I was wondering what everyone had as a processional song?
I really want the instrumental of Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years. Did anyone get permission to have this or another ‘pop’ song as an instrumental for the processional? Another idea I had is Yirumi’s River Flows in you, which isn’t a pop song exactly but I am still unsure if it will be allowed. My priest has not been very clear on what will be allowed and I want to get some things sorted before our Pre Cana sessions.
This topic was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by junebride16.
In my experience you have to have religious music as your processional/recessional music. No, “River Flows in You” isn’t appropriate. Any classical music would be appropriate however. Here are some suggestions:
-Ode to Joy (Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee)
-God Beyond All Praising (composed by Gustav Holst)
-Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral (composed by Richard Wagner)
-Simple Gifts (you could use a portion of Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland)
-Anything by Johan Sebastian Bach
There is a ton of great piano music from Claude Debussy and Friedrich Chopin too so if you have a piano player you can ask them if they have any in their repertoire. If they are a decent piano player they will have performed one or both of these composers.
I have to choose from an approved list of music, which is really disappointing because I wanted to walk down the aisle to “Turning Page” (the song that Bella walked down the aisle to in BD Pt 1). So we chose “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring” and “Canon in D” for the processional…ugh and I’m limited to three songs for the recessional and I don’t like any of them 😕
junebride16: Generally they only allow gospel or classical music, sorry. I got a generalized pamphlet that went over it. Even if the song is church appropriate or even just the melody they wouldn’t allow it. May depend on the priest so worth being direct and just asking him!
Just as an FYI, Canon in D is VERY common. I’m a classically trained musician and I play for weddings on occasion and let me tell you, Canon in D is played at probably 85% of “traditional” weddings. If you’re looking for something not as common, I would look elsewhere.
Thanks, I will have to ask the priest when I see him next. I’m hoping he won’t mind non traditional instrumentals. I do like Canon in D but wanted something different. I’m looking for something similar to a thousand years and river flows in yo, in that I want something uplifting with higher notes.
I doubt River Flows in You would be appropriate. In my experience at Catholic weddings (including my own) is that they are pretty adament about it being either classical and/or religious. Here’s some Debussy that fits what you’re looking for:
junebride16: what about air on g string by bach? it’s beautiful. i agree with PP that canon is super popular, but it’s still beautiful. we got the OK for celine dion/andrea bocelli’s “the prayer”. it would be beautiful instrumental especially if you have string musicians for the ceremony. i actually might walk down the aisle to it, or “heavenly day” by patti griffin. my church is roman catholic but our priest is pretty liberal.
River Flows In You fits more of a “contemporary” style…it was specifically written to be popular. If I remember correctly I think it was originally written for a video game? I could be mixing up my Asian composers but I believe that was originally what it was written for.
What the church would be looking for is something more “traditionally” classical…in other words, something that wasn’t written 3 years ago. Think Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, Brahms, Wagner, Holst, etc. Of course it depends on the church, like other posters have said you may be given a list of pre-approved selections to choose from. You may also want to talk to your accompanist to see what they already have in their music library.
Wow, it’s crazy how stict everything seems to be in the US! I’m Catholic as well and will get married in a traditional Catholic mass in Germany and as long as we’re not walking down to Iron Maiden or something like that, nobody cares! I’ll be walking down the aisle to an instrumental version of “Unchained Melody” from the movie “Ghost”…
One song (that I think would classify as a Christian song?!) that I LOVE and that may be appropriate is the piano version of “An Irish Blessing (May the road rise to meet you)”, which you can listen to right here.
We we are having the church organist and he is the only musician we are having which makes it a bit more difficult as want something that doesn’t sound incomplete with just the organ.
I could also also ask him but he can’t meet with us until closer to the wedding.
This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by junebride16.
We used Canon in D as well because I love it no matter how often its used. We had Ave Maria sung while our mothers/ grandmother were being seated and it was beautiful.
We had to pick from a list of approved songs by our church. The selection wasn’t big and the ones we ended up picking (Ave Maria for parents/grandparents. Canon in D for bridal party and the very traditional Bridal March for me) were very common but it all worked out and sounded great with the organ and trumpet.
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