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Civil / Spiritual / Humanist / Secular Wedding Ceremony Music

With the right music, you can create a beautiful and memorable wedding ceremony that you and your guests will cherish for years to come. Your wedding ceremony is a unique opportunity to celebrate your love and share it with your family and friends, and music is a plays a central role in this. 

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Each wedding ceremony is unique and created by the couple, working closely with their celebrant. We recommend that you discuss the structure of your ceremony with your celebrant, to identify those sections of the ceremony that will be enhanced by musical accompaniment. We are also very happy to advise you on how best to incorporate music at these special ceremony moments, including the style and type of music that will suit best. 

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Below you'll find some popular choices for each section of your wedding ceremony, as well as our suggestions! Any of the below choices can be performed instrumentally or vocally, and where we have a video of our version of a song, you'll find it linked so you can have a listen!

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Please note - we are not limited to the songs listed below! We will specially prepare and perform any music you wish, including selections not listed below.

Processional (Walk-In)

The entrance procession music accompanies some or all of the wedding party as they enter the ceremony room and walk up the aisle. It is a very exciting and emotional moment, and the music plays a special role in accompanying this memorable point in your wedding ceremony!
 

We recommend choosing a song with special significance to you both, and would often recommend that the tempo match the pace at which you’d like to make your procession. Sung or instrumental music will suit this moment, and it can add an extra dimension to consider varying the music here, like having instrumental music for the wedding party entrance and then adding vocals for your entrance. Acoustic arrangements of popular, folk, and other styles are our personal favourites! You can also consider creating a mashup/medley of two songs.

 
 

Special Moments: Candles, Handfasting, Readings, and more

Throughout your ceremony, there may be other moments, for example during enhancements such as candle lighting, hand-fasting, the sand ceremony, and ring warming, that can be accompanied by music. We recommend that musical selections be instrumental at these points, to provide a soft accompaniment and to allow the moment at hand to be the central focus.

 

It is important to consider if the celebrant or others will be speaking during these moments - it may not suit to have music and speaking at once (depending on amplification, the size of the space, acoustics, and other factors), but it might suit to have music before or after these moments. Your celebrant will provide invaluable advice on this, and we highly recommend working with them to consider whether musical enhancement will suit at these moments.

 

The possibilities for selections here are vast - you could choose a chorus of a favourite song, a theme from a favourite film or musical, or a piece of classical music. It’s important to remember that only a small section of the music will feature, rather than the entire piece. These can also be very effective points to incorporate seasonal or thematic music!

Signing Of The Register

The signing of the register is a relaxed and yet exciting moment in your ceremony, when you, your family and guests will be preparing up for your pronouncement and joyful procession into married life! It can also be a very busy point in the ceremony, where the celebrant will arrange for the signing of the marriage register and invite you and your witnesses to come forward. It is also a very important photo moment. We would recommend choosing two songs here, unless you are planning on having a shorter moment here.
 

The possibilites at this point in the ceremony are also vast, and it can be a great point to incorporate more upbeat or thematic songs that may not have featured up to that point. It can be effective to choose a first slightly more relaxed song, and then a slightly more upbeat song as their second choice, to start building the energy to the final procession. However, all combinations will work well here.

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Here are some recent selections for the Signing Of The Register:

Recessional (The Walk-Out)

The exit procession marks your entry into married life together - and it’s a moment for celebration! Expect clapping and cheering, and singing along, as well as lots of photos. While any favourite song will work here, we have found that upbeat and energetic songs are best suited to this moment. Having chosen a less than upbeat piece for our own exit procession, we know how much energy the music can bring to this moment!
Vocal and instrumental music will work equally well here, and we will often structure our musical arrangement to start with the chorus of the song, so that the most memorable and recognisable moment in the music is the one that accompanies your first steps.

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Here are some recent selections for the Exit Procession:

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