Music at weddings - guidelines
What music do we need?
Most weddings feature music at some or all of the following points:
- For quarter of an hour or so beforehand, whilst the guests are settling down
- A bridal march when the bride processes up the aisle
- During the signing of the registers (which takes ten minutes or so)
- A wedding march to process out to.
What music can we have?
Your musical tastes and choices will be our prime consideration. We will not refuse your musical requests without compelling reasons. We do have to remember, however, that weddings are primarily church services and the choice of music should never compromise the faith that the church proclaims.
Do get in touch to discuss your ideas.
The “traditional” wedding marches or not?
There's always a difficult balance between tradition and individualism. On the one hand, you may (like many people) feel you “are not properly married” unless you have processed down the aisle to Mendelssohn’s famous wedding march. Of course, we take such feelings very seriously. On the other hand, there is a popular feeling that the best-known wedding marches can seem trite and over-used, which makes some couples look for music that will be more distinctive. If this is your feeling, we will help you look for something different.
Some alternatives have in their turn become popular and well established, such as the Toccata from Widor’s 5th Symphony and Händel’s “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” (which due to its length is best used as a recessional rather than processional). There are many other alternatives, old and new. It’s important for you that you make the right choice, and for this reason the organist will be very happy to discuss music choices with you and to meet you if you wish.
If you would like to listen to different pieces, either contact the organist or look on the internet – there are plenty of sites offering free mp3 files of wedding music.
A few suitable pieces are available here (Courtesy of Heinz Memorial Chapel, University of Pittsburgh, USA) - but this list is not exhaustive!
Who will provide the music?
Music at your wedding will normally be played by one of our organists.
We are very happy in principle to include instrumentalists or other choirs by prior arrangement (though we reserve the right to decline).
If you wish to use your own organist, we are happy to discuss this (though again we reserve the right to decline).
We do not normally play pre-recorded music.
Can we make videos or other sound recordings of the wedding?
This needs to be agreed with the minister. Please note, however, that any sound recording of music has two different legal implications:
- music copyright: if the music is still in copyright a licence is required (most professional video producers are covered by a blanket licence for this)
- performers’ copyright: the church will charge an additional fee (as part of the wedding fee) to cover this (it is not covered by any blanket licence).