The music is a requirement for every wedding ceremony regardless of where you have it. As the wedding planner, I never imagined one of my most difficult tasks would be finding the musician for the wedding ceremony. My dilemma arose because of the date — great for some aspects of wedding planning, but a major drawback when it came to the instrumentals.
The Musician
Organ, piano, harp, guitar,…. your preferred instrument dictates your choice of musicians…so does the date and the church. The church typically has a list of musicians who play for weddings, but they may not be available, as was the case for us. What also surprised me was that very few felt comfortable on an organ.
A Christmas wedding precluded the entire list — they were either out of town, with family, or worked for the post office (the Saturday before Christmas is their busiest time of year). I then tried surrounding churches with similar results. Estes Park is driving distance from 3 major universities with music departments, but alas, it was Christmas break.
The groom’s mother was a pianist, but I couldn’t ask her, after all, she was the mother of the groom and wanted to enjoy the wedding, as she should. With less than a month before the wedding, I contacted Lisa, the Director of Music for my church and fortunately she agreed to rearrange her schedule in order to help out. Although she did not play the organ, she played a beautiful piano. She also agreed to come up before the rehearsal the day before to tune in with both singers. Thank you Lisa!
The Singers
We were blessed with the singers. Where some have trouble finding just the right beautiful voice, we had 2, both bridesmaids — my daughter’s former college roommate, Carleen, agreed to sing Ave Maria (a very difficult Latin song) as well as the Psalms, and the groom’s sister sang O Holy Night. Ave Maria filled the church as the mothers were escorted to their seats. Carleen set the perfect tone, her voice filling our hearts.
After the bride and groom exchanged rings, Sarah sang one of my favorite songs, O Holy Night. Our videographer, Jack Dorfman, did a phenomenal job memorializing the entire ceremony, including the music.
The Procession
I never thought about the music choices available for the procession — one for the bride and the other for the bridal party. Our pianist provided a list, but I contacted a former colleague, Cassandra, who not only had her master’s in music, but was fairly recently married (within the last 5 years, whereas I’ve been married 34 years) and she sent me a comprehensive list as well. Needless to say, the bridesmaid and maid of honor chose the music from Cassandra’s list: Yirma – River Flows in You for the bridesmaids and Canon in D – Palchelbel for the bride’s procession. Although our pianist did not know River Flows in You, she bought the music and learned it. Wow!
I love Christmas music, with Ave Maria and O Holy Night near the top of the list. Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee (or Ode to Joy/Bach) was the Recessional as the bride and groom walked out of the church with big beautiful smiles. Thanks to everyone involved, the ceremony was indeed a memorable success.
What’s your favorite Christmas music?
(c) 2018, Karen Van Den Heuvel
