It also contains a modulation that is difficult to undo if one has to bring it to an abrupt end. Pieces like Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary do not present this problem–they are modular to begin with.

From a pastoral point of view, I agree that a hymn is the best solution, but this will almost never be accepted because there is still the assumption that eveyone wants to look at the bride, which means they can’t have their nose buried in a hymnal.

After many years of doing this, I have concluded that there is no ideal solution. The concept of the way a wedding is done is flawed in the first place (the church of course does not demand a procession or recession at all). It is the secular trappings of the celebration of a sacrament that are the problem.
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Here is the actual translation of the lyrics to the Bridal Chorus:

“Guided in faith, enter within,
where may the blessing of love attend you!
Victorious valour and the prize of love
unite you in trust as a blessed pair.
Champion of virtue, advance!
Flower of youth, advance!
Let the sound of revelry be shut out
and your heart’s bliss be attained!
Now, removed from sight, take possession
Of this perfumed chamber, decked for love.
Guided in faith, now enter within,
where may the blessing of love attend you!
Victorious valour and pure love
unite you in trust as a blessed pair.”

Personally, if I get my way when I plan my wedding, I already have all of the music picked out.
 
OK I’ve posted on this before, but since the CA site went down, that post was probably lost. I’ll try to be shorter this time as I went on a rant last time.

I consider myself a traditionalist who goes to the TLM as often as I can, although not exclusively. I will have to concede that technically, Here Comes the Bride and the Bridal Chrous probably shouldn’t be permitted. I’ve heard all of the arguments, not being sacred music and all.

The problem I have here is the double standard some people I have debated with on this subject have. They see no problem with the pop banal music that never mentions God or our Lord, mariachi bands with bongos, maracas, etc. But Here Comes the Bride? Oh nooooooooooooooooo!!! can’t have that!!!

If your position is only sacred music for weddings, fine. Then what about sacred hymns for the rest of the Masses in Church. Unless the music situation in the Catholic Church gets cleaned up, I don’t see why this traditional wedding music shouldn’t be allowed.

It seems like it’s just not politically correct or something. What about all of the other talk we hear about inculturation It seems like every ethnic group can get their culture included in the Mass somehow if they want to. Are not these two pieces of music simply reflecting an American wedding custom? They are only used as instrumentals anyway. No one knows or cares about the words.

My wife and I had these two pieces played at our Catholic wedding. We also had all Marian hymns beforehand, Latin hymns at communion, and the Sanctus and Agnus Dei in Latin. So, I guess I don’t see what the big deal is when one puts it in perspective.
 
MusicMan said:
I know I’ll get blasted for this by someone, but we used the good ol’ Mass of Creation for the Mass setting. It was the first time in decades that it had been played in that parish on the organ. The parish members who were guests at the ceremony were astounded that it could be played like that.

My sister also did the “flower to Mary” ceremony, mostly because she felt an obligation to, not because she wanted to. We did the Schubert “Ave Maria.” I’m not a fan.

Jesu isn’t yet cliche, but it was too “standard fare” for my sister’s tastes.
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Ours also had Mass of Creation! It was my fave when I played with the choir, I admit it. 🙂
 
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