Future brides, read on! The very first meeting with your church musician, in preparation for your wedding ceremony, is key to achieving the distinctive and memorable music you’re after. In this article you’ll learn how to make the most of your first meeting with your church wedding musician.
Starting Out on the Right Foot
The first meeting reserves the date and allows the musician to begin making plans.
Too many brides I’ve worked with wait until the last minute, calling me just a few weeks before the wedding and expect me to be able to drop everything to work on the wedding. That’s not enough time, especially with a musician’s other job responsibilities!
This first meeting gets the ball rolling, beginning the process of making your wedding music uniquely yours.
Don’t wait. Schedule it early and make the process easy for everyone.
The goal of the meeting is to communicate key information (in both directions!) to prevent unfortunate last-minute surprises.
In preparation, there are items to think about or be ready to ask about. These points and the rest of this article will unlock the doors to the perfect music for your wedding!
12 Discussion Points
- Your wedding & rehearsal dates
- Approximate number of wedding guests
- Size of wedding party (including any flower girls, ring bearers)
- One processional or two processionals (i.e., will the bride enter to separate music than the bridal party?)
- Any music you already know that you want or ‘favorite’ music you’ve heard from other weddings you really liked
- Musical instruments you want or are thinking about (organ, piano, trumpet, flute, violin, etc.)
- Will the church musician need to find additional musician(s), including vocalists for you? (Some churches prefer it this way) Do you have musicians in mind (friends, family or free-lance)?
- Find out about any church guidelines for your music selections. It may be your wedding, but it’s in a church (see article “What Everyone Ought To Know About Choosing Church Wedding Music“)
- Are you trying to set a ‘mood’ with the music? (Example: evening wedding with candlelight could feature more meditative, quiet music; an outgoing personality might like upbeat, bright selections. One bride even wanted me to play loud, upbeat music so her mother wouldn’t fall asleep!)
- Any particular styles of music you want? (classical, contemporary, mixture of both) (most brides enjoy a mixture of styles) Are you looking for ‘traditional’ music or something else?
- What parts of the wedding do you want music suggestions for?
- Set up another meeting to hear your selections played (and make sure the musician can play them) and to finalize all music details.
Be Ahead of the Ball
The initial meeting with the musician is usually quick and painless. The primary musician (I’ll use ‘organist’ from now on) will usually have a standard repertoire of wedding music.
Be cautious about this standard repertoire, otherwise you’ll have a wedding just like most others!
Walk into the meeting with the mindset that you don’t necessarily want the standard music selections, but you’d like to hear something fresh and distinctive (see article “The Secret to Making Your Wedding Uniquely Yours”).
Or, if you want the traditional selections, consider requesting different arrangements in order to achieve a different sound. This request may throw the organist, but that’s okay. If this organist doesn’t want to deviate from the usual, then you may want another musician. The organist may even appreciate finding new music.
Know Thy Music
Once you select the music, be sure to hear the pieces played. Meet again in a few weeks to listen to and finalize your choices.
Be completely satisfied with the pieces before committing to them!
Don’t be afraid to offer suggestions: “Isn’t there a trumpet sound on the organ you could use for the Trumpet Voluntary?” Or, “I like the piece, but could you play it somewhat faster?”
Music can speak in ways that words never can; work with your organist so that the music speaks to your personality.
Know Thy Musician
Get acquainted with your organist and make he/she has the skills to play your music. For my own wedding years ago, the organist said he could play the Widor Toccata (a flashy and technically challenging piece), but instead, he butchered it at the wedding and it sounded awful. Be confident in who you’re choosing!
Use the discussion points above in your meeting. An organized organist will naturally go through these points. But if not, be sure that you do! They will help guarantee the results you want.
That’s it! … for now
After your initial meeting, check off the appropriate items on the wedding music planning checklist you downloaded. You have downloaded it, right? It’s free, after all. If you haven’t, download it, subscribe to our email newsletter below (or in the upper right hand corner of the page), and get your planning off to a good start!
You’re now ready for the next phase of planning your wedding. Don’t forget to follow up with your organist to finalize your music selections.
Find something helpful? Like to add anything? Let us know! Leave a comment. Your comments are always welcome and appreciated!
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