A Bride’s Guide to Wedding Music
Posted on 27. Jul, 2009 by Alex in Wedding Music Resources
In my years of being a wedding pianist, I have come across many wedding music resources which I have found extremely useful. I’ve shared these resources with many a bride and groom in their preparation for their wedding.
These resources include collections of wedding music (both vocal and instrumental) which might be sources of ideas for when planning the music to be included in a wedding ceremony. I hope you’ll find these practical – they certainly have been life-savers for many a bridal couple!
The Bride’s Guide to Wedding Music: A Complete Resource
Published by Hal Leonard, The Bride’s Guide to Wedding Music: A Complete Resource is the first collection I consult for selecting music appropriate for the wedding ceremony. It includes:
- a comprehensive article on choosing music for the wedding ceremony
- 65 songs & pieces (vocal & instrumental) in varied styles and for varied tastes
- useful categories and groupings including Preludes, Processionals, Recessionals, traditional and contemporary songs, popular songs, Christian songs and many more
The instrumental (mostly piano) arrangements are very tasteful and playable, though not for the beginner pianist. The vocal songs are written in piano/vocal arrangements with guitar chord charts above the vocal line. The print is clear and certainly legible. I especially like the variety of pieces included within the collection. A Bride’s Guide to Wedding Music gets my vote for a solid wedding music resource that works!
The Essential Wedding Collection
For bridal couples who choose to have a CLASSIC wedding with traditional instrumental music in their ceremony, The Essential Wedding Collection is a resource worth considering. It includes three main categories of traditional Preludes (played when guests arrive), Processionals (the bridal entry) and Recessionals (bride and groom exit). All the pieces included in this collection are of classical nature and scored for the piano (intermediate to advanced level). Here’s a breakdown of the number of pieces in each category:
- Preludes : 11
- Processionals: 7
- Recessionals: 7
The collection includes popular classical selections like Canon in D by Pachelbel, Air on a G String by Bach, and the Wedding March by Mendelssohn.
If you’re going the ‘traditional’ route for your wedding, this Essential Wedding Collection is the one to pick.
Planning the Music for Your Wedding: Piano Solo
This particular resource would put a wedding pianist like myself OUT OF BUSINESS!
Planning The Music for Your Wedding is a resource worth considering if indeed you choose to have pre-recorded instrumental music for your wedding ceremony. This is especially helpful if you have an outdoor wedding, or in the absence of a piano or organ.
Scored for the piano, Planning the Music for Your Wedding includes a good selection of traditional wedding ceremonial music plus a CD with piano performances of all the music included in this collection. That’s 30 pieces including preludes, processionals, recessionals plus interludes and postludes. Use this CD to get a better idea of what these popular wedding pieces are, and what they are called. (Great for when you need to include the titles of music on those pretty wedding programs you’ll be handing out to your guests!)
I’ve used this collection with the CD in my consultation sessions with brides and grooms to give them an audio survey of wedding music choices.
I hope you’ll find these resources useful yourself. Planning the music for your wedding can be such a fun and engaging activity. Hopefully these guides will help you craft the most perfect and memorable wedding music program!
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