hymns... meaningful words or popularity?

I found it easier to know what i didnt want rather than what i did. I think they are so hard to chose , however my mother and nan seam to think they should have the last say on what i am having :?

What did you go for in the end x

Primarily we have chosen our hymns because we flippin love them! But we did take into account whether or not our guests would know them or not, as we are hoping for a rousing chorus on the day :0) Having said that, even our new vicar doesn't know our first choice lol! She asked me to sing her the first couple of lines and she's looking forward to hearing it.... I suggested she youtubes it ;0)

We are having God Of Mercy, God of Grace prior to the vows and One More Step Along The World I Go once we have taken our vows.

During the signing of the register, we have requested that the choir sing Make Me a Channel of Your Peace and Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.

These were always my favourite hymns at school and I looooove singing them :0)

At least I will be blasting them out if nobody else is haha...... Great acoustics in church too- bring it on!! Xx

I've always loved 'shine Jesus shine' and my OH always loves 'colours of day' so we're having those. We've booked a church choir though as i doubt everyone will know these songs and so it won't be just us two singing along! Lol. As a third hymn we've gone for 'all things bright and beautiful' as its nice and upbeat and we thought everyone would know that one (or at least be able hum to the tune!)

Ha no help but this reminded me of school when we used to change the words and shout instead of sing

The one that springs to mind

The Earth is yours O God-

The earth is yours, O God-
you nouriSH!T with rain;
the streams and rivers overflow,
the land bears seed again.

the things that amuse you when you're 10.

There was a hymn that had a chorus 'everybody's building,evrybodues building, every bodies building day by day'

in my (middle) school this was changed to 'every bodies shagging' literally not a clue why.

sorry no help on hymns except I have never been to a wedding where they are sung by the guests. It's the most awkward part of a church ceremony for me.

Perhaps choose old school hymns? At least you gave a fighting chance people will join in on the vintage vibe?

You can pick stuff that has meaning and that people will know. There are some which I don't feel are particularly appropriate for a wedding, mostly ones about the Crucifixion/death in general (unless you're having an Easter wedding, when something like Thine Be the Glory would be quite good!) but lots of hymns can be viewed as meaningful on an occasion like a wedding.

I would recommend going for ones that people know though, otherwise you'll just have a church full of mumbling.

My advice, for what it's worth (over 20 years since I had a church wedding and not doing it this time) is to choose hymns that everyone knows but do consider the words. For example: although everyone knows the words to 'Dear Lord and Father of mankind' remember the next line and consider if this will make people snigger during your wedding....

And for those of you choosing Psalm 23: do make sure that the organist knows you want Crimond for the tune: it isn't regularly used in most CofE churches these days and then people who don't attend regularly won't be able to join in.

Oh, and unless (and even if) you are a farmer, 'We plough the fields and scatter' always sounds a bit like a fertility rite at a wedding ;-)

We are having these

We pledge to one another,
before the Lord above,
entire and whole and perfect,
this union of our love —
a love that will be patient,
a love that will be wise,
that will not twist with envy,
nor lose itself in lies;
a love that will not falter,
a love to hold us fast,
and bind us to each other
as long as life shall last.

We pray that God will guide us
through all the years to be,
our lives be shaped by courage,
hope and serenity.
Through joy and celebration,
through loneliness and pain,
may loyalty, compassion
and tenderness remain,
that those who share the blessing
of love that cannot cease
may walk the paths of gentleness
into the place of peace.

To the tune of I vow to thee my country

We went for a combination:

Give me joy in my heart- because its suitable and everyone knows it (as the last hymn as its upbeat)

We Pledge to one another - about marriage so very apt but barely anyoen knew it (I must have been the loudest hehe)

As the deer pants for the water- appropriate and its my favourite hymn, but again, not very well known.

Pick what is going to make you happy for the most part, but perhaos make sure there is one well known song so it isn't just you singing on the day

We're having 'One more step along the world', 'We pledge to one another' and 'Give me joy in my heart'.

We think they're meaningful and popular, so fingers crossed!

I feel more comfortable with what I had in mind now, had a bit of a chat about it over tea last night and I said I liked one more step along the world I go. When OH came home from boys night he said they'd been reasearching and he liked give me joy in ny heart (i so love him sometimes, I'm the more religious of us both and it was a nice surprise) then I'd like a third. Had completely forfot about shine Jesus shine, it was played at my friends wedding and my god sons christening so that might be a nice third choice :-)

We had

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord

Be thou my vision

O praise ye the Lord (for the magnificent organ voluntary in the last verse)

and as an anthem O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen.

During communion we had In this place by Gibson

and in the signing of the register a particular arrangement of Ave Maria by Schubert and Somewhere from West Side Story (ok, not a hymn) - sung by soloists and the church choir

As church goers, all the congregational hymns are familiar and as I am from a family of church and classical musicians they were all fabulously performed/joined in with.

Thank you for sharing what you are having, has given me some more to think about!

Gosh I cannot sing - the minister knows this, when I was bridesmaid at my friend's wedding I had to avoid his eye during my 'miming' so goodness knows what he'll do on my wedding day - probably announce to the congregation I'm miming!

I think there's a real generation gap here. The hymns that I think of as commonplace being old 'school-type' hymns are not the same as those that my daughter feels comfortable with. And that's within a church going family!

She's having Shine Jesus Shine as a rousing ending, Bind us Together Lord in the middle. She's starting with Come Down O Love Divine as a nod to the fact that she's getting married on her grandparent's 56th anniversary and her grandmother came in to that hymn.

We are having all things bright and beautiful, lord of all hopefulness and one more step along the world I go.

I love them all, but then I could have had about 10 hymns as I love lots! We went for ones that we like and thought other people would know, but where the words still meant something to us. I think lord of all hopefulness is really lovely and one more step is nice and upbeat for the end as we go off into married life together!

I always thought I would have love divine but my friend had it last year and I actually thought it was quite difficult to sing!

I'm in a church choir and the hymns we are asked to sing most frequently are

Jerusalem,

Give me oil in my lamp (or variations on a theme!)

Lord of all hopefulness

Morning has broken

Love divine all loves excelling

I want Jerusalem because the thought of a whole church of people singing it gives me shivers. But I don't know if people will think it's naff! We're going with popular as neither of us have any strong feelings about hymns. The song I remember most from school is one that was about an ant, and we changed the words from 'and that's why the bible says that we should look to him' to tread on him. ?