Music For The Sacrament of Marriage

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Chicaanna

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My Wedding is only a few months away and I am trying very hard to make the mass as perfect as possible. All my life I dreamed of having the perfect music and now I’m stumped. I have no song to walk down the aisle to. Information I’ve found regarding what should be allowed is very limited. All of the rest of the music is already chosen. I am from a small mission church attached to a parish 15 miles away. We don’t have much in the way of musicians or vocalists. I was wondering if the “Our Father” could be played for the processional or if that would be appropriate. If anyone has any other suggestions they are definitely welcome. Songs like the Trumpet Voluntary & Canon in D are just a little too much for my tiny mission church. Think a mediocre pianist, one acoustic guitar, and a tenor, alto, and soprano.
God Bless 🙂
 
The our father would not be appropriate at that time. Think of it as a liturgical procession, it would actually be better to have one song for all of the bridal party and you (and the priest if he professes). Honestly, the best ones that I have seen is when the whole church stands and sings an entrance hymn during the procession.
 
I am a musician. Try to hire a musician for your wedding day. Contact the local Organist’s Guild, piano teachers in your area, or the Musician’s Union in the nearest large town.
 
I only had the organist play and a soloist of my choosing. We did the Trumpet Voluntary which is done at almost all the weddings and it sounded lovely on the organ, IMHO 😉 (Unless you just have a pianist and no organist.) Prior suggestions sound better than mine – my organist was great and lead me through all the choices and helped me pick things out, so I didn’t get much valuable experience to pass on.
 
agapewolf said:
The our father would not be appropriate at that time. Think of it as a liturgical procession, it would actually be better to have one song for all of the bridal party and you (and the priest if he professes). Honestly, the best ones that I have seen is when the whole church stands and sings an entrance hymn during the procession.
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I played at a bunch of weddings in college and I second this suggestion on using a processional hymn. I don’t have my hymnal in front of me and my mind is completely blank for suggestions. Sorry. If God wills I marry, then I would love to have the “Servant Song” as part of the mass, but it wouldn’t be appropriate for an entrance processional.

Sit down with the person who will be playing the music and go through the songs they can play, hymn by hymn, until you find one that suits the occasion. God will lead you. Be open to the blessing He is giving you through this process.

God bless you.
Gertie
 
Agree with others
Use musicians from other parishes nearby
Seek suggestions from other friends/family weddings you’ve been to
Ask the diocese for suggested musicians - they usually have a listing available
Ask your parish choir director for names and musicians - they may balk a little - but it is your day and you can chose

Good luck and don’t wait too long to seek out the help. Good luck
 
I didn’t even hear the song I chose to walk down the aisle to. There was just too much going on at that moment! For what it’s worth, I walked down to Charpentier’s Te Deum.
 
Chicaanna said:
My Wedding is only a few months away and I am trying very hard to make the mass as perfect as possible. All my life I dreamed of having the perfect music and now I’m stumped. I have no song to walk down the aisle to. Information I’ve found regarding what should be allowed is very limited. All of the rest of the music is already chosen. I am from a small mission church attached to a parish 15 miles away. We don’t have much in the way of musicians or vocalists. I was wondering if the “Our Father” could be played for the processional or if that would be appropriate. If anyone has any other suggestions they are definitely welcome. Songs like the Trumpet Voluntary & Canon in D are just a little too much for my tiny mission church. Think a mediocre pianist, one acoustic guitar, and a tenor, alto, and soprano.
God Bless 🙂
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I agree with Agapewolf that the “Our Father” would not be appropriate for a processional. If it was the Malotte “Our Father” it definitely wouldn’t be appropriate since it has “For Thine is the Kingdom…”

It sounds like, based on your description of the Church, that you probably shouldn’t do the more majestic pieces, especially if you don’t have an organ. They would be way too big of a sound in a small church. I’m not saying you can’t do it, but it seems like you are already in agreement with that. If there is a decent piano, I would suggest hiring a professional pianist, especially if you think the pianist is mediocre. But some organists/pianists have contracts with the churches that you can’t hire outside musicians, so check with your pastor first. Most churches permit hiring outside singers, so if you don’t like the singers at the church, you could find singers outside. I would suggest finding someone with experience with Catholic weddings.

In this instance, a hymn could work very well for you wedding. You could either do it without the words or with. I recently sang at a wedding where the bride chose “Lord of All Hopefulness” (Slane melody) for her processional which was sung. This was in our Cathedral and although most people don’t sing for any of the weddings I’ve done, it still was beautiful. It’s usually only the priest and my husband (If he drives down with me. I always know where he’s sitting when he starts to sing. ha!ha!) You might get some guests singing, though. The Slane Melody is also set to “Now With Thanksgiving”.

I walked down to “O God Beyond All Praising”, although I had it purely as an organ instrumental.

Another beautiful hymn that bridal couples tend to like and congregations during Sunday masses like to sing is “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”.
 
StratusRose said:
I didn’t even hear the song I chose to walk down the aisle to. There was just too much going on at that moment! For what it’s worth, I walked down to Charpentier’s Te Deum.
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This is one of my favorites. I’m always on the verge of crying whenever I hear it. It’s so uplifting.
 
This is a bit of a side note, but remember, don’t stress…the Mass is perfect, Jesus will be there ;)…
 
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