Music for civil ceremony

We're having a mix across two ceremonies (city hall and then a blessing later). in city hall i'm walking in to max richter, autumn song 2. we're having an instrumental from the piano soundtrack as we sign and then are walking out to a cool philharmonic version of all you need is love. for the blessing i'm walking in to bright eyes - best day of your life. my sister in law is singing declan o'rourke's gallileo while we light unity candles and we're walking out to the kinks, you really got me

Not weird at all - are you have a civil ceremony rather than a church wedding? Some vicars/priests etc can be a littly bit fussy, so you might want to check what is 'allowed' if you're having a church. I have heard a mixture of both at weddings and I actually love to hear music with words - particularly when the lyrics are 'symbolic' in some way

I had a harpist who also sang, but no reason not to have songs with lyrics.

Walking in we had Canon in D (no words)

Signing of the register was Kissed by a Rose by Seal & the lady sang. Its boring for people watching us just signing paperwork & smiling for pics, so having a song with words was a bit more interesting for them

We had a 2nd song incase the 1st wasnt long enough, but cant remember what it was now

When walking out we had Abba, I Do I Do I Do. Again, the woman sang the words.

Stupid Gurzle! I have just noticed the post title. Ignore my musings on vicars please!

One for music whilst people arrive: general mix of classical music

then my arrival music: Bridal Chorus (Here comes the bride)

then signing registrar music: Canon D

then walking back down the aisle: Wedding March (dum, dum, da dum, dum, dum, da dum, da da da, da dum)

Traditionally the Groom would select music during the guests arrival - the Bride would not be there.

I think I went for a pretty diverse mix - all vocal.

The arrival was Carmens choice (Eva Cassidy - Songbird)... This was bit of a pain as it has a fairly long intro, I could cut most of that, but that still left about 1min of vocal intro before it got to the line that Carmen wanted to get the front of the Isle..

Signing, we chose fairly upbeat, all vocal, I managed to drop in "Oasis - Songbird", but Elvis Costello - She, and a few others.... To be honest, we didn't really notice them!

Walking back down the aisle, we went for "all you need is love".

We don't generally listen to Classical, and some of my personal favourite peices are probably not suitable for a Wedding! (Danse Macabre /Johnathan Creak theme and Flight of the Bumblebee).

I do provide ceremony music, and the only 2 important songs are the entrance and exit.

The rest are there for ambience, so the ceremony room is not filled with the sound of scraping chairs, shuffling or guests crying happy tears!

For the guests arriving, 30mins should be fine (so 7 or 8 songs).

For the signing, 3 or 4 songs will be about right.

I would also suggest having 2 CDs. 1 for guests arriving, the 2nd having the rest. Clearly mark these and if possible, test on the venues system before the Wedding Day.

I would expect the venue to help you with this, and they may have their own way of working - so it should be fun to think of songs :-)

Hope this helps,

Jason

I'm having Billy Joel Always a woman coming in, and Queen You're my best friend going out. We are not signing a register so that should be it for us. I know always a woman has odd lyrics for a wedding but it fits me well.

I think I will go for ones with words all the way through

We are having a Sigur Ros song while guests gather, as it is long and instrumental and my OH's fave artist.

My arrival is Canon in D.

We have been told to have 3 songs for register signing, so going for Al Green 'Let's Stay Together', Barry White 'Just the Way You Are' and the Temptations 'My Girl'. I assume it will be on quietly, plus that is probably dull for guests who aren't right at the front so nice for them to actually listen to something with lyrics.

Exit is Elbow 'One Day Like This'

... So basically we are having a right old mish mash of songs, instrumental and lyrics too, but that sort of represents our tastes really. Later we will have my friend on steel drums and then a jazz pianist, then an 80s disco!

I'm entering to Salut d'amour by Elgar, and will probably have Flower Duet by Delbes for one of the Register songs, just working on the rest!