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Musical Traditions at Weddings

Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s Friday and I’ve been talking about weddings for two weeks now. I hope you all aren’t bored with it because just when I think I’ve run out of things to talk about – I find more! I’m starting to wish I had a wedding to plan just to have some fun with all the ideas I’m exploring here not to mention what I’ve been reading about from Sherry, Michele and Marily – if you haven’t checked out their frugal invitations, wedding travel plans and frugal wedding ideas – now is the time to do it.

In the meanwhile, I wanted to spend some time today to talk about the musical traditions that we employ in our marriage and wedding ceremonies. Many of our modern musical traditions have traveled to us via the path of time. So when you are planning your wedding – consider the following musical traditions that can honor the past, the present and serenade your way into your future.

The Pied Piper

The piper is one of the most traditional parts of wedding ceremonies. Flutes, bagpipes and recorders are all beautiful instruments that can lead the bride down the aisle to meet the groom. The organ is a fantastic instrument is often played in accompaniment to the Church wedding. Hymns can be sung to it before, during and after the ceremony. A harpist playing the wedding march is exquisite and can be played quietly and softly throughout the ceremony.

The use of music in a wedding dates back to the time of clan chiefs. Often the chiefs of ancient Ireland and Scotland had personal, ceremonial pipers that led them into battle, negotiations and more. The ceremonious fanfare folds nicely into the tradition of marriage.

Live Music

At my own wedding, we had a horn player who trumpeted. It was pretty funny and pretty great in retrospect. We had a harp player who strummed the wedding march. It was quite lovely. Personally, I prefer the live music to the recorded. The use of the live musician at a wedding can be really original and a live musician is far more flexible.

By the way – it’s not at all uncommon for live musicians that play at the wedding to be present at the reception. Depending on your tastes – this can be a real treat. Before you start worrying about costs, too – remember there are plenty of musicians in local areas that would likely enjoy the opportunity to play at your wedding and not gouge you on the fees.

This entry was posted in Wedding Planning and tagged , , , , by Heather Long. Bookmark the permalink.

About Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago. They have a beautiful daughter who just turned five years old. She is learning to read and preparing for kindergarten in the fall. An author of more than 300 articles and 500+ web copy pieces, Heather has also written three books as a ghostwriter. Empty Canoe Publishing accepted a novel of her own. A former horse breeder, Heather used to get most of her exercise outside. In late 2004, early 2005 Heather started studying fitness full time in order to get herself back into shape. Heather worked with a personal trainer for six months and works out regularly. She enjoys shaking up her routine and checking out new exercises. Her current favorites are the treadmill (she walks up to 90 minutes daily) and doing yoga for stretching. She also performs strength training two to three times a week. Her goals include performing in a marathon such as the Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness or Team in Training for Lymphoma research. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience through the fitness and marriage blogs.