Planning the Music for Your Wedding
The
members of the Music Ministry at
St. Joseph
’s Parish
congratulate you on your upcoming wedding and wish to help make your celebration
a memorable one.
Not only is this an important event for your family and friends, it is
also an important event in the life of the Parish community here at St.
Joseph’s.
As in any liturgical celebration, the music for your wedding should be chosen
with great care. A wedding is, first
and foremost, a worship service – worship and praise of God who calls a man
and a woman together in marriage. Wedding
music celebrates not only the human love between woman and man, but must
celebrate the presence of God as well. Lyrics
should be drawn chiefly from Holy Scripture and other liturgical sources.
For this reason, popular music is not appropriate during a wedding
liturgy. We use a wide variety of
traditional and contemporary liturgical music to help you make your wedding
uniquely your own.
Any member of our team will be happy to work with you to
plan your liturgy and find the music that best expresses your taste while still
reflecting the sacramental nature of the Catholic marriage service.
We encourage you to seek input from your parents and other family members
in planning your wedding music. The
music list, below, contains some suggestions
for your musical selections.
(back to top of page)
As soon as you have met with the priest and set your
wedding date, contact a member of the parish Music Ministry to schedule your
wedding musicians and start the planning process.
Return the planning forms to your
musician(s) as soon as possible, but no less than six weeks prior to your
wedding date.
A
qualified cantor and instrumentalist are required for all weddings.
We recommend that you choose your musicians from the parish music
ministry. The standard fee for each parish cantor is $125, and for each parish
accompanist the fee is $150. Fees
are paid directly to the musicians at least two weeks prior to your wedding
date. If
you choose to use non-parish musicians, a fee for technical services (sound
system, etc.) of $50, payable to St. Joseph’s Church, is due two weeks prior
to your wedding date.
We can also refer other instrumentalists (trumpet, flute, etc.) if you
wish; their fees vary and you will contract with them separately.
Please
feel free to speak with any member of our ministry at
any time with any questions you may have about the planning process.
(back to top of page)
Typically, music is used at the following parts of the Wedding
Mass. For a wedding ceremony outside of Mass, omit the right-hand column, except
for the Recessional.
SEATING
OF GUESTS
– instrumental or vocal
selections
|
SEATING
OF THE PARENTS
Ave
Maria (Schubert)
Hail
Mary Gentle Woman (Landry)
When
Love Is Found (Haas)
|
HYMN
DURING PREPARATION OF GIFTS ("OFFERTORY HYMN")
All
I Ask of You (Norbet)
Bridegroom
and Bride (SLANE/arr. Haas/Cotter)
Center
of My Life (Inwood)
How
Great Thou Art (Traditional)
I
Have Loved You (Joncas)
Prayer
of St. Francis (
Temple
)
We
Have Been Told (Haas)
Will
You Come and Follow Me (
Bell
)
|
BRIDAL
PROCESSION
Instrumental:
Bridal
Chorus (Wagner)
Canon in D (Pachelbel)
Processional
(Renard)
Prince
of
Denmark
March (Purcell)
Vocal:
Gather
Us Together (Alstott)
May
Love Be Ours (Schutte)
|
EUCHARISTIC
ACCLAMATIONS
Heritage
Mass (Alstott)
Mass
of Creation (Haugen)
People's Mass (Vermulst)
St.
Louis
Jesuits Mass (Dufford/Schutte)
|
RESPONSORIAL
PSALM
Blessed
the People (Ps 33) (Alstott)
Taste
and See (Ps 34) (Dean)
The
Lord Is Kind and Merciful (Ps 103) (Cotter)
This
is the Day the Lord Has Made (Ps 118) (Joncas)
You
Are All We Have (Ps 16)
(O’Brien)
|
COMMUNION
HYMNS
Gift
Of Finest Wheat (Kreutz)
O Lord I Am Not Worthy (Traditional)
Panis
Angelicus (Franck)
Seed,
Scattered and Sown (Feiten)
Take
and Eat (Joncas)
Taste
and See (
Moore
)
The
Irish Wedding Song (Traditional)
To
Be Your Bread (Haas)
|
GOSPEL
ACCLAMATION
Alleluia
– Chant (various verses)
Alleluia
– Open Our Hearts (Alstott)
Celtic
Alleluia (O’Carroll/Walker) (various verses)
Praise
to You, Lord Jesus Christ (Alstott) (during
Lent)
|
MEDITATION/HYMN OF PRAISE
Bridegroom
and Bride (SLANE/arr.
Haas/Cotter)
For
the Beauty of the Earth (Kocher)
How
Great Thou Art (Traditional)
Will
You Come and Follow Me (
Bell
)
|
|
In
addition to the suggestions listed here, many of the hymns from Sunday
liturgy are also appropriate for your wedding.
Please feel free to ask us about using other music. |
RECESSIONAL
Instrumental:
Hornpipe
(Handel)
Ode to Joy (Beethoven)
Rondeau
(Mouret)
Trumpet
Tune (Purcell)
Wedding
March (Mendelssohn)
Vocal:
Irish
Blessing (Stookey)
May the Lord Bless You and Keep You (Meltz)
|
(back to top of page)
Complete and mail these forms to your musician(s) as soon as
possible, but no later than six weeks prior to your wedding. These files
are
Adobe PDF format, and require Acrobat Reader, free from www.adobe.com.
(back to top of page)
|
