When one thinks of wedding music, “Here Comes the Bride”, Pachebel’s “Canon in D,” Handel’s “Air” and Mozart’s “Wedding March” inevitably come to mind. These are all classic and wonderful choices for a wedding ceremony. However, some brides-to-be may feel they are too traditional for their wedding. In previous posts, we discussed choosing the right (and wrong) wedding music. However, there is one area we haven’t discussed before: Non-Traditional Wedding Music.

When browsing wedding-related blogs, Style Me Pretty, a blog about wedding planning, posted a question posed by a bride-to-be which I found inspiring. The bride asked for suggestions for wedding ceremony processional music which was appropriate for the occasion but non-traditional. While “Here Comes the Bride” is lovely and classic, a modern bride may want to break from traditonal wedding music and opt for something unique and inventive for her wedding ceremony. One way to accomplish this is to choose pop music.

You can make your ceremony “pop” by taking a modern song and give it a classical twist. For example, one bride suggested walking down the aisle to “All You Need is Love” played by a classical string quartet. This would be a lovely choice if one had the Sparrow Lane String Quartet play at their wedding ceremony. Other suggestions from posters included:

• “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles
• “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”
• “Come Away With Me” by Norah Jones
• “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel
• “Bittersweet Symphony” by the Verve
• “Isn’t She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder
• “Calico Skies” by Paul McCartney
• “Everlong (Acoustic)” by the Foo Fighters
• “All I Want Is You” by U2
• Film Scores (For example, “Storybook Love” from “The Princess Bride”)
• Musical Soundtracks

All of these would be excellent choices if played by a string quartet, a traditonal wedding band, a solo violinist or on mandolin.

There are many more lovely pop songs which would translate well into a wedding ceremony if played by any of these bands. For ideas, take a look at your CD collection or iTunes playlist and make a list of songs which inspire feelings of love, romance and beauty within you. Just be sure that each song speaks about love and romance and is appropriate for the “feel” of your wedding. Keep this list at hand when you meet with your wedding band to design your wedding’s soundtrack and you will be sure to have an event to remember.

If you have any suggestions about pop songs which would sound lovely at a wedding ceremony, let us know!