Wedding music project

I need your help.

Remember how I mentioned post-vacation ambitious projects yesterday? Well, one of my projects for this summer is to assemble wedding music information, paperwork, and hopefully a brief recording for weddings at Bethany. I'm starting to make a list of music I have played or heard at various ceremonies over the years. I'm hoping that you will join me by adding suggestions of their own.

So think back to your own wedding day (or the wedding of a friend or relative): What was playing when you processed down the aisle? Did the congregation sing a hymn or a soloist sing a particularly meaningful song? Did you ever attend a wedding where you heard a spectacular piece of music?

I don't expect everyone to know the exact composer and title of everything. Hum a few bars for me and I might recognize it or be able to find it. I just want to "crowd source" this piece of the project so that no great idea gets overlooked. Leave a comment, send an email, or talk to me at church.

Wedding season and hymns

May and June are going to be busy months at Bethany for weddings, which means a busy few weeks for me. By the time you consider all of the prelude and postlude music, most weddings involve almost as much organ music as a month of Sunday services.

This weekend's wedding featured two things I found notable. First, there was a congregational hymn. Too many weddings have shied away from direct musical participation, but I think it's a vital part of the service. A wedding congregation is not an audience; they are still part of a worship service as well as witnesses to the marriage ceremony. They make a promise to support the couple and welcome them into the community. A congregational hymn can express that collective attitude musically.

Second, Pastor Uhle's sermon referred not only to the Gospel text but also to the text of a hymn. He made explicit reference to the hymn "Abide with us, Our Savior," as it related to the readings and to his message for the couple. For me, that direct quotation of a 16th century hymn demonstrated to what degree our faith reveres our musical heritage as a source of knowledge and inspiration.

When so much wedding music is either "background music" or a familiar tune chosen from a perennial list of a few favorites, it was great to have these two examples of music serving a higher function in today's wedding service.