Wedding Music Help

[Melissa]

Mendelsshohn’s wedding march is beautiful and can be used - it is the one from the movie the Sound of Music.

Actually, no … the wedding march in the movie The Sound of Music was Richard Rodgers (and I found sheet music for it … still had the line for the nuns singing ‘How do you solve a problem like Maria’ but it was on a separate line, so easy to sift right out. As far as I know, that’s a by-permission-only, but in my case it was permitted on the grounds that while from a secular work, it was composed for a scene involving a Catholic wedding. It is a great sounding piece of music, though, and hard to believe it’s that modern in origin.

Link to an audio/video clip

(That’s a .mov file for the clip … not sure what all programs can open that.)

 

[daeve]

Here’s some more background info that might clear some things up.

We’re getting married in a chapel in the mountains. There’s no parish, although a priest from our parish is performing the mass/ceremony. Here’s a pic, just for fun:
static.panoramio.com/photos/original/16575891.jpg

We’re getting married May 16th, so we’ll be in the Easter season, but not Lent. What stipulations apply? I’m wondering what stipulations apply. Is it up to my priest, since it’s not really constrained by the regulations of a parish?

For the processional, we’re hoping to use the Trumpet Voluntary.

For the lighting of the unity candle, Schubert’s Ave Maria.

Recessional, Handel’s Alla Hornpipe.

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, by Bach was going to be one of several preludes while our guests are being seated.

My friend said he could also play these as preludes, and I’m wondering if they’re allowed:
Brahms - Intermezzo in A major Opus 118
Debussey - Clair de Lune
Chopin (I think his works aren’t allowed, but I’m not sure)

Does that help? Is there any more info I can provide? What questions do I need to ask my priest when I meet with him Friday?

Thanks!

What a gorgeous place to get married! I like the Trumpet Voluntary for a recessional because it sounds so triumphant. We had a different Ave Maria, Roseweig maybe. I keep thining Rosensweig because I knew someone with that name…and Rosenkrantz but that’s surely not right. It was used for my parent’s wedding too. Very pretty song.

The priest might have some ideas too.

 

[daeve]

Today would be, ironically, my wedding anniversary – if we were still married. We had the processional from the Sound of Music, because most of the people in the wedding were actors and we met (not the two of us or our sisters, but the others) during a summer stock season where we did The Sound of Music. Neither the priest nor my cousin who’s a monseinguer (that’s probably spelled wrong) said anything about that or the unity candle. The only thing the pastor said was he hated the Carpenters music and he was ok with the things I chose. But that was 33 years ago, so things have probably changed over the decades!

 

[benedictgal]

Today would be, ironically, my wedding anniversary – if we were still married. We had the processional from the Sound of Music, because most of the people in the wedding were actors and we met (not the two of us or our sisters, but the others) during a summer stock season where we did The Sound of Music. Neither the priest nor my cousin who’s a monseinguer (that’s probably spelled wrong) said anything about that or the unity candle. The only thing the pastor said was he hated the Carpenters music and he was ok with the things I chose. But that was 33 years ago, so things have probably changed over the decades!

Yes, especially since the Church has really clamped down on the type of music that should be used for the Mass. The unity candle, as I noted in a previous post, is not a part of the Rite of Marriage. It was one of those “creative” innovations that has no basis in the liturgical Tradition of the Church, and thus, should not be used.