Let me help you plan your wedding’s recessional music. If you think this is an easy part of the ceremony to plan music for, you’re right!
But there are still a few things you should know.
The purpose of recessional wedding music is to accompany the joyful exit of the newly-married couple and the entire wedding party from the church after the ceremony’s conclusion.
Traditionally, the ushering out the guests happens during the wedding postlude which is separate and follows the recessional music. I recommend that in most cases you follow this tradition.
However, it’s no big deal to instead start ushering out guests right away, if that’s what you want.
Recessional music mood & styles
What type of music should you use for the recessional? This is probably the easiest part of the ceremony to answer this question for!
Universally, the mood is joyful and the style is celebratory.
The processional is also joyful but you can express that joy in a variety of styles. For the recessional, stick with music that’s bright, majestic, happy and exciting! This will best match everyone’s mood at this point.
Length of recessional music
Although the length of the music is a concern when planning the processional, for the recessional, there is no great concern.
But do consider whether guests will be ushered out right away or only after the recessional ends (as discussed above). If you decide to have guests ushered out right away, then length is definitely not a concern.
But if guests will be ushered out only after the postlude has started, you want to make sure that the recessional is not too long. Check with your musician or check a recording. It won’t take long at all for the wedding party to leave, so if your recessional is going to take a while, consider not waiting to start ushering out guests.
Make it appropriate
As with all of your ceremony music, your recessional needs to be appropriate church wedding music. Check out the article “What Everyone Ought To Know About Choosing Church Wedding Music” for more on this subject.
That’s it for now…
What do you think? How have you planned your recessional wedding music? Please leave a comment – they’re always welcome and appreciated!
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