Ideas for Ceremony Music

Some Wedding Couples like to select the ceremony music from the following list.   These are of course not the only choices, but they are the ones I have found work particularly well. 

The pieces are of course much longer but the snippet will give you a feel for what the piece is like. 

My favorite ceremony music is listed below.  The reason I feel these pieces work so well is because they are not only lovely but have a number of places where I could end them, which helps with the timing of the processional and recessional.

Wedding Party Processional                Trumpet Voluntary                                                    Purcell

Bride's Processional                               Pachelbel's Canon                                                     Pachelbel

Candlelighting/Sand Ceremony       Carolan's Quarrel  (Carolan's Tune)                  O'Carolan

Recessional                                               Spring from the Four Seasons                              Vivaldi

                                                                       going right into

                                                                      Ode to Joy  (Joyful, Joyful)                                  Beethoven

Here are some other ideas and sound clips:

Processional or Recessional choices

Allegro Vivace from Water Music                                                                                                Handel

Canon in D                                                                                                                                         Pachelbel

Carolan's Quarrel (Carolan's Tune)                                                                                         O'Carolan

Celtic Wedding March                                                                                                                    Traditional Irish

Trumpet Voluntary                                                                                                                           Purcell

and of course these there are always these tradional selections for the bride's proceessional:

Wedding March (Here comes the Bride)                                                                                   Wagner

Wedding March                                                                                                                                  Mendelssohn

Candlelighting or Sand Ceremony Music

Amazing Grace                                                                                                                                   Traditional

Be Thou My Vision                                                                                                                          Irish

Eleanor Plunkett                                                                                                                                O'Carolan

On the Beach                                                                                                                                     Traditional Irish

Star of the County Down                                                                                                              Irish

Recessionals  

Allegro Vivace from Water Music                                                                                                  Handel

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring                                                                                                           J.S. Bach

Morning Has Broken                                                                                                                        Traditional

Ode to Joy  (Joyful, Joyful)                                                                                                          Beethoven

Trumpet Voluntary                                                                                                                             Purcell

Spring from the Four Seasons                                                                                                      Vivaldi

Ideas for an Irish Theme Wedding

Bridal Party Processional                     Carolan's Quarrel  (Carolan's Tune)                    O'Carolan

Bride's Processional                               Celtic Wedding March                                               Traditional Irish

Candlelighting/Sand Ceremony        Lord Galway's Lamentation                                    O'Carolan

                                                                        Eleanor Plunkett                                                         O'Carolan

                                                                        Star of the County Down                                      Irish

Recessional                                                 Morning Has Broken                                               Traditional Gaelic

For additional ideas, have a look at my repertoire list here.