There are generally three events in a Knoxville wedding Processional, marked by three songs…..but all bets are off! Choose what you want for everything! For the processional (The Seating of the Mother’s and Grandmothers, The Bridal Party processional, The Bride’s Processional), these three songs/functions of the processional can be consolidated in any way. Sometimes, our clients will combine the seating of the mothers and the Bridal Party Processional or the bridal Party processional and bride’s processional. A Bride should do whatever she wants with this. I certainly recommend having three separate songs as each event is special and different, ESPECIALLY the Bride’s processional, it deserves to stand alone, in my personal opinion. (Consider some elegant lighting for your ceremony…Please excuse this commercial)
Four Traditional Ceremony Events/Songs are:
- Seating of the Mother’s: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring or Ave Maria
- Bridal Party Processional: Canon in D by Pachebel
- Bridal Processional: Bridal Chorus by Wagner
- Recessional: Mendelssohn!
Don’t forget to think outside of the box and find any instrumental music or other music for these events, especially if you are not in a church format. Look into Vitamin String Quartet, they remake more secular songs from the Beatles all the way to Kanye West in a string format, and you may be able to find something that you really like that fits with the traditional songs you like, or take traditional out all together. (NOTE: If you are hiring a knoxville string group to recreate this, it can only be a quartet!).
For example, your Bridesmaids may love the song “Don’t stop Believing” by journey, Vitamin String Quartet remakes it and it totally fits in between Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring and The Bridal Chorus. Ultimately, it comes down to what The Bride and Groom like and no one else!! 😉
If you are considering a unity candle, a song may be needed, maybe the first 1:30 of the song. This usually is the case as you may feel awkward standing there for too long. Unity sand will not require a song.
THEN, there is the recessional. I strongly encourage you to think outside of the box. We have clients who use this as an oppurtunity to make their congregation laugh and it’s a great ice breaker. The Traditional song for this is Mendhelsson’s Recessional. We have client’s that use ANY and EVERYTHING and it ALL works. Here are a few selections to illustrate this point. These are songs that I have seen other couples use:
- Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder
- Rocky Top
- Another One Bites the Dust By Queen
- I Gotta Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas
- Forever by Chris Brown
- I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher
- This Will Be an Everlasting Love by Natalie Cole (For all of you eHarmony couples!)
Whatever you and your Fiance identify with, use it! This is a great opportunity to have a high impact statement ahead of the reception that says ‘We are here to celebrate!”
The prelude is easy, remember that most guests are not really listening (They are socializing, HOPEFULLY, whispering to each other). Your DJ or other musician can certainly manufacture this prelude for you, but if you want to identify the songs for this, I would encourage you to find about 45 minutes worth (Most Prelude’s are a standard 30 minutes). Again, we can take care of this for you if needed and I would say that it will be the least listened to music in the evening as people will be socializing.
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