It’s Wedding Music Unveiled’s birthday…but you get the gifts!

To all you readers: THANKS!

Please join me in celebrating our first anniversary.

It’s been a great year

In this first year, we’ve published close to a hundred articles on this blog, launched a wonderfully successful wedding music guide and just last month, brought wedding music coaching into the online world – a first as far as I can tell!

I hear time and again appreciation for Wedding Music Unveiled as the only source for real church wedding music advice.

Countless couples have

• had their wedding ceremony music planning simplified
• saved time
• have found music ideas they’d never have found otherwise
• and most importantly, had wedding ceremonies with memorable and distinctive music that they’ll remember forever!

There’s more to come

It’s a thrill to be helping so many people!

I’m working on exciting ideas for this next year. But I’d also love to hear from you – I’d like to know what you would like to see. Leave a comment or send an email. I read them all.

How I got started

Wedding Music Unveiled started when I decided to walk away from an engineering career and try to find a way to help people (and maybe even put my musical experience to use).

I hope you agree it’s been worthwhile!

Let’s celebrate!

I can’t throw a party for my readers, but here are two other ways to celebrate:

• For the rest of July, Wedding Music Unveiled’s church wedding music guide is $10 off (starting today). No discount codes, no rebates that have to be mailed in or anything complicated. I’ve kept it simple and just dropped the price by $10 for the rest of the month.
• Want a free copy of the guide? If so, send me an email before midnight, Friday July 23 (Eastern time). I’ll randomly select 10 emails received by then and send a free, no strings attached, copy of the guide (ok, technically, what I’ll send will be a download link since the guide is in electronic format, but you get the idea). Send the email (please only send one) directly to me at dave [at] weddingmusicunveiled [dot] com. Mention your first name and that you want to score a free copy of the guide. (offer is now completed)

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

Hi! A short post today. I just want to ask you a question:

What’s the biggest fear you have in planning the ceremony music for your church wedding?

I want to be help in any way I can. I want to make sure I’m in tune with your concerns!

I already know that some of you feel intimidated by classical music. I know that some are afraid of planning music for a major formal occasion. Others don’t know anything about music and are intimidated work with musicians. Still others just don’t know what needs to be done and are afraid missing something important or screwing something up.

So what’s holding you back? Please leave a comment or send me an email at dave [at] WeddingMusicUnveiled [dot] com

I’m also interested in hearing ways you’ve overcome these fears. Your comments are always welcome and appreciated!

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

Who doesn’t love a good disaster story?

When it comes to wedding disaster stories, I like them because there’s often a lesson that can be learned. And when there’s a lesson, some good can come from what may have been an awful experience for those involved.

In that spirit, here’s another wedding music disaster story. From the lesson come three specific tips you can use in your wedding planning.

The Story

At the wedding ceremony, no one provided the musicians with a copy of the wedding program.

By itself, this wasn’t a big deal. But if the musicians had seen the program, one of them could have noticed that the bride had switched the location in the ceremony where the vocal solo was to be sung.

She hadn’t told the musicians about the change. I don’t know if this was an oversight or she thought they’d see it in the program.

Regardless, they weren’t prepared for the change.

When the time for the solo came, they just sat there because they didn’t know. Eventually after a long period of awkward silence, probably sensing what had happened, the minister announced that the solo “would now be sung”. Then came the scrambling as the musicians hurried into position.

I’m sure their performance was not what it could (or should) have been.

As disaster stories go, this one is pretty mild (fortunately for all involved!). It certainly could have been much worse. But it was still an unnecessarily awkward situation.

The lesson to be learned

The obvious lesson here is that communication is critical.

The wedding program wasn’t the ideal way for the musicians to find out about the change. But it was a last chance to spot trouble.

I emphasize communication between you, your musicians and your church in my six wedding music planning steps that you’ll find in my Guide to Selecting Memorable Church Wedding Music. It’s all geared toward making sure your ceremony turns out perfect.

Tips to avoid wedding music trouble

Here are three tips that would have prevented all this:

1. Set a deadline for yourself to declare your ceremony music details “final”. When you get to this point, inform the musicians of your final plans and tell them it’s final. If you absolutely must make changes after this point, check with your musicians first.

2. Pick someone on your wedding day to provide actual, final wedding programs to the musicians. Do this even if you don’t list the music and even if using the church’s musicians.

One of my experiences: Before the ceremony, I hadn’t been given a program, but I wanted one so that I could review it for any unexpected surprises. The guests were already arriving but I couldn’t find one anyone who knew where they were. We finally found someone who knew that the bride’s parents had them locked in their car.

After tracking them down with just five minutes before I needed to start playing music, I finally got my program!

3. Send draft copies of the program to your musicians well in advance for their feedback. In addition to bringing issues to light quickly, it can help spot both big and small mistakes.

Do you have more tips?

What do you think? What communication problems have you seen (or seen narrowly averted) in your wedding ceremony planning? What other tips do you have to share?

By the way, are we connected on Twitter or Facebook yet?

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

I’d love to get some feedback from you, my readers.

The question for you is: Are you picking your wedding ceremony music or are you asking your musician(s) to do it?

I know the answer could be somewhere in the middle. Maybe you’re picking a key piece or two, such as your processionals and letting the musician pick the rest.

If you’re letting the musician is picking music, are you listening to the choices to make sure they agree with you or trusting their judgment?

Please leave a comment below and share your approach with all of us. I’m curious to see what you’re up to and how this site is helping couples plan their wedding ceremony music. Thanks!

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

If I’ve learned anything from running this site it’s this: You guys want music ideas.

This is exactly what I expected when I started out. I saw how few ideas were available in wedding guides and other wedding sites and knew you needed better help than they were giving.

I try to offer a lot of ideas in the many articles on this site. I made sure there were more—lots more—in the Guide to Selecting Memorable Church Wedding Music. You’ll get over 200. For all parts of the ceremony.

And even better yet, there’s no risk for you. I offer a 90 day money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied (I’m very confident it will help you).

If you find the perfect music listed there, not only do you have nothing to lose, but you have so much to gain!

So check it out. There’s no reason not to. In addition to all the ideas you get a thorough planning guide which will make your work a lot simpler.

Check it out by click on the banner above or the book image to the left..

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

I want to make sure my articles are just what you need.

If you’re getting married this year, your wedding plans are well under way. Your ceremony music plans should be coming together (for Spring weddings) or maybe just getting started (for Summer or even Autumn weddings).

Which do you need more of:

wedding music ideas

or

time to make your wedding music ideas reality?

I can focus on pieces of music, instruments, sample wedding ceremonies, etc. if people are struggling for music ideas.

But if it’s the latter, I can focus on time-saving tips, effective planning, etc. (not that I’d ever stop giving music ideas, I’ve got lots!).

Let me know! Leave a comment or send me an email at dave [at] weddingmusicunveiled [dot] com (the address may look garbled, but it’ll work; it’s just a way to prevent getting tons of spam).

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

I hear grumbling about overused wedding music, often from musicians, having to play the same pieces wedding after wedding, as if it were the bride’s (or couples’) fault. I’m not convinced this is the case.

It’s true that wedding planning guides don’t include much variety. But how much encouragement and support for using distinctive music do musicians provide?

I know some musicians who do strive to help couples find the perfect music. But there are others who seem content to recommend the same pieces already heard over and over again.

I thought about this after my recent article on how couples can better prepare for meetings with their musicians. Maybe the musicians can also better prepare for meeting with their couples! Keep reading for some tips on making your discussions more effective.

What is it couples want for their weddings?

Couples are looking for help when they come to you to discuss their wedding music.

True, some will ask for the “same old” wedding favorites. If that’s all they know about, can they be blamed? For some couples, these familiar choices may be exactly what’s right for them and this is perfectly fine. But for many couples, these may be the only music choices they know about and it’s up to you to help them see that they have other choices (as I try to do with Wedding Music Unveiled).

Regardless, what they want is a ceremony with music that is special, personal and memorable. And they’re coming to you for help in achieving this.

You have a choice

Do you just give them what they ask for or work with them to figure out what they really want, to learn about their tastes, and to help them explore the vast amounts of great classical and sacred music options they truly have (but don’t know about)?

The second option takes more of your time. It is certainly easier to play the same favorites wedding after wedding after wedding.

The choice is yours: but you’re doing both them and yourself a disservice if you don’t help them. They’re turning to you, the expert, for help after all!

There’s not much room for complaining about overused music if the couples aren’t given the chance because you didn’t speak up.

Some tips for more effective wedding discussions

Here are some tips to help you provide a greater level of service to couples. Some may require a little work. Some will save you time:

• Work to expand your wedding music repertoire. Learn new music or just think about pieces you already know that might make good wedding music. Articles here can help you as can our church wedding music guide.

• Save time by making a performance binder of all your wedding music repertoire. When a couple comes to you, instead of pulling out dozens of books, just pull out this binder with photocopies you can quickly play from.
  • Save even more time with color-coded tabs, sections in the binder (or separate binders for a large repertoire) for prelude/pre-service music, processionals, recessionals, and even vocal music.
  • You can organize pieces by music genre or whatever works best for you.
• Find recordings of pieces in your repertoire—such as in the iTunes Music Store (as we often do on this site)—and provide couples an electronic document with links when they schedule a meeting with you. Ask them to come prepared with their initial likes and dislikes as a starting point for your discussions.

• Organize your usual wedding music planning discussion topics by bullet points.
  • Save even more time by expanding this into a written document couples can read in advance.
  • Possible topics can include what church wedding music means, your church’s policies, etc.
  • Consider directing couples to our church wedding music guide and you won’t need to write anything!
• Give couples a checklist to work from. Again, Wedding Music Unveiled can help you out. Our checklist, even without our guide, is a valuable tool.

More ideas?

Please share ideas you have for helping couples more effectively (or more efficiently!). I’d love to hear your thoughts.

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

I’d like your opinion.

When you think of a “traditional wedding” (and let’s make it church weddings, since that’s my focus with Wedding Music Unveiled), what do you think of, especially with regards to ceremony music?

In your opinion, is it the sound or style of the music, the structure of the ceremony itself, or simply that the wedding is in a church that makes it traditional?

I know some people think that the music, especially the bride’s processional needs to be something like Pachelbel’s Canon in D or Jeremiah Clarke’s Trumpet Voluntary in D to make the ceremony traditional. Using a less well-known piece (or doing so for other parts of the ceremony) would be non-traditional.

Other people think that a church wedding with any sort of classical and/or sacred music is what makes it traditional. Still others think that if the wedding is in a church, it’s traditional.

I’ve come to learn that “traditional” means lots of different things to different people. So I try to be careful about using the word so as to not leave anyone unclear about what I’m referring to.

There’s probably no right answer. But I’m still curious to hear what you think as you are someone interested in wedding ceremony music.

Please leave a comment and share your thoughts. Thanks.

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

Imagine that you spent months preparing for your wedding day. But something goes wrong with the music during the ceremony. Instead of the music accenting a beautiful ceremony, the problem diverts attention and blemishes the moment.

There are many things that can go wrong with your wedding and your wedding music. Fortunately, many of them are preventable.

One way to prevent many problems is to simply plan ahead. Download and use my church wedding music planning checklist or even check out my Guide to Selecting Memorable Church Wedding Music. I also provide plenty of helpful advice here that keeps you informed.

You can get advice from people you know that have been through this before or from experts, including your church musician, your church’s wedding coordinator and others.

My advice for you today is in the form of two music-related stories of wedding disasters and how they could have been prevented.

Story #1

Summary: No one set up a microphone for the ceremony’s vocal soloist. She turned out to be a quiet singer. In fact, she sang so quietly, no one could hear her. What should have been a beautiful moment during the ceremony turned into a really awkward moment.

Prevention: It seems obvious that the solution was simply to set up a microphone. But there’s more to it than that.

The problem here is that no one knew the singer needed a microphone, not that one wasn’t set up. She was a quiet singer. Someone should have known this!

It’s critical to know what each musician needs to successfully perform. Many professional musicians will let you know exactly what they need. Others may or may not. You can almost guarantee that young or inexperienced musicians will not let you know. You need to find out if they don’t tell you.

Once you know what is needed, take care of it or pass the request along to the appropriate person, in this case, contacting the church to see if there is an amplification system that could be used for ceremony musicians. Then determine who can set it up, test it, operate it during the ceremony, etc.

Story #2

Summary: The church organist was not told any cues for starting the processional because “everyone would be ready on time”. The organ was located where the back of the church wasn’t visible to her. She smartly timed her before-the-ceremony prelude music to end at just the right time, as instructed.

When she finished playing the prelude music, according to her instructions, she started playing the first processional piece.

Unfortunately, the bridal party was nowhere near ready to go.

Prevention: Plan for the unexpected. Don’t assume that everything will go according to plan.

Recognize that the musician might not be able to know whether everyone is in place and ready to start. The organist could easily have been prepared with extra music to fill an unexpected need.

Plan for someone to give a cue to the musician when everything’s ready to proceed.

Even when the musician can see the back of the church, it may not be enough. I’ve played for weddings where I could see the back of the church but because of lighting or other conditions I couldn’t make out whether the bridal party was standing in place, ready to go. And I had to guess.

So plan for a cue.

Please remember that I don’t offer these stories to laugh at other’s misfortune or to make fun of the brides or couples who didn’t plan as effectively as they could have. I feel bad for the couples involved that their special day was marred (but fortunately not ruined). My intent is to show you some things that have gone wrong to help you prevent something similar from happening at your wedding!

Take a big step toward avoiding a wedding disaster

Check out my wedding music guide or at least download my free wedding music planning checklist and get more tips & ideas in my email newsletter (sign up below). Either way, you’ll be glad you did!

What do you think?

If you think this information is helpful, please leave a comment and say so. I have plenty more stories of wedding disasters that I could write about.

Do you have any good wedding music stories like these that could serve as lessons for today’s couples? Please let me know.

Your comments and suggestions are always read and appreciated!

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.

Hi! I have a question for you today.

What part of the ceremony are you having the most difficulty finding music for?

I’m sure it’s probably different for everyone. Some know exactly what they want for their processional and have known for a long time. Others just can’t find the right piece of music.

As a musician, when I’m looking at music, I have the most trouble with vocal solos for during the ceremony. Sometimes, finding a recessional can also difficult. But helping someone find music for a processional comes easy.

I’m curious. What parts of the ceremony cause problems for you and why do think this is so?

© 2010, Wedding Music Unveiled. All rights reserved.