Christian Wedding Music

As you plan your wedding, you will probably choose Christian wedding music begins, during the ceremony, and afterward, at your reception.

You may want to choose some Christian wedding songs to be sung during your ceremony. They can be sung by a soloist or a group of singers. Some brides use a whole choir to sing a Christian wedding song. Some of your music can be instrumental.

Back when my parents and grandparents got married, "Oh, Promise Me," "Because," and "I Love You Truly" were sung at most weddings. Today, we have a much larger selection of beautiful contemporary wedding music to choose from.

Modern wedding ceremony music has come a long way from the early 1900's!

If you don't have a pianist or if you are getting married outside, consider buying or burning your own wedding ceremony music CD.

Don't forget to choose the special wedding songs for your trip down the aisle and then as you leave the altar as husband and wife. I used the traditional Here Comes The Bride and then Glory Of Love for the recessional.

You will also need to select some Christian wedding music and some secular music to be played at your wedding reception. Choose songs that are special to you, your fiance, your parents, and your grandparents. Use a combination of new songs and older songs as well. Make your guests of every age happy. Ask your parents and grandparents what songs they would like to hear at your reception and see if you can find some of them to play.

To assist you, I have put together a list of some of my top wedding reception song picks.

When I think of Christian wedding songs, the first one that pops into my mind is "Oh, Promise Me." You have probably heard this very old wedding song sung in jest by someone at a TV wedding. Not too many modern brides choose this song, but back when our grandparents married, it was sung at weddings all the time.

"Because" and "I Love You Truly" also come to mind. As a little girl, I heard these songs sung over and over at every wedding I attended. If you love the traditional Christian weddings from the past, feel free to use this music.

The solo I chose to be sung at my wedding was "Wedding Song" aka "There Is Love." A friend of mine, Denise, sang it for me. She did a beautiful job. There is so much meaning in the words and the tune is very pretty. If you are not familiar with this song, find it online and listen to it. You will love it.

Some brides choose to have The Lord's Prayer sung at their wedding.

Some other songs to use for your ceremony include:

1. Author Of Love

2. Give Me Forever

3. God, A Woman And A Man

4. Household Of Faith

5. I Will Be Here

6. Only The Beginning

7. Panis Angelicus (O Lord Most Holy)

8. Up Where We Belong

9. When God Made You

10. You Light Up My Life

Of course, there are many others to choose from. Have fun deciding what you want played at your wedding.

Modern wedding ceremony music can include non-Christian songs as well as Christian music.

Some beautiful secular songs to use in your ceremony include:

1. A Time For Us

2. Evergreen

3. Glory Of Love (Yes, the theme from Karate Kid II. This was our song. Karate Kid II was our first movie together. I used this one during my Unity Candle lighting.See the photo below.)

4. I Love You Most Of All

5. I Won't Last A Day Without You

6. Longer

7. Love Story

8. Our Love Will Last Forever

9. The Rose

10. Through The Eyes Of Love

11. We've Only Just Begun

12. What A Difference You've Made In My Life

13. You And I

14. You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

Of course, there are many other beautiful songs to choose from.

Popular wedding ceremony music can be played on a CD or an I-Pod with speakers. It can also be played on a piano, keyboard, or guitar. Live bands are great if you can afford them, but with the economy being so tight these days, this is probably one place where you will want to cut back. A mixed CD works out great and is so much cheaper.

Download all of your favorite love songs to your computer. Then burn a CD. You should have a separate CD for your prelude music. Your actual ceremony music should be on another CD. Your recessional music can be placed on your ceremony CD.

If you are blessed to have a good friend or family member who plays the keyboard and volunteers his/her services and you know that you can depend on him/her, by all means, take advantage of it!

If you do, prepare a mixed CD and have someone standing by with a CD player, ready to play just in case your musician decides not to show up. That is ridiculous, right? Not necessarily. You see, your musician may get sick, have a sudden change of plans, or may get upset with you and not tell you and just not show up.

No, I am not being paranoid or overly cautious. I learned the hard way. This is what happened to me. My best friend was going to play the piano and sing at my wedding, covering all of the music. She happily agreed to do this. She is so talented and I had attended several weddings made more beautiful because she did all of the music. She was a whiz at playing popular wedding ceremony music and was our church pianist. I was so thrilled when she agreed to play and sing at my wedding.

Fairly close to our wedding, I called her to say hi. Unbeknownst to me, she was angry. I had been busily planning my wedding and did not have the time to check in everyday or two like I used to. She said she was upset about being ignored and felt I was making a big mistake and, therefore, she had decided not to play at my wedding. I was shocked and devastated. I apologized and tried to change her mind, but it did not work.

I had to scramble to find someone else to sing and play at the wedding. No one I knew had her talent. I ended up getting three different people to do what she would have done on her own. I was very grateful to them for picking up the pieces on such short notice. Kim, Denise, and Angie, thank you again for stepping up and helping me out on such short notice. You all did a beautiful job!

Hopefully, you will not go through what I did and that you will have no problem having popular wedding ceremony music played at your wedding.

Mixed CD For My Wedding Reception

by Sue
(San Diego)

I am planning to make a mixed CD for my wedding reception. This saves money so I don't have to pay a DJ. My maid of honor's boyfriend has agreed to be in charge of the CD and will actually change off some different CD's that I am making for the wedding. I will use a variety of country, soft rock, and contemporary Christian songs on the CD's, depending on what is going on. It would be great to have a live band, but I cannot afford one. A couple of mixed CD's will work just fine. I will do a test run to make sure that they are all okay.

Mixed CD For Your Wedding Reception
by: Juanita

Sue,
I think a mixed CD for your wedding reception is a great idea. Putting someone in charge of it is also a good thing since you will have better things to do on your wedding day. Just make sure the one you choose is responsible and will take care of it.

My Wedding Music

by Leah
(Iowa)

Prelude:
"Moonlight Sonata" and "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven
"Spring" by Vivaldi (Seemed perfect for an April wedding.)
"There is Love" by Peter, Paul and Mary

Seating of Grandmother and Mothers:
"Arioso" by Bach

Bridesmaid/Maid of Honor:
"Symphony No. 8" Haydn

Processional:
"Cavellaria Custicana" Mascagani

Recessional:
"Keeper of the Stars" Tracy Byrd

Postlude:
"At Last" Etta James
"You Raise Me Up" Josh Groban
"Kiss Me" Sixpence None the Richer
"Stand by Me" The Temptations

It's in a fairly traditional Christian church and I have no religious music, which surprisingly isn't that unusual for our church.

Wedding processional and recessional

Since I absolutely loved "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, I chose the theme song for my processional.

As a recessional, I am using "A Southern Gospel Medley" with a pretty fast clip... somewhat unusual, but very creative, I think...

Choosing a DJ For Your Wedding

by Brenda
(USA)

I am so nervous about planning my wedding, I don't want to make any decisions. My husband to be hates my favorite songs, and vice versa. Plus we have so many family members coming who all have different taste in music... I finally just picked a good DJ who understands the importance of tasteful songs, and I am leaving it all in his hands. I know he will do a good job, and if anyone doesn't like it, they can blame him!

I am going to share a list of top wedding reception songs with you to have played by a band, a DJ, or off of a mixed CD made by you and your fiance.

Some of the best Christian reception songs include:

1. Addictive Love

2. Alive

3. Answered Prayer

4. Carry Me aka Dead Man

5. Every Move I Make

6. Household Of Faith

7. I Promise

8. I Will Call Upon The Lord

9. Kiss Me

10. Love Will Be Our Home

11. Made To Love

12. Made For You

13. So Long Self

14. Strong Tower

15. Whatever It Takes

16. Wherever We Go

The top wedding reception songs that are not Christian are:

1. All I Have

2. A Moment Like This

3. As Time Goes By

4. At Last

5. A Whole New World

6. Because You Loved Me

7. Can You Feel The Love Tonight

8. Chances Are

9. Chariots Of Fire

10. Cherish

11. Close To You

12. Dance With Me

13. Dancing Queen

14. Embraceable You

15. Endless Love

16. Forever And Ever Amen

17. From This Moment

18. Gonna Fly Now (Rocky's Theme)

19. I Only Have Eyes For You

20. It Had To Be You

21. I Will

22. Lay You Down (This is an old one sung by Conway Twitty, talking about the beauty of love that comes from a lasting marriage.)

23. Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You

24. Walking On Sunshine

25. Wind Beneath My Wings

26. You Are So Beautiful

27. You Needed Me

Of course, there are many other beautiful love songs to choose from. Have fun picking them out together.

If you do not have a musician to play the piano or keyboard for your wedding, make a wedding ceremony music CD. Choose your favorite songs, including the song you will walk down the aisle to.

Include the music for solos, your unity candle or sand ceremony song, as well as your recessional music as you and your new husband leave the altar. Make sure that someone who knows what he or she is doing operates the CD player, pausing and playing it at the proper time.

Make one or two separate wedding ceremony music CD's for your reception music. Make sure that you have a good portable stereo system to play your CD's on for both the wedding ceremony and the reception.

Make a separate CD for special reception music such as for your first dance as husband and wife, your father-daughter dance, the mother-groom dance, and other special music you will use. Mark it as Reception Special Music and mark your other CD as Reception General Music so there are no mess ups. You can buy special permanent markers to write directly on CD's.

Make back up copies, just in case. Sometimes, things grow legs, get up, and walk away so be sure there are several copies around, but not placed together.

Appoint someone you trust to take the role of DJ during your reception. Give him or her a copy of your schedule so he/she will know about when different music will be needed during the event. Make sure you go over everything with your DJ. Also, a nice touch is to arrange for a back up DJ so that your DJ gets to eat, use the bathroom, etc...