Orthodox Christian Wedding Music

lkritchey

For anyone familiar with Orthodox Christian wedding ceremonies:

Is there a set group of songs for the service or can we choose a variety of Orthodox songs we love? If it is the choice of the couple, about how many songs should be chosen?

There are a few songs I love from Capella Romana and the Sacred Treasures CDs as well as some songs by Rachminnov and other Russian composers. If you have any other suggestions or arrangements please let me know! Thank you!

bartko

The Orthodox wedding service does have it "set" as to which texts are sung at the wedding, but depending on your church's cantor/choir, you should be able to ask for which particular versions/composers of each that you would like to be sung. 

We had an Orthodox wedding, and well before the wedding, we met with our cantor/choir director and hand picked what we liked - he flipped through a text-only book of the service, and we chose the composers/versions that we liked for each.  For example, I picked Alexandrov's "Lord have mercy's" for many of the litanies, and Rusyn plainchant for a lot of the service, such as "Our Father".  Our wedding was two weeks after Easter, which meant that a lot of the wedding's texts would be changed to the Easter hymn "Christ is Risen" (I heard ALL of my favorite versions that day!) and during the bride's blessing, I chose a 3-part women's harmony (I forget the composer) for "The Angel Cried". 

I LOVE Rachmaninov - if our wedding was not during the Easter season, I may have chosen Rachmaninov's "Rejoice O Virgin" for the bride's blessing!  However, Rachmaninov requires a talented choir - where are you located, and do you already have a cantor and/or choir picked out?  What ethnicity/diocese is your church? 

hyechica81

what kind of orthodox russian or some other like greek or armenian. i am having an armenian orthodox ceremony we have set songs have to be played as well as some we can choose. my brother did some regular songs for the parties walking down the aisle, for my mom he had her walk down to you raised me up.