Entry and Ceremony
Music can be used to announce the arrival of the participants of the wedding (such as a bride's processional), and in many western cultures, this takes the form of a wedding march. For over 100 years the most popular processional has been the Bridal Chorus from Wagner's Lohengrin (1850), often called "Here Comes The Bride", traditionally played on a church organ.
Some couples may consider the traditional wedding marches clichéd and choose a more modern piece of music or an alternate such as Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel. Since the televised wedding of Lady Diana to Prince Charles, there has been an upsurge in popularity of Jeremiah Clarke's "Prince of Denmark's March" for use as processional music, a piece that was formerly (and incorrectly) attributed to Henry Purcell as "Trumpet Voluntary".
Weddings in other cultures vary to this, for example in Egypt there is a specific rhythm called the zaffa. Traditionally a belly dancer will lead the bride to the Wedding Hall, accompanied by musicians playing the elzaff, on drums and trumpets, sometimes the flaming torches. This is of unknown antiquity, and may even be from the pre-Islamic era.
At Jewish weddings, the entrance of the Groom is accompanied by a tune called baruch haba. Siman Tov ("Good Tidings") is an all-purpose Jewish celebration song.
During the service there may be a few hymns, especially in liturgical settings.
At the end of the service, in Western services, the bride and groom march down the aisle to a lively recessional tune, the most popular tune being Mendelssohn's Wedding March from A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826). Another popular choice is Widor's Toccata from Symphony for Organ No. 5 (1880).
Read more about this topic: Wedding Music
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