Catholic wedding music:
Striking the right note
The Church keeps no official list of “approved” wedding music, but it
does offer some helpful guidelines that can be applied to your choice of
wedding music (see “Planning Your Wedding Ceremony,” USCCB; Music in
Catholic Worship 82, USCCB; Liturgical Music Today 28–29, USCCB; Catechism
1156–1158). In a nutshell, the Church says that good liturgical
music helps the whole assembly celebrate the liturgy (in this case, your
wedding) more fully.
The music minister at your parish can help you choose good music for
your wedding. As you work with that person, here are three questions to
guide your music selections:
1. Is it prayerful?
The purpose of any Catholic liturgy, including a wedding liturgy, is to
give glory to God and to sanctify (make holy) the worshipers. Your
wedding music should reflect that purpose; in other words, it should
help the assembly to pray and to give thanks to God for your love.
Generally, any of the music widely used in Catholic parishes or issued
by Catholic publishers such as OCP Publications or GIA Publications will
meet this standard (although some critics of contemporary Catholic
liturgical music might argue otherwise). Pop or rock songs, even those
with a spiritual theme, are usually considered inappropriate for use in
a Catholic wedding ceremony because they were never intended to be used
in a liturgical setting. Even some "classic" wedding music, such as the
wedding marches by Wagner and Mendelssohn, are usually not permitted for
this reason.
Fortunately, there is a wealth of good
liturgical music to choose from, including music written specifically
for weddings; the music minister at your parish can point you to some of
these possibilities.
2. Is it accessible?
Put another way, will it encourage the assembly to sing? In Catholic
worship, the assembly—all those folks who have come to your wedding—is
not an audience, passively watching events unfold at the altar. Catholic
liturgy calls on the assembly to actively participate in the prayer of
the Church, including its sung prayer. Doing so is one of the most
powerful ways your friends and family can express their love and support
for you and your spouse.
As you plan your wedding music, then, consider whether your friends and
family will be able to sing what you have selected. What is accessible
will depend on your situation. If your family and friends are all
talented musicians, then the sky’s the limit. If they couldn’t carry a
note in a bucket, better to stick with simple, familiar songs. If many
of the guests will be from other Christian faiths, you might consider
choosing classic hymns widely used by many denominations.
One way to encourage the assembly to sing is by providing the music in a
wedding program; see the Catholic wedding program pages for more
information about doing this.
Another way to encourage participation is to have the musicians lead the
assembly in a brief rehearsal immediately before the ceremony.
Basically, the cantor explains that he or she would like to lead the
assembly in a quick run-through of some of the essential music: the
"Gospel Acclamation," "Holy, Holy," "Memorial Acclamation," "Great
Amen," and so on. (The music minister at your parish can suggest which
pieces would be best to rehearse with the assembly; obviously, if you
are not celebrating the sacrament within a Mass, your list would be much
shorter.) The cantor sings each piece once, then invites the assembly to
sing it through once. Besides allowing people to "practice," this sends
a very strong and clear invitation to full participation in the wedding
liturgy.
3. Is it beautiful?
Beauty is a window onto the divine (Catechism
#32), so it is not surprising that the Church calls for the music
used in its worship to be beautiful. You and your parish music minister
will know what wedding music will seem beautiful, given your tastes and
culture.
One thing to keep in mind is that the beauty of any musical piece
depends a lot on who is singing and playing it. Most of the music
provided by the Catholic music publishers has the potential to be
beautiful in the right hands. Songs that might have seemed ho-hum when
just accompanied by a piano or organ during the Sunday liturgy might
completely come alive when accompanied by a wider variety of voices and
musical instruments. One way to get an idea of what really beautiful
liturgical music sounds like is to listen to professionals play it on
the albums issued by the
Catholic music publishers.
In addition to these general rules, each
diocese and parish will have its own particular guidelines for
wedding music. See the links below for some good examples.
A list
of some Catholic wedding music
Choosing wedding music: In the "Planning Your
Catholic Wedding" section of this website.
Finding
and Choosing Cantors and Instrumentalists (Musicians) for Your Catholic
Wedding
Finding Songs, Hymns, and Other
Music for a Catholic Wedding
Can we use recorded music in our wedding?
Can we use popular, non-religious music in our wedding?
Other websites
For examples of diocesan wedding music policies, see the
following websites:
Diocese of Albany Wedding Music Guidelines
Diocese of San Diego Wedding Music Guidelines (PDF)
Guidelines for the Use
of Music in the Sacrament of Matrimony (Diocese of Baton Rouge)
(PDF)
Archdiocese of Santa Fe Wedding Music Guidelines (PDF)
