The first rule in choosing your Ceremony music is that there are no rules… We are firm believers in choosing music that makes you and your partner happy rather than trying to follow ever-changing wedding trends or choose something ‘traditional’ to make the family happy.
That being said, it can be good to bear a few things in mind while you’re choosing your music. Here are some tips we’ve learned over the years that can help make things run a little more smoothly:
1. As a rule of thumb, choose a slow song. Not because it’s ‘traditional’ to have slow music at a wedding, but because it’s a great way to stay calm and keep you from rushing down the aisle. A fast song can work… however, slow music can help you slow down, savour the moment and make it last as long as possible.
2. If the lyrics are not completely “wedding appropriate” go for an instrumental version of the song (so you don’t traumatise grandma).
3. Generally speaking, we don’t recommend choosing more than one song for your entrance. I.e. a song for your Bridal Party and then a song for your entrance. This is because most ‘Bridal’ entrances are actually quite short and you will rarely have an aisle long enough for two songs. It can be done, especially if you have live musicians, but think very carefully about the implications and always check with your musicians beforehand. (For alternative entrances please see point 10.)
4. If you are playing your entrance song from a phone, please PLEASE download it and then put your phone on airplane mode. You really don’t want a Spotify ad. or a text alert ruining your moment.
5. Practice your walk (and make your wedding party practice too). Sounds silly, but we’ve found that every person who practices their entrance is able to enjoy the real thing a little more. Practicing highlights the little things; steps, gravel, route, are you going to pause anywhere so your photographer can get that perfect shot? etc…
6. If you have a short aisle, try to slow things down as much as possible. Send your Bridesmaids down one at a time i.e. make the next one wait for the previous one to reach the top of the aisle before they start to walk. Pause between each person’s entrance, in the moment it will feel like a million years but trust us it will only be a few seconds but will make a massive difference overall.
7. Allow extra flexibilty if you have very young flower girls/ page boys in your party. We’ve had it all with kids; refusing to walk and having to be carried, getting halfway and running back, running down the aisle… It’s not a bad idea to have someone older escort very small children, even if it’s just for moral support.
8. Try to avoid timing your entrance. In the past, we’ve had Brides wanting to walk at a specific part of the song. Trying to control everything in this kind of detail is often a distraction and there are too many things that can disrupt your plans. We think it’s better to be in the moment and not worry too much about exactly when you start to walk. If you have good live musicians they should be able to make your entrance the high point no matter where it falls in a song (let them know how many are in your wedding party so they can keep count and watch for your entrance).
9. When you reach the top of the aisle, don’t be afraid to take a moment to greet your partner. Ask your musicians or the person controlling the music to let the music carry for a few more seconds so you have time to collect yourselves.
10. For same-sex and non-binary couples who are looking to do something other than the traditional entrance format, there are lots of options to do things differently. We’ve played for all sorts of entrance formats as well as the ‘traditional’ one-person waiting and one-person walking. We’ve had each individual having their own entrance with and without a break in between and we’ve had couples walk down the aisle together. For heterosexual couples, you can also do things differently if you want, we actually walked in together when we got married.