ENGLISH WEDDING SONGS

Every person envisions a lavish big fat wedding which guests have fond memories of, with lots of gourmet food and champagne flowing freely, the bride in her flowing white dress sashaying down the aisle with the song Here comes the bride playing in the background and then the final moment of I do. As we realize food and music play an important part in making a marriage memorable not just for the couple but for the guests as well. Many such English wedding songs are downloadable for free in various formats like mp3, wma, real audio etc from many sites online.

The wedding usually starts with a prelude music which can last for 15 to 20 minutes. String instruments, piano and the harp are being used mostly nowadays. Then there’s music for the seating of the mothers and grandmothers. This is followed by the bridal march when music is played for the bridesmaids and the bride accompanied by her father as they walk down the aisle when they enter the church or chapel. The final segment of music is played as a recessional tune after the vows are exchanged and the newly wed couple leaves the church.

Here comes the bride which is actually Wagners’s Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin remains the most popular wedding song till date and has been around for more than a 100 years. It’s played by a live orchestra or a piano when the bride enters for her bridal march often accompanied by her father or a male relative who gives away the bride to the groom.

Other popular English Wedding songs include Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring which is used as a prelude, Canon in D by Johann used for the seating of the mothers and grandmothers, Jeremiah Clarke's Prince of Denmark's March used as recessional music, Mendelssohn's Wedding March from A Midsummer Night's Dream and Widor's Toccata from Symphony No. 5 also used as recessional music.