Songs for during the ceremony

Inspector Coptoor

Looking for suggestions for songs for during the ceremony.

It you have a specific song for a specific time during the wedding ceremony that would be great.

Not looking for hymns.

Looking at:
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters during communion (no drums just vocalist with piano/harp)
John Legend - All of Me during the Signing of the Register

mrsbyrne

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

Looking for suggestions for songs for during the ceremony.

It you have a specific song for a specific time during the wedding ceremony that would be great.

Not looking for hymns.

Looking at:
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters during communion (no drums just vocalist with piano/harp)
John Legend - All of Me during the Signing of the Register

I take it from the mention of communion that you are having a catholic mass in a Catholic church.
If so, you need to speak to the priest about music, because the Church have very strict guidelines about music, and I don't know if Metallica, as good as they are, will make the cut.
Remember, if you are using the Church premises for your wedding , then they are perfectly entitled to set whatever conditions they want, and you entitled , as with every service you avail off, to take your business elsewhere.

Inspector Coptoor

Yeah. Catholic mass, Catholic Church.
We've a few hymns already lined up so we don't need anymore.
Was just hoping to hear a suggestion or two from people as picking 6-7 songs is proving tough

mrsbyrne

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

Yeah. Catholic mass, Catholic Church.
We've a few hymns already lined up so we don't need anymore.
Was just hoping to hear a suggestion or two from people as picking 6-7 songs is proving tough

Thing is, I'll be really surprised if the priest allows you to have ANY song that's not a hymn in the Church.
Unless you have sorted it out with him already, have you?

Inspector Coptoor

Meeting him Wednesday

mrsbyrne

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

Meeting him Wednesday

When's the big day?

Inspector Coptoor

New Year's Eve this year.

mrsbyrne

I'm off to bed. Be sure and let us know how you get on with the priest.
I bet he's expecting some Christmas carols.
I could be wrong though.
Its very romantic. Best of luck to you both.

Liam McPoyle

We were talking to one of the priests where we will be getting married and unless I took him up wrong, before and after the ceremony itself you can have your own music but during the ceremony/mass itself, religious songs/hymns have to be used. Maybe it differs by church.

mrsbyrne

Business Cat wrote: »

We were talking to one of the priests where we will be getting married and unless I took him up wrong, before and after the ceremony itself you can have your own music but during the ceremony/mass itself, religious songs/hymns have to be used. Maybe it differs by church.

The OP is asking to have Metallica during Communion which is most certainly during the ceremony.

NSAman

'make me a channel for your Piece"???

lazygal

I'm not religious at all but I find non religious songs really jarring at a church wedding. I don't think communion is the time and place for instrumental versions, however nice, of rock classics.

Inspector Coptoor

mrsbyrne wrote: »

The OP is asking to have Metallica during Communion which is most certainly during the ceremony.

I'm not "asking" for it.
It was a pre conceived notion.

I'm new to this wedding stuff.

We met with our musicians today, very experienced with weddings and they said that music during the ceremony must be liturgical in nature but before and after we can play what we like.

Meeting priest tomorrow

mrsbyrne

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

I'm not "asking" for it.
It was a pre conceived notion.

I'm new to this wedding stuff.

We met with our musicians today, very experienced with weddings and they said that music during the ceremony must be liturgical in nature but before and after we can play what we like.

Meeting priest tomorrow

Well I hope you get "Nothing else matters " when your walking back down the aisle as a married couple. I think its great.

AoifeCork

As long as your keep the sacred parts of the mass with sacred music OP then there shouldn't be a problem. All members of the clergy are obliged to say "No secular songs in my church!" but as long as you don't pick Nicky Minaj or something else outrageous, there is a little bit of wiggle room there.

As a church musician, the majority of songs that I sing are now secular. It wasn't always like that but hey-roll with the times. From my experience I would offer the following advice:

Everything in bold should really be kept with liturgical music, everything else there's room for compromise. If your priest is being exceptionally strict then go with some instrumentals of your favourite songs

Entrance

Lighting of Individual Candles

Psalm

Gospel Acclamation

Lighting of Unity Candle

Offertory Procession

Ar nAthair

Sign of Peace

Communion (Bit of leeway here. If you have one nice hymn, you can usually couple it with something secular. I know you mentioned a harpist so this wouldn't be as intrusive as the original on a recording)

Signing of Register

Recessional

emzolita

SongBird by Eva Cassidy for Entrance or Offertory.

One Day like This by Elbow for Communion or Recession.

Amazing Grace for Peace, Psalm or Offertory.

To Make you Feel My Love for Entrance

Feels like Home for Entrance, Recession or Communion.

The Prayer by Yolanda Adams for Communion, Peace or Offertory

Clouds veil for psalm or Peace

Signed Sealed delivered by Stevie W for recession.

goat2

i think that priests should not be having the last say in a persons choice of songs, after all it is not his day, it is theirs,
some songs would be definately out of bounds, but of have all hymns is a bit boring to be truthful, i would rather have a bit of soul in the song,
our pp thinks he should have the last word, but he is not doing the ceremony for nothing so he who pays should have the last say

kkcatlou

Good luck with your priest.
We just sent our list to our priest, and even though our communion songs are instrumental, traditional Irish tunes, he sent them back and said they must be hymns, so as far as I can gather, doing anything outside the norm during the ceremony is a no no. I thought communion was the strictest, but perhaps every bit is.

At our pre-marriage course, they said that strictly it is up to the priest (or priests if you one is marrying you and you are using the church of another), but that the guidelines they get are to "respect the dignity of the occasion" and this can be interpreted differently by different priests.

kkcatlou

goat2 wrote: »

i think that priests should not be having the last say in a persons choice of songs, after all it is not his day, it is theirs,
some songs would be definately out of bounds, but of have all hymns is a bit boring to be truthful, i would rather have a bit of soul in the song,
our pp thinks he should have the last word, but he is not doing the ceremony for nothing so he who pays should have the last say

Are you sure you want a Catholic ceremony? Should you not be having a civil ceremony elsewhere if you're not happy to play by the rules?

While I don't agree with all the rules and find some irritating, having chosen a Catholic wedding ceremony, I'll just roll with them and go with the flow. It's not up to us to change or dictate rules, just cos "we're paying". Rules apply to civil ceremonies too, to receptions in hotels, to everything in life. Just deal with it or spend your money elsewhere!!

goat2

priests had too much say in past in too much of our lives, would not want to go back to that, and would rather they had let us with better memories, i dont have good memories,
think they should let the couple have their few songs and enjoy their day,

emzolita

I dont think they can tell you what to play during communion , as long as it's respectful and not "smack my bitch up" of course. But I know you can have a Catholic wedding and not even have communion as part of the mass, like you can just have a normal mass without the gifts or communion. It's much quicker.

kkcatlou

goat2 wrote: »

priests had too much say in past in too much of our lives, would not want to go back to that, and would rather they had let us with better memories, i dont have good memories,
think they should let the couple have their few songs and enjoy their day,

Why not have a civil ceremony then?

goat2

yes if i were to marry i would have a civil cermony,
i am not an unreligious person but i just think we should have full control over our own decisions, and people pay dear enough that they should have the right to decide,

mrsbyrne

goat2 wrote: »

i think that priests should not be having the last say in a persons choice of songs, after all it is not his day, it is theirs,
some songs would be definately out of bounds, but of have all hymns is a bit boring to be truthful, i would rather have a bit of soul in the song,
our pp thinks he should have the last word, but he is not doing the ceremony for nothing so he who pays should have the last say

Its your day, but its his church, so his rules.
If your asking to use the priests property then you have to accept his conditions. Why don't you go and get married somewhere they'll let you have whatever you want?

mrsbyrne

goat2 wrote: »

priests had too much say in past in too much of our lives, would not want to go back to that, and would rather they had let us with better memories, i dont have good memories,
think they should let the couple have their few songs and enjoy their day,

If you don't want yo go "back to that" then why have you "gone back" to the church to get married!? You could have gone anywhere?

goat2

mrsbyrne wrote: »

Its your day, but its his church, so his rules.
If your asking to use the priests property then you have to accept his conditions. Why don't you go and get married somewhere they'll let you have whatever you want?

i thought it was gods house and the peoples place of worship, we paid for it,
not his property

mrsbyrne

emzolita wrote: »

SongBird by Eva Cassidy for Entrance or Offertory.

One Day like This by Elbow for Communion or Recession.

Amazing Grace for Peace, Psalm or Offertory.

To Make you Feel My Love for Entrance

Feels like Home for Entrance, Recession or Communion.

The Prayer by Yolanda Adams for Communion, Peace or Offertory

Clouds veil for psalm or Peace

Signed Sealed delivered by Stevie W for recession.

Possibly 2 of these are liturgical, the rest are not. Would be perfectly acceptable at a civil ceremony though.

mrsbyrne

goat2 wrote: »

i thought it was gods house and the peoples place of worship, we paid for it,
not his property

Its the property of the Catholic Church. The Catholic brethren paid for it over many years. The Catholic church are allowed to set whatever rules they like. If you don't like the conditions the priests set, you should find s venue and a celebrant that will accommodate your preferences.
Why do you want to get a Catholic marriage if you don't like the rules?

AoifeCork

mrsbyrne wrote: »

Possibly 2 of these are liturgical, the rest are not. Would be perfectly acceptable at a civil ceremony though.

The OP said specifically he/she was NOT looking for hymns.

All of these are regularly sung and accepted by priests/canons/bishops throughout various parishes all over the country.

OP-if you want to PM me I can send you a link to my own repertoire of songs.

mirrorwall14

emzolita wrote: »

SongBird by Eva Cassidy for Entrance or Offertory.

One Day like This by Elbow for Communion or Recession.

Amazing Grace for Peace, Psalm or Offertory.

To Make you Feel My Love for Entrance

Feels like Home for Entrance, Recession or Communion.

The Prayer by Yolanda Adams for Communion, Peace or Offertory

Clouds veil for psalm or Peace

Signed Sealed delivered by Stevie W for recession.

There's no way some of those would be allowed in my church. Obviously they are all fine for entrance/signing of register or recessional but no way could you put songbird at offertory or feels like home at communion?


To be honest there is gorgeous church music out there of all styles, some of the music from the last thirty years is very popular in style so in my opinion if you are picking a church ceremony you should be choosing appropriate music. If you don't want to, then perhaps you shouldn't be having a church ceremony.


Here's some more modern pieces I like for example
In the Calm
Only in God
Set your hearts
Sing of a Lady

mrsbyrne

AoifeCork wrote: »

The OP said specifically he/she was NOT looking for hymns.

All of these are regularly sung and accepted by priests/canons/bishops throughout various parishes all over the country.

OP-if you want to PM me I can send you a link to my own repertoire of songs.

Apart from 2, I can assure you these would be vetoed in our local large very popular Cathedral.

AoifeCork

mrsbyrne wrote: »

Apart from 2, I can assure you these would be vetoed in our local large very popular Cathedral.

I'm sorry but I cannot agree with you and you are plainly NOT being helpful on this thread. You are also 100% incorrect. I have played every single song that helpful user posted in the smallest chapels, the grandest Cathedrals and everywhere in between.

If your main concern here is to put people off asking for romantic, inoffensive songs to be included in their ceremony music program, please refrain. It's not helpful.

lazygal

AoifeCork wrote: »

I'm sorry but I cannot agree with you and you are plainly NOT being helpful on this thread. You are also 100% incorrect. I have played every single song that helpful user posted in the smallest chapels, the grandest Cathedrals and everywhere in between.

If your main concern here is to put people off asking for romantic, inoffensive songs to be included in their ceremony music program, please refrain. It's not helpful.

I find it hard to believe that every priest officiating at every wedding has given latitude for non religious music. Almost all my friends have had religious ceremonies and almost all have said the priest didn't allow secular songs during the service proper. I've also known people ignore the priest on the day with instrumental versions of totally inappropriate rock songs.

emzolita

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

There's no way some of those would be allowed in my church. Obviously they are all fine for entrance/signing of register or recessional but no way could you put songbird at offertory or feels like home at communion?


To be honest there is gorgeous church music out there of all styles, some of the music from the last thirty years is very popular in style so in my opinion if you are picking a church ceremony you should be choosing appropriate music. If you don't want to, then perhaps you shouldn't be having a church ceremony.


Here's some more modern pieces I like for example
In the Calm
Only in God
Set your hearts
Sing of a Lady

I sing those songs every week in different churches. very rarely have a problem with the priests. The OP asked for non religious, that's why I picked them off the top of my head.

mrsbyrne

AoifeCork wrote: »

I'm sorry but I cannot agree with you and you are plainly NOT being helpful on this thread. You are also 100% incorrect. I have played every single song that helpful user posted in the smallest chapels, the grandest Cathedrals and everywhere in between.

If your main concern here is to put people off asking for romantic, inoffensive songs to be included in their ceremony music program, please refrain. It's not helpful.

First of all, I don't think your a Mod, so you have absolutely no right to tell me or anyone else in this thread or any what they can or cannot post.
The fact that you claim to be a musician for hire doesn't afford you any extra privileges at all, incidentally.
As for me being 100% incorrect , well as you know neither who I am or where I'm from , I can't see how you can say that.
Your music in the main would be vetoed in my local church. Another poster has said the same. Just accept that.

Toots

Guys can we keep the replies constructive and helpful to the OP. Arguments and sniping is not answering the OP's question, if any users want to continue the 'debate' they should take it to PMs.

Toots

OP your kinda in limbo until you meet with your priest. Honestly I'd say you have a far better chance of getting the songs approved if you leave out the vocals, they'd be less 'objectionable' to the priest that way. We had a string quartet for our Catholic church wedding and here's the songs we had (we had no trouble whatsoever from our priest)

Walking up the aisle: All My Love - Led Zeppelin
Lighting individual candles: Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring - Bach
Lighting unity candle: Largo - Handel
Offertory: Gabriel's Oboe - Ennio Morricone
Sign of peace: Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet - Henry Mancini
Communion: Ave Maria - Bach
Bella's Lullaby - Carter Burwell (just want to go on record here, I'm not a twi-hard, I saw a video on youtube of a girl playing it on the cello and thought it was lovely)
Signing of Register: Canon - Pachelbel
Spring - Vivaldi
Walking back down the aisle: Arrival of The Queen of Sheba - Handel

Inspector Coptoor

Thanks for that.

You're right about meeting with the priest

The bride to be will be entering with the traditional bridal march

We're going to have two harpists and our exit song is the same as yours.
Heard it on the harp today and it was excellent.

emzolita

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

Thanks for that.

You're right about meeting with the priest

The bride to be will be entering with the traditional bridal march

We're going to have two harpists and our exit song is the same as yours.
Heard it on the harp today and it was excellent.

ooo Nella fantasia would be gorgeous on harp, as would The Prayer

Mrs OBumble

goat2 wrote: »

i think that priests should not be having the last say in a persons choice of songs, after all it is not his day, it is theirs,
some songs would be definately out of bounds, but of have all hymns is a bit boring to be truthful, i would rather have a bit of soul in the song,
our pp thinks he should have the last word, but he is not doing the ceremony for nothing so he who pays should have the last say

If you want secular music, then have a secular ceremony.

If you're having a religious ceremony, the you should expect religious music. Simples.

If you think hymns are boring, then you've either not heard enough hymns, or not enough hymns played well. (Which is highly likely given the appaling state of music in many churches in this country.)

Dolbert

Just to say, you *may* have more leeway than you think about secular songs during the ceremony. I've performed at a few different Catholic weddings and it really seems to depend on the church/priest. There'll rarely be a problem with trad airs for example. At the last church wedding I performed at, we were allowed to do The Voyage and an instrumental version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah during communion. Best thing to do would be to talk to your priest.

Mrs OBumble

emzolita wrote: »

...you can have a Catholic wedding and not even have communion as part of the mass, like you can just have a normal mass without the gifts or communion. It's much quicker.

Ahh, no, you can't.

You can have a wedding Mass, which includes readings, vows / rings, communion, and maybe some other bits like gifts.

Or you can have a wedding ceremony, which is basically readings and vows / rings. And yes, is much quicker. But it's not Mass.

Whether it will be enough to keep your average mammy or granny happy depends on how religious she really is, combined with how much she's pleased that you're willing to go anywhere near a church at all.

It's quite possible, though not guaranteed, that the priest will be more lenient about the definition of sacred music at a non-mass ceremony than at a Mass.