how many song choices do I need for our civil ceremony?

Hi,

We're going to have a cd of music playing whilst everyones being seated, just a compilation of songs we like I think. Then I'll have one for the bridesmaids and me to walk down to, then putting 3 songs together to be played during the signing of the registrar (someone suggested having 2 or 3 songs for this as it can take a while and you don't want there to be silence if the first songs finished before you!) After that we'll have a song for us to walk out to followed by a couple of others so there's still music playing as everyone else leaves (again in case it runs out before everyones left).

So far the only song I know i'm having is Desree 'Kissing You' to walk down the aisle to. The thing with music is I think it needs to be personal to you two but also songs that have meaning to family or friends is nice too x

We were told we only needed three - In, register and out. In reality we had about 45 minutes worth of music playing in the room for guests to arrive to (all string quartet versions of pop/rock tunes). In and out was fine but I'd have more than one for signing the register - by the time everyone has taken pictures etc you'll probably need at least two, maybe even three. Either that or have one track and repeat it.

What we found absolutely critical was having someone witha decent sense of presentation (an usher maybe) work the stereo. The chances are you won't need a full song to walk down the aisle to so you need someone to fade it out gradually once you get the the end of the aisle, otherwise you stand there looking embarrased waiting for the song to finish or you have a very abrupt stop. If you have someone working with your cd then they can repeat your register signing track for as long as you need, again fading out where necessary. Your walking out track is much less problematic.

Our venue staff asked my brother to put the "guests arriving" music back on while they set up the room for drinks afterwards and it was lovely to have the strings playing in the background as everyone had their glass of fizz.

For inspiration our music was:

Guests arriving: A selection of tracks by the Vitamin String Quartet

In: Stand by Me by Ben E. King

Register: Kiss Me by sixpence None the Richer (hubby vetoed Only You by The Flying Pickets - boo!)

Out: All you Need is Love by the Beatles.

We were told we only needed 3 but I think I will definitely choose much more now, I'd rather have too many than not enough!

I have heard you can't have songs with religious words in during a civil ceremony, our song is called Heaven and does say that word a few times during the song, do you think this would be allowed or not? Would it be allowed if it was an instrumental version possibly?

We received a form from our registrar that told us how long the music should be.

We had: A CD of songs whilst people were arriving and sitting down,

A Song to walk up the aisle to,

Signing the register

And an exiting song.

HTH

WSS

I'm walking down the aisle to Adele - Make You Feel My Love, we're signing the register to The Style Council - You're The Best Thing, U2 - One Love and Jason Mraz - I'm Yours and we're walking out of the ceremony too The Fratellis - Chelsea Dagger