Music for my wedding

[eyeresist]

Would Wagner's Siegfried Idyll be too heart-rending for the occasion?   

I think Vivaldi gets played a lot at weddings; a similar but refreshing alternative would be Handel's concertos, some of which should reduce fairly easily.

[BorisG]

Greetings all,

As I think I mentioned on my recent thread about Chamber Music, I am getting married in the summer and planning to have a string quartet or trio at my wedding ceremony.

I want to avoid all of the usual banal choices that people have at wedding ceremonies. I want to pick something different - some pieces of music that I could fall in love with before, during and after the event. Something that would make the day feel more personalised and special for me and my wife-to-be.

I have a whole heap of suggestions from the Chamber Music thread, many of which have been placed on my future borrowing list from the library and some of which have been ordered (and I am waiting to hear). I'm intending to spend the next few weeks listening to as much music as I can in order to find something that jumps out at me and my fiancee.

So I am asking you, the good people of GMG forum, for your suggestions and ideas to help focus my listening! Particularly interested in anything beautiful, unusual and perhaps some suggestions off the beaten track. Just anything that you would recommend me getting my grubby hands on for a listen! 

All opinions will be gratefully received.

D.

Good for you and yours.

At our wedding ceremony and first reception, my wife and I gave some thought to a quartet or trio, before finally deciding on cello and piano. I thought there was a chance of a trio or quartet being "too loud" and becoming a center of attention. A groom only has to remember one thing on their wedding day. That the bride is the center of attention.

We requested a few French sonatas that they readily knew. The rest was up to them. It went well, though not much of my attention was on them.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

How about an arrangement of the march from the first movement of Shostakovich's symphony No. 7? (Get some brass and drums--scare all the little old ladies in the audience.)

[Bunny]

How about a nice arrangement of Les Barricades Mysterieuse?  It's about 2 minutes long, and perfect for a bride walking into her marriage, when all of those mysterious obstructions to love must come down.

[lukeottevanger]

Nice idea - there's a delicious arrangment of that piece by Tom Ades.

[MichaelRabin]

For my processional, I used Mouret's Rondeau and recessional - Handel's Hornpipe (Fireworks Music).

I have also helped people out at weddings. Couples have used Leroy Anderson's Forgotten Dreams and also Nigel Hess - Theme from Ladies in Lavender for a garden wedding (Processional). It was as diverse as Mendelssohn-Liszt Wedding March Variations (played by Volodos live in Carnegie Hall) for the recessional.

[Bunny]

It's funny, but in 1976 when I was married, I couldn't find wedding musicians who were familiar with Pachelbel's Canon.  Although it was extremely popular in Paris (where they referred to the composer as Pashabelle), it had not yet caught on in the USA.  I gave the musicians a number of suggestions, including themes from Fidelio, the 2nd movement of the Pathétique, some Bach, some Handel, and Mozart (before the movie Amadeus he was not used so frequently) which they appeared to take very, very seriously.  I suggested "Eine kleine Nachtsmusik", but to my surprise when I walked down the aisle they were playing the Andante from the Piano Concerto No. 21.  Apparently they were still enamored with the movie Elvira Madigan,  and that was that.  They were primarily hired for the dancing, so I suppose I should have realized that movie scores were their idea of classical.  The recessional was Mendelssohn, at which point I was only grateful that they hadn't played Wagner.  My brother actually suggested that we use the theme from the Munich Olympics -- the thrill of victory according to him.