XP: for the married ladies/gents, approximate timing for ceremony music?

sanfranciscoeve

Hi there,
I was hoping the married ladies or gents could give me an idea of how long your processional and recessional were...and how many people were involved, about how long your aisle was, etc. I'm a musician so I'm very picky about exactly what people will hear.
Thanks for your help!

ElisabethJoanne

I can tell you it takes the clergy about 60 seconds to process at a regular sung Mass. That's at a church with 10 rows of well-spaced pews (seats 160). I don't time it, but I know a verse to a hymn is about 30 seconds, and it takes them about 2 verses.

This, however, is what rehearsals are for.

krizzo17

This really depends on what you're envisioning. I've been a ceremony musician for a while now, and we've had everything from people practically running down the aisle to a wedding where I kid you not, we played over 10 minutes of pachelbel's canon. The bridesmaid processed one by one from behind some trees like 50 yards back, and the next one didn't start till the one in front of her reached the alter. And there were 10 of them.

So I'd say line up some handy family members and friends in your living room and start timing. Also, lots of "processional" type songs (pachelbel particularly) are easy to vamp or end at any point.