Here comes the bride

soontobemrson912

Is anyone walking down the isle to the traditional "here comes the bride"?

Jen4948

I would never use that tune. 

2 reasons:

1) I'm Jewish.  Wagner and his wife were notoriously anti-Semitic.

2) It's overused to the point of being a cliché.

geebee908

It's on the "no play" list at our church.

Jen4948

geebee908 said:

It's on the "no play" list at our church.

What prompted your church to declare that music off limits? I'm just curious.

geebee908

Jen4948 said:

show previous quotes

geebee908 said:

It's on the "no play" list at our church.

What prompted your church to declare that music off limits? I'm just curious.

Too much focus on the bride. It's a Catholic church so they like to keep the focus on the couple as a whole and not have anything that makes it about just one or the other. So, no "Here comes the bride" banners carried by small children either.

CMGragain

The actual lyrics are not "Here Comes the Bride".  The original piece is from the opera, Lohengrin, by Richard Wagner.  The Catholic church forbids secular music in weddings.  There is nothing wrong with the piece, itself.  Here is a rough translation of the words:

Faithfully guided, draw near

to where the blessing of love shall preserve you!

Triumphant courage, the reward of love,

joins you in faith as the happiest of couples!

Champion of virtue, proceed!

Jewel of youth, proceed!

Flee now the splendor of the wedding feast,

may the delights of the heart be yours!

This sweet-smelling room, decked for love,

now takes you in, away from the splendor.

Faithfully guided, draw now near

to where the blessing of love shall preserve you!

Triumphant courage, love so pure,

joins you in faith as the happiest of couples!

I stopped playing the organ for weddings about ten years ago.  Up until then, I used it in about half of the weddings at a United Methodist Church.  The most popular classical alternative was Jeremiah Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary, which was used by the late Princess Diana at her wedding.  Other pieces are Bach's Jesu, Son of Man's Desiring, Mendelssohn's Wedding March (usually used as a postlude), and  Handel's "With Trumpets and Horns" from The Water Music. 

The decision is totally up to you.  Talk to your organist and see what he/she recommends.

ElcaB

I didn't. 

geebee908

But it does allow certain pieces of secular music as prelude music and there isn't much in the way of classical instrumental music that is not allowed. Wagner's piece is specifically excluded because it's most commonly known now as "Here Comes the Bride." Would the majority of people know this piece in it's original operatic form? My guess is no, and that is the same reasoning my parish is using.

falsara

We're not using it.  I'd rather pick a song that has actual meaning to our relationship. 

artbyallie

I wanted to walk to Pachelbel's Canon in D, which IME is actually a more common processional than even Wagner. But H vetoed because he would have cracked up laughing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

So I ended up going with Trumpet Voluntary.

ashley8918

No, I didn't.

lachattefatale

I just threw out the pamphlet since we didn't end up booking with them, but my childhood church specifically forbade the use of both Wagner's Bridal Chorus and Mendelssohn's Wedding March. I wish I still had the pamphlet because it was really condescending and it made me laugh, but it was something about long use doesn't make a song appropriate, and the fictional marriages the songs were written for ended in betrayal and death and awfulness.

Fairyjen1

   We didn't. I used the theme song from the computer game 'Morrowind'. We are both gamers so it fit us. 

soontobemrson912

I was originally thinking I'd walk down to that, but I'm really not sure now. We're having two violinists play. I definitely want Cannon in D. Do brides typically walk down to the same song as mothers and bms? Does anyone have any good suggestions for me?

CMGragain

When I played at church weddings, there was no special songs for sseating mothers.  It was too difficult to time.  They were simply seated during the prelude, and when the men and the minister appeared at the altar, it was time to start the processional.  Cannon in D goes on forever and can accommodate any size wedding party.  It does not have a big fanfare like the traditional wedding marches.  If the wedding party was small, we would use the same music for both the bridesmaids and the bride, but I would increase volume and settings for the bride.  If it was a large wedding party, I would use a separate piece of music for the bride.
Here is a list of classical favorites:

Jen4948

CMGragain said:

When I played at church weddings, there was no special songs for sseating mothers.  It was too difficult to time.  They were simply seated during the prelude, and when the men and the minister appeared at the altar, it was time to start the processional.  Cannon in D goes on forever and can accommodate any size wedding party.  It does not have a big fanfare like the traditional wedding marches.  If the wedding party was small, we would use the same music for both the bridesmaids and the bride, but I would increase volume and settings for the bride.  If it was a large wedding party, I would use a separate piece of music for the bride.
Here is a list of classical favorites:

So where's the list?

CMGragain

Oops!  I think the Knot ate the list.  Let me try again.

https://www.theknot.com/content/ceremony-processional-selections

Thanks, Jen!

onefootinthebayou

I will also not be coming down the aisle to Wagner's Wedding March since FI is Jewish and he had relatives who perished in the Holocaust. It would be very disrespectful to his family. Also, I think it's overdone.

I will come in to "Trumpet Voluntary" - Jeremiah Clarke.

Our attendants will come in to "Variations on a Theme of Haydn" - Johannes Brahms

BlueBirdMB

Nope.  I'm Jewish and as others have explained, Wagner was anti-semitic and Hitler's favorite musician.

If you are getting married in a house of worship, you may have specific guidelines, but we weren't married in a house of worship so we could choose whatever.  I walked down to Inseparable (originally sung by Natalie Cole) because it's my favorite love song.

Jen4948

CMGragain said:

Oops!  I think the Knot ate the list.  Let me try again.

https://www.theknot.com/content/ceremony-processional-selections

Thanks, Jen!

You're welcome!

I notice that "Sunrise, Sunset" is on the list. My brother and SIL did use it along with one other song, but I wouldn't use "Sunrise, Sunset" either. Again, overused to the point of cliche.

Not only that, it actually is a sad song, both in terms of its lyrics and that the wedding in Fiddler on the Roof it is played at ends in a pogrom.

CMGragain

I did refuse to play "The Phantom of the Opera" for one wedding in church.  I told the couple they were welcome to find another musician.  They couldn't, and then the minister backed me up by nixing it.

DarthV8r

CMGragain said:

I did refuse to play "The Phantom of the Opera" for one wedding in church.  I told the couple they were welcome to find another musician.  They couldn't, and then the minister backed me up by nixing it.

why?

spglsp

artbyallie said:

I wanted to walk to Pachelbel's Canon in D, which IME is actually a more common processional than even Wagner. But H vetoed because he would have cracked up laughing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

So I ended up going with Trumpet Voluntary.

This reminds me of the Axis of Awesome bit. I've got to play the first part for FI though because he loves the cello

lachattefatale

ibarfburlapandlace said:

show previous quotes

CMGragain said:

I did refuse to play "The Phantom of the Opera" for one wedding in church.  I told the couple they were welcome to find another musician.  They couldn't, and then the minister backed me up by nixing it.

why?

Probably because of the whole stalking and abduction thing.

redheadbride15

We're using Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring for the processional and entrance of the bride. I've always love that piece! So excited!

blabla89

Nope. Too pompous for our simple outdoor ceremony.

charcoalandblush

blabla89 said:

Nope. Too pompous for our simple outdoor ceremony.

FTFY

emmaaa

I didn't. I walked down to Canon in D that my older brother played on the acoustic guitar for me. I didn't like the traditional bridal march.

Maggie0829

redheadbride15 said:

We're using Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring for the processional and entrance of the bride. I've always love that piece! So excited!

We used that for the processional and then I walked down to Canon in D and then had Trumpet Voluntary for the recessional.  I find that all of these tunes are far more common today then "Here Comes the Bride."

A friend of mine stressed over what songs were going to be played during her wedding for weeks.  After a while I had to laugh at her because the songs are played for like 30 seconds to maybe a minute if you have a long aisle and a large wedding party.  Unless you are like that woman in that youtube video singing "Crazy Bitch" as she walked down the aisle, I doubt anyone will care or remember what song(s) you picked.

primafaba15

We're having a Catholic ceremony and it's on the do-not-play list (although actually, the organist we're working with had a pretty short we-only-play-these list anyway), so unfortunately not. We are using a couple of instrumentals instead, Trumpet Voluntary for the BMs transitioning into Trumpet Tune for me. 

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soontobemrson912 said:

I was originally thinking I'd walk down to that, but I'm really not sure now. We're having two violinists play. I definitely want Cannon in D. Do brides typically walk down to the same song as mothers and bms? Does anyone have any good suggestions for me?

Canon in D was one of the options for our chapel (we opted against it because it would have required a string quartet = $$$$!). Had we gone with Canon in D, they would have had the BMs and I process to the same song because it's longer, it builds, etc. They told us we could either choose to have special music for the mothers or just continue the prelude music while they are seated. We chose to play Ave Maria, and I think it's going to be really beautiful, but that's obviously a more religious choice. 

[Deleted User]

I used Trumpet Voluntary, the church we used has a beautiful pipe organ and it sounded beautiful.